New bus service launches in Princeton Monday, Aug. 16
The new free municipal bus service that is replacing the FreeB launches today, Monday, Aug. 16. The first bus will depart from Palmer Square at 9 a.m. The bus leaves Palmer Square on the hour and half hour. It will make 30-minute loops around town, stopping at Palmer Square, the Princeton Senior Resource Center at Monument Hall, the Elm Court Senior Housing complex, Witherspoon Hall, Redding Circle, the Princeton Shopping Center, the AvalonBay apartment complex, and the Merwick Stanworth housing complex. The complete schedule can be found online. The new municipal bus can also be tracked on your smartphone in real-time via the Tripshot Rider app.
Morning bus service runs from 9 a.m. until about noon Monday through Friday. Afternoon service runs from 2 to about 5 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Due to budget constraints, bus operation hours and stops have been reduced from what they were when the FreeB was in operation. There is no bus service on the weekends. The bus does not stop along Bunn Drive. The original FreeB service stopped at the train station but that stop was later eliminated.
The bus is being operated by contractor WeDriveU. Masks must be worn while riding the bus.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
What about the Princeton community village? A lot of people need it at that location.
The FreeB was created to encourage residents to take the train instead of driving to the station. When the train station was moved farther from town, residents were told that they could still take the FreeB Shuttle. Now that the station is moved, the town is eliminating the FreeB and not having the station stop at the train station.
I have to ask the question: who is the service for the new shuttle? The shuttle doesn’t even stop along its route at places that would serve the general community. It appears to be primarily serving our senior citizens. That is a worthy goal, but what about the rest of the town’s residents? What about the commuters to NYC?
It seems this is histroy repeating itself. Back in the 1980’s and earlier there was the Inner Loop and the Outer Loop. This reminds me of the Inner Loop. The Outer Loop went to Quakerbridge Mall,I seem to remember. NJ Transit became the operator of the bus to Quakerbridge Mall with some of the Inner Loop stops incorporated. Today’s Quakerbridge Mall bus from Princeton includes some stops on Route 1 and some in office parks beforeroute 1 (Carnegie Center?)..