Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801: "“The introduction of free bus fares on four of the five routes, is aimed at encouraging the increase in use of public transport and therefore a decrease in the use of private motor vehicles, so as to deliver an environmental gain, as well as improved traffic circulation. The introduction of the new bus routes and free bus service on most routes will represent further significant progress of the Plan.”"

Ohio College, community, partner to offer free transportation - News

College, community partner to offer free transportation - News: "Students in need of a ride are in luck, as Marietta College has teamed up with Washington-Morgan Community Action to provide free public transportation.

Executive Director of College Relations Tom Perry said that this is a relatively new service and has not been brought to the attention of many students yet."

Utah fare-free transit district adds buses to fleet.

The Cache Valley Transit District has purchased five new buses in an effort to increase the number of spares in the fleet.

Until recently, the organization had been operating with just one spare bus. Now, the CVTD will have four spares on hand and 32 total vehicles.

"What this does is it helps us get up to an acceptable spare ratio," said Todd Beutler, the CVTD's general manager. "We were operating with one spare vehicle, which is really tough when you're trying to keep service out on the street."

Beutler said the CVTD will be able to operate service more efficiently and with greater flexibility if a bus is in an accident or needs maintenance.

"We've been researching this for quite some time, and we determined it was probably time to jump into the market," said Beutler.

Two of the vehicles are 35-foot hybrid buses, and three are 40-foot commuters.

The hybrids are powered by clean diesel electrical propulsion systems. According to the CVTD, these buses help reduce emissions, save on fuel, and are quieter than conventional buses.

Beutler said the hybrids perform best in hilly and low-speed areas, noting they will be used on routes near Utah State University and Logan's Cliffside neighborhood, for instance.

The other buses, which have higher seating capacity, will be used mainly for the Cache Valley north and south routes and service to Idaho.

HJNews

Citylink Edmond ridership nearly triples » Local News » The Edmond Sun

Citylink Edmond ridership nearly triples » Local News » The Edmond Sun: "EDMOND — Ridership on Edmond’s relatively new public transit service has nearly tripled during its first year, a city official said.

During Wednesday’s City Council workshop members of the Edmond Public Transportation Committee, chaired by Councilman David Miller, discussed the increase in ridership with Citylink Edmond.

The city’s new free public transportation service, managed by McDonald Transit, began operating in July 2009, and currently manages eight buses equipped with bike racks and wheelchair tie-downs, according to the city. Two Expresslink buses seat 30 passengers each while the six local route buses can carry 19 passengers each."

Libourne va être la 13ème ville à adopter les transports gratuits

La ville de Libourne (Gironde) s’apprête à lancer samedi la gratuité totale de son réseau de bus pour ses habitants, rejoignant avec ce dispositif 12 autres villes françaises ayant fait le même choix, a indiqué la mairie dans un communiqué.

« Le réseau Libus était déjà gratuit pour les moins de 18 ans depuis le 1er janvier 2009; cette gratuité sera étendue à l’ensemble des Libournais samedi 28 août 2010″, selon ce communiqué.

« Grâce à ce dispositif, on pense passer dès la première année de 350.000 à au moins 400.000 voyages », explique Michel Lalanne-Dasque, directeur de la Société des transports libournais.

La gratuité des bus publics constituait, selon la mairie, « une des promesses phares de Gilbert Mitterrand (maire socialiste de Libourne depuis 1989, ndlr), lors des élections de 2008″.

Son coût sera pris en charge par le prélèvement transports auprès des entreprises de plus de neuf salariés, qui était auparavant consacré aux travaux de voirie.

Ville de 24.000 habitants, Libourne, sous-préfecture de la Gironde, rejoint 12 villes françaises, comme Compiègne (Oise), Châteauroux (Indre) et Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhône), qui pratiquent la gratuité des bus publics.

Et parce qu’une bonne nouvelle n’arrive jamais seule, Libus se dote depuis le 1er juillet de nouvelles lignes et les bus ont adopté un nouveau look, aux couleurs du logo que les libournais ont élu! En outre, un tirage au sort est organisé pour tous ceux qui prendront leur carte gratuite Libus avec deux vélos à assistance électrique à gagner. AFP via CarfreeFrance

Citylink Ridership Up 60 Percent | KSBI Thunder TV | News Sports Radar Weather Cams | Oklahoma City | News

Citylink Ridership Up 60 Percent | KSBI Thunder TV | News Sports Radar Weather Cams | Oklahoma City | News: "Citylink Ridership Up 60 Percent
The City of Edmond transportation program is reporting some encouraging numbers.
Officials say Citylink's ridership has increased by 60 percent this year. More passengers are traveling on all transportation routes, including paratransit and Expresslink to Oklahoma City.
'We're very excited that it went up 60 percent. We didn't expect it to do that� much, but we're very excited, very proud of it,' said Alonda Massey, City Link Transit General Manager.
Officials say Citylink is also under budget for its first year of operation and they are even considering adding more routes. Total expenditures for the first year were $875,000, which is below the $978,000 budget allocation for the project.

City Link rides are free of charge. Eight new buses were purchased with $600,000 in federal stimulus money."

Free bus rides on Valley Transit for Appleton students to continue

APPLETON — A pilot project that allowed Appleton middle and high school students to ride Valley Transit buses for free last semester was so successful, it will be back this fall.

The Board of Education's business services panel this week recommended its partnership with Valley Transit continue at least another school year after hearing Deborah Wetter, Valley Transit's general manager, describe the positive impact it has had on ridership.

"The (Fox Cities) Transit Commission is thrilled and has unanimously endorsed doing this another year," she said, adding that the Appleton Common Council is supportive as well.

The Appleton Area School District and Valley Transit embarked on the project as a way to raise ridership, promote the benefits of public transportation in creating a greener culture, and possibly achieve greater efficiency and cost savings in student transportation.

Last semester public and parochial students simply had to show their IDs and ride at no charge anytime the buses operated. Previously they had paid the adult fare of $1.80 per ride.

Wetter told school board members that in the four months of the project students took 38,247 trips on the bus, which averaged 427 trips on each weekday and 140 trips on Saturdays.

There are no numbers to compare to, because students had not been distinguished from adults previously, she said, but based on overall system trip counts there is a large increase in use of Valley Transit by young people. "Absolutely, this has helped us," she said. "We're very interested in continuing that."

She said she had been a little concerned free ridership by students might lower revenues, but that has not happened. "It's our assumption that some of the families who had to pay to use the bus before may be in the lower economic category and they were giving up trips of their own for their kids to go to school."

Don Hietpas, district chief financial officer, said the district will continue to pay Valley Transit $9,000 per semester, which it would have paid anyway for special bus passes and tickets for needy students.

"We're very grateful Valley Transit has found a way to continue the partnership," Hietpas said. "It's been a piece of cake for our side."

Wetter said she sees something of a "cultural change" around appeal of public transportation and some adults' perceptions bus riding is only for "those people. That's a stigma we've been fighting for years." She said based on responses Valley Transit is getting, many of them on its Facebook site, the students are "educating their parents who had negative impressions."

Kathy Walsh Nufer: 920-993-1000, ext. 290, or knufer@postcrescent.com Post Crescent