City to Launch Free Downtown Shuttle Service in May

Submitted by the City of Portsmouth:

Starting in May the City will offer visitors another way to access the downtown by running a free shuttle service on Fridays and weekends from the parking lot at the Connect Community Church on Market Street to the bus stop adjacent to the High/Hanover Parking Facility.

At the request of Portsmouth’s City Council, acting on a recommendation to maximize existing available public parking infrastructure and increase access to public parking by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Transportation Policy, City staff began researching options for providing a shuttle that would facilitate quick and convenient passage from remote parking lots to the heart of Downtown.

On March 13, 2014 the City awarded the contract for the parking shuttle service to TransAction Corporate Shuttles, Inc based out of Woburn, MA. TransAction has a history of successful shuttle operations for many regional clients, including New England Baptist Hospital and the Town of Acton, MA.

Detailed shuttle operation times will be negotiated with the vendor, but will be on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, May through August.  Waiting times for the shuttle are not to exceed 10 minutes, and the vendor must provide a means to notifying passengers of the time until the next shuttle arrives.

“This free shuttle service is a pilot program that was developed in order to provide a green solution to the need to reduce traffic and ease parking challenges in downtown Portsmouth,” says Mark Nelson, Director of Parking & Transportation for the City of Portsmouth. “If it is successful, the shuttle service can potentially be expanded to more routes, stops, and hours, and considered for year-round service.”