SMTD is announcing today that, effective next Monday, August 10th, the 1st & Highland Route #8 will expand service onto both North Street and Outer Park Drive between 1st Street and MacArthur in addition to the current route that runs along Highland Avenue to Scheels.
“We have had requests from the public for service along both North Street, where quite a few local employers are located, and along Outer Park, an area once served by a bus that utilized Lowell Avenue,” said Steve Schoeffel, SMTD’s Service Planning & Marketing Specialist. “This is an adjustment to address those requests and attempt to boost ridership while still serving our loyal riders that currently use the route.”
Two buses currently serve Route 8 every half-hour in the morning from 6:15 AM to 9:15 and from 2:15 PM to 5:45 in the evening, with hourly service from 9:15 to 2:15. The expansion to North Street and Outer Park is accomplished by putting one bus outbound on North Street and inbound to downtown on Highland and the other outbound on Highland and inbound on Outer Park – both in the morning – then reversing those routes in the afternoon.
“For all practical purposes, we split the existing route into two routes, one serving North Street and Highland and the other serving Outer Park and Highland,” Schoeffel added. “There won’t be as many trips on Highland as there were before, and that might take time for the public to adjust to, but when we were considering the changes, we spoke to drivers and riders alike to see what made the most sense and had the least negative impact on our regular riders. Each bus will still be on Highland for part of their hour-long trip from downtown and back, and, overall, this is going to be a positive and popular change.”
New stops along the route will be as follows:
- On North Street:
- at Spring Street
- in front of Woodside Township Offices
- between J & W Counter Tops and Charlie Parker's
- directly north of Casey's General Store
- On Outer Park:
- at S. Glenwood Avenue
- at S. Lowell Avenue
- at S. College Street
- at S. 1st Street
Maps & Schedules for Route 8 Changes:
Note that these schedules will not take effect until Monday, August 10th. At that time they will be added to the route listing page as well as the quick route access drop down menus on the site.
