Bus routes run seven days a week

November 1, 2007 - 12:42AM

DAILY NEWS STAFF

While public transportation passengers in Jacksonville once depended on the LOOP for a ride, a revamped system will change that beginning today.

The City of Jacksonville today kicks off its new Jacksonville Transit bus service, which will provide transportation along two routes in Jacksonville from Monday through Friday and during limited hours on weekends and holidays. The bus service will also run special Friday and Saturday evening hours to and from Camp Lejeune, Camp Johnson and the New River Air Station.

"We're anxious to get it started," said Jacksonville Community Affairs Director Glenn Hargett.

During the service's regular operation hours, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, a fleet of five buses, each with a maximum 24-passenger capacity, will run a Route A and Route B through several stops and time points in the city and some areas in Camp Lejeune, Hargett said.

Those same routes on Saturdays and Sundays will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Friday and Saturday evening routes to and from Camp Lejeune, Camp Johnson and the New River Air Station will run from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The bus system - which costs $1.25 for adults and 60 cents for youths, seniors and persons with disabilities without a Medicare card - will offer free service on its inaugural day today.

Route A eastbound begins at Third and Mill streets downtown, heading to New Bridge Street via College Street and toward Hargett Street and New River Drive. The route then continues along Onslow Drive to Doris Avenue and Davis Street, where it then heads to Henderson Drive and Western Boulevard before ending at the Wal-Mart store at McDaniel Drive and Penny Lane. The route then heads westbound along the same roads toward the beginning point at Third and Mill streets.

Route B eastbound begins at the Wal-Mart and heads down Western Boulevard to Parkwood and University drives, then heads down Western Boulevard and goes through the Jacksonville Mall, then through the intersection at Village Drive, and then to Camp Lejeune at the Tarawa Terrace gates, ending at Second Street and Butler Drive North. The route then heads westbound along the same drive back to the Wal-Mart store.

The Friday and Saturday evening route at Camp Lejeune will begin at Courthouse Bay, then follow up to French Creek, then to the Marine Corps Exchange Annex and then to the Jacksonville Mall, making stops along the way, Hargett said.

While there were early concerns about the bus system's routes to Camp Lejeune and other bases where those without authorization cannot enter, Hargett said the kinks in it have been worked out, with announcements being made several stops before the buses reach the bases, and civilian passengers getting the opportunity to step off the bus before entering the base.

Hargett said the city has put $155,000 of its own money behind the bus service, having received federal funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. The city received various federal, state and local funds for the program.

The new bus service is meant to replace the city's 15-passenger LOOP van, which began in 2001 and was under the operation of Onslow United Transit Systems.

With the Jacksonville City Council deciding in 2005 to replace the LOOP, and the system ending Oct. 31, the revamped Jacksonville Transit will now provide city and base residents with 146 stops on the two routes while also allowing individuals to flag down buses depending on where they are, Hargett said.

Hargett said the new Jacksonville Transit provides transportation to those without it, while also servicing those who might consider public transportation an option.

"Our society is so vehicle-centric that providing alternative transportation is something that will likely be done more in the future and in the onset," he said.

Antonio Velarde primarily covers eastern Onslow and western Carteret counties. He can be reached at avelarde@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 846