Borough launches Jitney service

Referred to during planning as the “Jitney,” the local shuttle will eventually be funded by NJT through its Community Shuttle Program. The federally financed program provides funds and leases for 20-person shuttles to qualifying municipalities.

NJT’s delivery of a vehicle, however, has been delayed, Director of Community and Regional Affairs Kristin Appelget said.

“The University was able to step in and provide the funding to allow them to get it started,” Appelget said.

Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 described the University as an “easy sell,” adding he is “disappointed that the real bus was delayed.”

Until NJT funding arrives, the University is paying $60,000 to lease a 22-person bus through the Greater Mercer Transportation Agency, which has contracted with A-1 Limousine.

Riders can now flag down the 22-person bus at any point along its 20-minute loop around the Borough, and 65 percent of the Borough residents live in a two- to four-minute walk of the Free B route, Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi said.

“I think it’s wonderful that we are creating [the Jitney]. ... It will make traveling within Princeton greener, cheaper and more community oriented,” Borough Councilman Roger Martindell said.

The Free B, which stands for “Free Borough,” currently operates Monday through Friday during peak commuting times, 5:35 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. and 5:43 p.m. to 8:42 p.m. This schedule, designed to coordinate with the Dinky train, includes 10 stops and will run in a loop starting from the Dinky Station.

NJT will deliver its vehicle and begin to provide grant money by the end of 2008, NJT spokesman Joe Dee said.

The Borough was originally awarded funding by NJT in 2006. Once NJT delivers a vehicle, the Borough will receive up to $30,000 in the first year, $20,000 in the second year and $10,000 for the third and final year of the grant.

By slowly decreasing the subsidy, “the idea is to help the municipality budget for the jitney service,” Dee said. “It gives them time so they’re not faced with a high expense in the first year.”

The Free B is also intended to be ecologically friendly because it reduces the number of cars on the road, Director of Parking and Transportation Kim Jackson said.

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The Free B is not specifically a part of the Campus Plan or the University Sustainability plan.

The Free B now connects to the University shuttle at Palmer Square and the Dinky. The Dinky will move roughly 460 feet south as part of the 10-year Campus Plan. Though some residents have expressed concerns about relocating the Dinky, “the only thing that would change if the Dinky Station were moved … [is that] we would have to modify our bus route to accommodate the situation, which would be nothing significant,” Bruschi said.

NJT is also currently developing a Bus Rapid Transit system that will stop at the Dinky and Princeton Junction, among other locations. Within a decade, it will form part of a larger transportation network that may extend as far as Trenton and parts of Pennsylvania.

“The University and the Borough look at the Dinky area as a kind of transit hub,” Jackson said. “We have the green [campus shuttle] line and the Dinky and now the Jitney’s there ... all of them come to the dinky station.”

Zebedee Jones, the driver of the Free B, only had one passenger for his first two drives around the loop, but he noted that he “expect[s] a full load ... once the word gets out.”