Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Seniors Try Out New U.S. 62 Transit Route
ALONG U.S. 62 — Not many people are riding the blue buses driving along U.S. 62 yet but officials with Ozark Regional Transit hope numbers will increase as more residents learn about the new service.
“I think the more people try us, the more they’ll come back,” said Jeff Hatley, mobility manager and public information officer. “Actually, it represents freedom. It has the advantages of a small town and a big town. In a small town, you can walk if you want to. Now, with this, you can get to the big town.”
Hatley said transit officials do not have a time limit in mind on when to decide if the new fixed route from West Fork to Lincoln will be viable.
“There are no plans whatsoever to pull this out,” Hatley said.
He pointed out that when transit officials talked to the Washington County Quorum Court about more funding, one priority from the county was for regional transit to branch out into more rural areas.
“There’s a definite need,” Hatley said. “We’re not close to giving northwest Arkansas what it needs.”
Several senior citizens from Prairie Grove Senior Center recently tried out ORT’s new Route 620. The route starts at 6:15 a.m. at Harps in West Fork and makes stops at Greenland, Lot 56 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln. It then turns around and makes return stops on the way back to West Fork.
Route 620 goes from 6:15 a.m. to 9:15 p.m., Monday- Friday.
In Farmington, the bus stops between the library and Post Office, goes by the city sports complex, along Hunter Street, by Creekside Park and then on Broyles Street to return to the highway. In Prairie Grove, the bus stops at City Hall, goes by Rieff Park, through Prairie Meadows subdivision and beside Walmart Express. In Lincoln, the bus goes around the square, stops at the library and stops at Harps.
About eight seniors, along with center director Linda Willkie, Larry Oelrich, director of administrative services and public works, and Hatley boarded the bus at Prairie Grove City Hall. Two others from Lincoln Senior Center got on in Lincoln. They rode the full three- hour tour, returning three hours later to Prairie Grove and Lincoln.
One man on the bus was not part of the group and he said he rides the new route to catch a transfer bus at Lot 56.
“It’s OK,” said Phillip Benefield of Dardanelle. “This doesn’t cost hardly anything.”
Hatley said many people don’t realize they can ride the transit to Lot 56 in Fayetteville and from there transfer to another bus to go to the mall, movie theaters or to any of the public pools in northwest Arkansas. Anyone who wants information about which bus to transfer to can call the transit office and employees “will walk you through it if you want to go to a certain place,” Hatley said.
Fees are $1.25 each way. Other options include a season pass for $ 30 for adults, a 10-ride pass for $10 and a day pass with unlimited rides for $3. Kids 17 and under ride free all summer through Labor Day. Seniors age 60-74 pay 60 cents per way and veterans and senior adults 75 and older are free.
Janet Moulden of Prairie Grove said she believes the new route will be harder for older people who need to change buses. She said she believes older adults thought Route 620 would drop them off at Walmart or the mall and then pick them up later.
“It really doesn’t take you anywhere,” Moulden said, noting that anyone who wants to go to Walmart on Martin Luther King Drive would ride Route 620 to Lot 56 in Fayetteville and then have to change to another bus to go to Walmart. “I don’t think it’s beneficial for people who are 80 and over.”
Hannah Burgess of Lincoln rode the bus twice during its free- fare week June 16- 20. She and her granddaughters rode the transit to Lot 56, waited about 35 minutes and boarded another bus to visit someone at Nantucket Apartments in Fayetteville.
Burgess said the ride was comfortable and the bus’ temperature was cool. This contrasted with the temperature on the Route 620 bus, which was fairly warm that day.
“This for me is very nice and very reasonably priced,” Burgess said. “It was fun.”
Dale Howard of Lincoln said he thinks it will help college students who could ride the bus to the university and not have to worry about finding a parking space. UA students ride for $1 and North West Arkansas Community College students ride free with an ID.
Hatley said one thing he learned riding with senior adults is that the transit needs to better promote its demand response service. Most of the adults riding the bus were not aware they could call in for a ride and a van would pick them up at home, take them to a certain destination and then return them home. Demand Response rides cost $2.50 per destination.
“This bus is great for a lot of things but it doesn’t go curb to curb,” Hatley said.
He offered to ride along with seniors another time and show them how to transfer to other buses to go different locations, such as the mall or other places, including Fayetteville Library and Washington County operations.
Willkie said the trip was good because it showed her seniors how a transit bus system works. She said she also believes it will be harder for senior citizens to transfer to other routes but thinks it will definitely benefit younger people.
“I think they are glad they went on it,” Willkie said. “It was all good.”