Barnstable County Bill

Its such a Pleasure to take the Bus.. and leave the driving to the... "FLEX"

Well who says you can’t get there from here?  True to my promise to use the “Flex Route” or just plain “Flex”, the new service that links Harwich to Provincetown by bus, I took the bus to the committee meeting  at the Salt pond Visitors center in Eastham from the Park and ride lot at exit 10 in Harwich.

For those recent arrivals on Cape Cod there is a Cape Cod Regional Transportation Authority that is responsible for providing public transit and supporting human service transportation needs.  They hire a management company who runs the bus lines that include the Fixed route service from the upper and now to the lower cape as well as the B-Bus that picks people up for medical and other appointments and the provision of vans to the Councils on Aging through  out the Cape.

I have been, as both a board member of the CCRTA and a county commissioner, an advocate for the completion of the fixed route linkage for the lower cape since I viewed it as a needed part in an overall strategy that looked at the relationship of economic development, housing and transportation as contributors to a sustainable community. The Flex route development combined federal, county and town resources to make it happen and I’m proud to have been a part of it.  But, there is more than just launching you have to get to the destination if the “vessel” means anything.

It was a great opportunity to indulge in my favorite habit “smoozing”.  There was already a woman on the bus.  Her story was she had been using the service from the first day since a recent automobile accident and head injury had impaired her driving ability.  The bus had made her mobile again and she was on her way down Cape to shop and visit galleries.

We were joined by a young man with a motorcycle helmet under his arm at the next stop.  He called his wife for a ride and she told him take the bus since she didn’t want to drive up from Wellfleet to Harwich.

In Orleans a local couple and three college age students from Bulgaria got on.  The couple was meeting another couple from Eastham and planning to spend the day in Provincetown.  The three were getting a ride to work in Eastham.

So my anecdotal survey supported the demographic analysis used to identify the potential rider ship.  People using the service for work, recreation, shopping and errands were mentioned and we still haven’t gotten to the 12 to 16 age group.

Oh, they all mentioned the “with gas at $3/gallon a “buck” a ride is great.  And the couple on the way to P’town was looking forward to the potential ability to enjoy that two martini lunch without the designation of a driver for the return trip.

You should try it for your next trip down Cape.  And with all the fares at a “buck” one way you can take the “Woosh” from Falmouth to Hyannis the “Breeze” from Hyannis to Harwich and the “Flex” from Harwich from to Provincetown for a total of $3.  And if you want to do it more often there’s a pass for $34 a month for unlimited rides.

It took a long time and a lot of people to get this going and its going to need support to continue so don’t pay $3 a gallon to get around the Cape pay a $1 and take the bus.