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Community Toolkit > Transportation > Transportation Reduction > Advance Transit

Community Toolkit

Advance Transit

Upper Valley New Hampshire and Vermont


Project Outline:

Advance Transit is a public commuter bus service covering six towns in the Upper Valley area including Canaan, Enfield, Hanover and the City of Lebanon in NH and the towns of Hartford and Norwich in VT. The buses run on five scheduled routes, with additional services to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth College. The corporation also offers a Rideshare program with free carpool matching services to New Hampshire and Vermont commuters in over 170 towns.

The program was originally initiated in the early 1980’s by a senior citizen council with the assistance of Department of Transportation grants and town contributions. In 1984, Advance Transit Corporation was formed as a 501c3 non-profit New Hampshire corporation and is currently overseen by Executive Director Van Chesnut from the headquarters in Wilder, Vermont.

Some of the goals of the project are to reduce local traffic congestion, to provide commuters with an efficient and convenient alternative to driving alone, to improve access to local jobs, to provide mobility to senior citizens who are not driving, and to offer convenient transit access to area hospitals, shopping centers, schools, and community agencies.

There were no associated ordinances or regulations that had to be created for the function of this project.

Cost & Savings:

  • The program is funded through a combination of federal and state resources, as well as with generous contributions from local towns and municipalities, and more recently some private donors. Due to increased contributions from Lebanon, Hanover, Dartmouth College, and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Advance Transit has been able to offer their services fare free since 2002.
  • Currently half of the operating funds come from federal and state grants, including the Federal Transit Administration’s Section 5311 program, which provides funding for rural and small urban areas, is granted through the NH and VT state departments of transportation. The Capital grant funds provided for buses, equipment and facilities is 80% federal, 10% state, 10% local.
  • The current Federal Transit Administration program became effective on August 10, 2005, when President Bush signed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act:A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), providing $286.4 billion in guaranteed funding for federal surface transportation programs over five years through FY 2009, including $52.6 billion for federal transit programs – a 46% increase over previous guaranteed transit funding.
  • The cost of Advance Transit’s operations is approximately $2.8 million per year, with $190,000 of that cost being attributed to the Rideshare program.
  • Advance Transit estimates a net emissions savings of 5 tons for the 2006 fiscal year.

Benefits:

  • The biggest lesson learned from the program include that the fare-free program works! Since the implementation of fare-free in 2002, Advance Transit ridership has doubled. The program is successful because it is dependable and allows commuters to avoid the battle with short parking resources and traffic in the area. Not only does the program encourage pedestrian transport, Advance Transit added two bike racks to each of the buses to allow one-way commutes and other bike use in the region.

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