Peterborough opened its 24-hour Riverwalk Parking Lot in 2019 with the goal of connecting the town to a bus system. Seven years later, it’s finally happening.
Greyhound Lines buses will finally put the Riverwalk bus stop to use starting next week after the select board approved the agreement at no cost to the town. The route will connect the Monadnock region to Boston.
Bus service begins on Nov. 17, said Trisha Cheever-Wolfe, the town’s energy and community planner.
Thanks to an intercity bus grant from the Federal Transit Administration, administered by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, Cheever-Wolfe said Greyhound reached out to the town about creating a stop. The bus line will run seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 8:20 p.m.
After departing Keene, it’ll make stops in Peterborough, Nashua, Lowell and Boston South Station. There’s also a return route.
| Keene (Corner News) | depart | 7 a.m. | 11:45 a.m. |
| Peterborough (Riverwalk Parking Lot) | arrive/depart | 7:35 a.m./7:40 a.m. | 12:20 p.m./12:25 p.m. |
| Nashua Park and Ride | arrive/depart | 8:30 a.m./8:35 a.m. | 1:15 p.m./1:20 p.m. |
| Lowell (Robert B. Kennedy Bus Transfer Center) | arrive/depart | 9:05 a.m./9:10 a.m. | 1:50 p.m./1:55 p.m. |
| Boston South Station | arrive | 9:50 a.m. | 2:35 p.m. |
| Boston South Station | arrive/depart | 11:00 a.m./11:30 a.m. | 4:55 p.m./5:30 p.m. |
| Lowell (Robert B. Kennedy Bus Transfer Center) | arrive/depart | 12:10 p.m./12:15 p.m. | 6:10 p.m./6:15 p.m. |
| Nashua Park and Ride | arrive/depart | 12:45 p.m./12:50 p.m. | 6:45 p.m./6:50 p.m. |
| Peterborough (Riverwalk Parking Lot) | arrive/depart | 1:40 p.m./1:45 p.m. | 7:40 p.m./7:45 p.m. |
| Keene (Corner News) | arrive | 2:20 p.m. | 8:20 p.m. |
Per the state transportation department’s website, the grant to connect Keene and Nashua is currently pending final approval from the Governor and Executive Council.
The agreement requires no payment from the town; it simply requires maintenance of the Riverwalk Parking Lot, which Interim Town Administrator Seth MacLean said the town does anyway.
The select board unanimously supported the agreement.
Board member Bonnie Tucker shared concerns about workers’ access to the line to come to work in Peterborough from Nashua given the later return times.
Tucker requested the town contact businesses in the area about this opportunity and that larger businesses possibly create a shuttle service for employees from the Riverwalk Parking Lot to their place of work.
“This is one huge step forward,” Cheever-Wolfe said, agreeing with Tucker.
Cheever-Wolfe said she was unsure of how much the fare would cost.
On the Greyhound website, trips less than an hour typically cost under $10. The 45-minute trip from Concord to the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport costs $8.48.
The bus stop will have a soft launch on Nov. 17, but a ribbon-cutting a few months later will more officially celebrate the bus line.