The Southwestern Regional Planning Committee is making progress in developing a model for improved regional public transit  in the Monadnock region which could include expanded bus routes, extended hours and microtransit for regions not served by bus routes.

The Route 202 corridor, including Antrim, Peterborough, Jaffrey and Rindge is part of the SWRPC’s Phase 2 of the long-term transit model plan. At a Zoom meeting Thursday night, Stephen Falbel, a transportation consultant from Steadman Bell who is project manager of the “Next Generation” transit system project for SWRPC, presented an analysis of potential regional transit models for the project. 

The Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation transit model, which serves the Portsmouth, Rochester and Dover area, scored the highest in SWRPC’s comparative evaluation of regional transportation systems. Falbel said the the transit study team has met with Rad Nichols, director of COAST, to discuss the sustainability of COAST’s funding model. 

COAST, a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization which receives funding from state, federal and local sources, is classified as “specially designed entity.”

“Our county staff needs to be able to justify the cost of the program. Will this benefit the residents and economy of the southwest region? Once we have have established the justification and the benefits of the program, it will be easier to start identifying sources for funding,” Falbel said. “We also need to determine who will get service and what service will launch first. Should it be mobility over bus routes, or what are the priorities?” 

Falbel noted that hearing from residents can go a long way toward building support for an improved regional transit system. 

“It is great for county and city officials to hear from citizens; that will help build support. Community activism is critically important. Something will only happen if there is is a lot of local support and momentum,” Falbel said. “The state is more likely to allocate money if they see local support.” 

Terry Johnson, senior project manager for SWRPC, said the transit study team is reaching out to potential partner organizations across the region, including hospitals, colleges and major employers, for support in expanding regional transit. He noted that state finding for transportation increased only recently. 

“The pressure should not all be on municipalities to fund transit. New Hampshire was ranked 49th in the nation for transportation funding until last year, when we were able to increase funds from $200,000 to $750,000 annually, with a strong advocacy effort. There are so many implications of not having public transportation; we have an aging population. We need to make this case,” Johnson said. 

The meeting was a follow-up to a June 27 meeting in which members of the public weighed in on the need for expanded public transit in the region, and particularly for the need for accessibility. At that meeting, the SWPRC presented findings of its recent transit study, which recommended microtransit as a potential solutions to  transit needs in the Monadnock region’s rural areas. 

Microtransit such as Southeast Vermont Transit’s “The MOOver” in Windsor and Brattleboro allows flexible routing and flexible scheduling of vehicles, as members of the public would schedule rides. Falbel described microtransit as a “public form of Uber or Lyfft."

“It would cost the same as City Express bus now,” Falbel said, referrin go

The goals of the transit project include designing a sustainable, equitable local funding model, instituting governance that will represent the people served, and maximizing the flexibility of the transit model to adapt to changing needs and travel patterns of the local population. 

“COVID really impacted travel and work patterns. Any model we develop we have to maintain flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and events,” Falwell said. 

Public transit services in Keene currently include two City Express bus routes and the Friendly Bus and Para Express paratransit programs for people with disabilities and medical transportation needs.

The SWRPC Microtransit Feasibility and Fixed Route Transit Service Study can be found at https://www.swrpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SWRPC-Microtransit-Feasibility-and-Fixed-Route-Transit-Service-Plan-Design-Assistance-Study.pdf.