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Tuesday March 13, 2012 Edition
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Addison County Transit Resources Is There In Times Of Need

Tuesday March 13, 2012

By Marcie Bolton

Addison County Transit Resources is the public transportation option in Addison County and thousands of people use their services every year.  ACTR was established in 1992 to create a network of public transportation alternatives that connect the people and places in Addison County and beyond.  According to information provided by ACTR, the shuttle bus system is made up of six different bus routes including connections to Rutland and Burlington.  Their Dial-a-Ride (demand-response) System takes commuters, elders and persons with disabilities, Medicaid-eligible residents and many other vulnerable populations to work, doctors’ appointments, grocery stores and meal sites.  

Whether it is riding to work, saving a few dollars for gas costs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by using public transportation or going up to the Snowbowl to snowboard with friends for the day, it is a great service at the public’s disposal.  Addison County’s largest fleet of people movers gave 123,277 rides in 2009 and according to Jim Moulton, executive director of ACTR, since then ridership has increased; “Our total ridership (shuttle buses plus dial-a-ride services) in Fiscal Year 2011 (ended June 30) was just shy of 156,000.  Our projected ridership for Fiscal Year 2012 (which we are 7 months into) is 175,000 or a 12% increase.”

It is a powerful resource and in times of need ACTR is there through and through.
While public transportation is not usually seen as part of the emergency response system, they do, in fact, play an ongoing role.  Highlighting four poignant times of need in Vermont will illustrate just how critical ACTR’s emergency role helped the community.  

The most recent occurrence was during the Tropical Storm Irene crisis in 2011, ACTR was at Vermont state hospital evacuating patients to a safer destination.  According to the Burlington Free Press, Officials evacuated the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury and moved the hospital’s 51 mentally ill patients to facilities across the state, including Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, the Brattleboro Retreat and a wing at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.  ACTR reacted quickly and without a hesitation.

Then there was the time in October of 2009, when the Champlain Bridge connecting Vermont and New York was deemed an unsafe roadway. Since hundreds of people who live in New York and work in Vermont were greatly inconvenienced, ACTR along with the Basin Harbor Club and their boat hatched a plan.  The Basin Harbor Club’s temporary ferry service would meet people in Westport, New York and transport them back to Basin Harbor to meet the ACTR buses.  This service ran for five months until the state set up a different plan of action.  ACTR brought employees to the B.F. Goodrich plant in Vergennes, the Helen Porter Nursing Home in Middlebury, Northlands Job Corps and Country Home Products to name a few.  The state’s work force was kept vital and ongoing with not much of a hiccup.  According to ACTR, businesses retained their employees and know they will be able to work safely without the fatigue brought on by excessively long drives.  Workers had their commutes reduced by up to two hours each day.  By mid-December 2009, only two months after the bridge closure, ACTR had already provided more than 2,500 rides and is preparing for implementation of services from the planned Crown Point-to-Chimney Point Ferry location.  With ACTR’s assistance, an economic crisis has been eased for these riders and their employer.

A third example of emergency public transportation provided by ACTR was in 2008 after The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Addison and Rutland Counties and an intense rain had deluged the area, ACTR was available.  They were there helping with the evacuation of the special needs Silver Towers Campers, after the major rain storms washed out parts of Route 125.   Route 73 was about to give out due to a culvert which was losing integrity.  Not wanting the campers at Silver Towers to become stranded, emergency services requested ACTR take their buses on up Route 73, to evacuate all the campers and bring them to the Red Cross emergency shelter in Middlebury and the town center’s Recreation Gymnasium.  

The fourth major situation worth mentioning in the past five years was in October of 2007.  A train derailed in downtown Middlebury and due to leaking gas from some of the railcars, the situation was very dangerous.  Police asked ACTR to be on standby while schools, homes and businesses were evacuated.  These situations demonstrate times when a need was met by ACTR and they responded swiftly.  Jim Moulton, who has been with Addison County Transit Resources for the past ten years, explains why he loves his job; “I love it because it makes a difference in the quality of life of our entire community.  Our services have a huge impact for our most vulnerable neighbors, friends and relatives.  You would not believe how appreciative riders are for the services we provide.  We enable folks who cannot drive to be independent – and that is an incredible thing that most of us take for granted.  We also have an impact upon the economic and environmental health of the region.  The growth in ridership over the years (just 68,000 rides in Fiscal Year 2002 and now 175,000 in Fiscal Year 2012) is very gratifying - it feels great to provide a service that people want more and more.”  

It is a comfort to know that they are willing to go the extra mile, and help in times of dire need.  We all know individuals and businesses--most of them unsung, or underappreciated who have, done things which make them quiet heroes.  ACTR is one of those groups.  I wish to shine a light on them because they need recognition for the everyday services they provide to everyday people.   But also they need recognition for the times when they are there for the people in times of peril.  When those unsettling times stop our lives from progressing in a normal day to day fashion and we are asked to look inward.  Now that things in our community are relatively quiet I believe ACTR needs to be thanked.  So Thank You to all of you who make it happen.

 


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