CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH PAIGE EATON, AL-TRAN DIRECTOR
The Alger County Transit Authority runs three buses to Marquette every day, Monday through Friday, every week. Now the agency is trying out a new bus service to and from Escanaba.
AlTran is calling it a “shopping shuttle”, and they plan to run their first one on Monday, December 18th. So, where does the route go once riders are in Escanaba?
“There’s not really a schedule, it’s an open forum with the driver,” Executive Director Paige Eaton told RRN News. “The driver will drop them off at Wal-Mart, or Meijer, or Aldi, or Marshall’s, Menards. In that general area. And then they can call the driver, or schedule a time that they would like to be picked back up from that destination to go to another location.”
The bus will leave Munising at 8:00 in the morning, and will leave Escanaba at 3:00 for the return home. Eaton says they will also pick up people in between Munising and Escanaba, along M-94 and M-67, at the M-DOT Park-N-Ride, and at the Trenary Mini Mart. She says they will have several coolers aboard the bus in case people buy perishable food items while they’re shopping in Escanaba.
“I’m hoping to do this beyond Christmas,” Eaton said. “We have recently lost one of our grocery stores, Bob’s IGA in Munising, which is forcing everyone to utilize Pat’s (Foods). So, we would like to offer people another option to local residents in the Alger County area for their shopping needs. Or for their medical needs it that’s necessary.”
Eaton says they need at least ten people to sign up for each shuttle to make it viable, and the cost is $16 round trip from the Munising Transfer Station to Escanaba and back. Senior citizens and those with disabilities can get the service for half price. Just call 906-387-4845, extension 1, to sign up.
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