The new shuttle bus service, the Lakewood Shuttle (or the “L”), will be starting regular service next Tuesday March 17th, township officials told TLS.

The service will pick up the old Job Link route, which had recently been suspended, as well as the new loop route from Westgate to the downtown area.
“Through the offices of Congressman Chris Smith and the initiative of senior staff at Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG), Lakewood Township received a federal grant of one million dollars to purchase nine buses to be used for public transportation,” said Steven Reinman, the director of economic development. “It took a long time for the shuttle proposal to actually come to fruition.”

The process began when the township designed a RFP and held a bidder’s conference. The contract was awarded to Jay’s Bus Service, who then created a separate subsidiary called Lakewood Community Shuttle Inc., whose express purpose is to operate a public shuttle service with buses designed for 24 passengers and a place for a wheelchair.

The shuttle will start with two routes (See routes here and here). One is a loop from Central Avenue (Route 528) to the downtown area; the other will cover the renewed Job Link bus route that ran for six years serving the Lakewood Industrial Park.

Reinman said, “The hope is that this service will become very successful and do so quickly. Then the Township will request more buses via grants in order to add additional routes or the operator may decide to directly invest in more buses. We have, in the original plan, identified as many as nine routes throughout the town.”

On Monday, a ceremonial first ride will be held for officials and dignitaries.

People will be able to ride at no charge for the first three months. After that, a ride will cost $1.00.

[TLS]

This story was originally published on the Lakewood Scoop website at:

http://www.thelakewoodscoop.com/news/2015/03/lakewoods-new-shuttle-service-to-begin-next-week-routes.html