May 2011 Service Change Public Hearing Notice

Wilmington -- The Delaware Transit Corporation will conduct Public Hearing Workshops to obtain comments on proposed changes to DART First State Statewide Fixed Route Bus Service to become effective Sunday, May 22, 2011, and Resort Service effective Thursday, May 26, 2011.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011; from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Carvel State Office Building, 2nd Floor Auditorium
820 N. French Street, Wilmington

Wednesday, March 9, 2011; from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
DelDOT Admin. Bldg., Farmington/Felton Room
800 Bay Road (US 113), Dover

Thursday, March 10, 2011; from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Georgetown Train Station
140 Layton Ave., Georgetown

The proposal calls for (by County):
New Castle County:
* Shipley St. Proposal; There are currently too many buses serving Rodney Square, especially during rush hours on King St. In coordination with the City of Wilmington, DART proposes to increase passenger safety by shifting bus routes from the King St. side of Rodney Square to a new location on Shipley St. from 9th St. to 8th St. called Mid-Town at Shipley. The routes are 4, 5, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 30, 33, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 54, and 55.

Most of these bus routes (15, 17, 19, 30, 33, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 54, 55) would turn from Orange St. onto 9th St. to the new bus boarding zone on Shipley St., south of 9th St. These routes would no longer serve the bus stop on Orange St. at 9th St. The remaining buses (4, 5, 22, 23, 25) would turn from Orange St. to 10th St. serving the other new bus zone on Shipley St., just north of 9th St. Time adjustments would be made accordingly on routes listed above.

* Route 16; route path into downtown Wilmington would change, traveling up Walnut St., 8th St., French St., 10th St. to Rodney Square continuing to West St., 12th St., ending on Delaware Ave. at Adams St. The out of town path would come from Delaware Ave. serving the stop on 11th St. side of Rodney Square instead of the King St. side. Stops on Orange St. would no longer be served by this route.

* Route 24; new trip would be added leaving Kynlyn Dr. at 6:28 a.m., arriving at Rodney Square at 6:52 a.m.

* Route 55; minor time adjustments would be made between Glasgow and Newark to improve on-time performance.

Kent County:* Route 104; All trips would leave Dover Transit Center on the hour instead of 15 minutes past the hour to improve on-time performance and provide better connections.

* Route 106; Service to Dover Air Force Base would be discontinued due to Base Homeland Security measures. Stops would be added outside of the main gate and at the base housing gate.

* Route 117; All trips would operate 15 minutes earlier to maintain connections with Route 104.

* Route 120; The 6:10 p.m. trip from Smyrna to Dover would now allow passengers to board at the Dover Mall and Delaware State University.

Sussex County:
* Minor time changes, where needed, to improve on-time performance or connections with other buses.

Resort Service:
* Routes 201-208 would operate seven days a week from Thursday, May 26 through September 18, 2011. Route 305 would operate Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays from Friday, May 27 to September 5, 2011.

* Route 204; Weekend service would begin 2 hours earlier at 7 a.m. from May 26 - June 30 and Sept. 6 - 18 to match the peak season schedule.

* Route 305; Beach Connection would add Saturday trips leaving Wilmington at 9:15 a.m. arriving in Rehoboth at 11:19 a.m., and leaving Rehoboth at 6 p.m. arriving in Wilmington at 8:04 p.m.

Intercounty Service:
* Route 301; The first northbound morning trip would leave DelDOT 10 minutes earlier to ensure better connections with Amtrak and SEPTA train service; most other northbound morning trips would leave 5 minutes earlier from Scarborough Rd.; the southbound trip leaving Wilmington at 3:10 p.m. would leave 5 minutes later, allowing for better train connections.