Gold Line Expands to Five Days in New Meadows
“We want to go where you want to go!” Terri Lindenberg is enthusiastic about helping people get where they want to go. As Executive Director of Treasure Valley Transit, Lindenberg has worked closely with New Meadows Mayor Julie Good and local supporters St. Luke’s and Perpetua Resources to move the New Meadows Gold Line from two days per week to five days per week. The expansion was celebrated at a kick-off event in the New Meadows City Park on Tuesday, June 4th. Cupcakes and swag items like notebooks, power boxes, bus route brochures, and pens were available to all joining the celebration. Mayor Good spoke to the attendees and emphasized the positive impact of consistent ridership in helping to make the expansion possible. “It is important for people to ride this bus.” She encouraged people to get on the bus and keep riding week after week, saying that the more people ride, the more likely it will be that the county and other donors will see and give toward the program knowing it is really working.
The Gold Line five day expansion began Monday, June 3rd. The route offers transportation service Monday through Friday between New Meadows and McCall. All are welcome to ride and transportation is free. Stephen Hackler, Operations Supervisor with Mountain Transit, told me the bus has a bike rack that can hold 3 large bikes. He emphasized that children are very welcome on the bus and even said some kids were using the bus to get to school and work in McCall. Hackler said, “we built the route so that it will accommodate all kinds of people and cover all kinds of needs.” Along with the bike rack, all buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts.
The new Gold Line service between New Meadows and McCall started about one year ago with a two day per week schedule. Lindenberg emphasized Mayor Good’s impact on the expansion saying, she “is incredible with grant writing and community support and brought in a grant from Blue Cross to allow us to do this route expansion from June through September with a goal of continuing this at five days a week into the future.” The new Gold Line connects Adams and Valley counties and with the additional bus routes in McCall, people can ride all the way from New Meadows to and from Cascade. In the future, the hope is that Adams County as a whole will want to expand bus routes down into Council. The goal of Treasure Valley Transit with Mountain Community Transit is to get people where they need to go throughout the entire region.
Multiple community partners came together to establish the expansion. Perpetua Resources and the City of New Meadows being two. The Blue Cross Foundation of Idaho made a wonderful donation. St. Luke’s contributed as well and Community Health Manager, Tiffany Dobbs has been working with New Meadows to push the expansion forward. Dobbs emphasized the importance of people having easier access to healthcare and to nutritious food. The bus helps with access to both, and the expansion will make these necessary services even easier to acquire.
The City of New Meadows plans to add a weatherproof covering to a bench at the City Park for riders to use while waiting for the bus. To quote Mayor Good, “it takes a community to make this happen, but it also takes people willing to invest in the community.” Go ride the bus!
Visit www.mountaincommunitytransit.com for more information and to view the bus schedule and other transportation routes.
