UW is introducing “CommuterLink” as its replacement for the closing Gem City Grand bus line next fall.
Paul Kunkel, UW’s manager of Transit and Parking Services, said UW is taking over all operations previously served by the ACTA (Albany County Transportation Authority).
“We plan to start the route next fall,” Kunkel said. “The route will be very similar to the Gem City Grand, but will run on a smaller scale than it has in the past. The route will run until 8:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. and will not run on weekends. We plan to expand SafeRide services on Saturday to make up for the removal of the Saturday fixed route.”
Kunkel also said SafeRide will run on an on-call basis to designated stops across town such as Wal-Mart, Safeway and downtown, but the stop list has not been finalized.
The CommuterLink east route will include stops at First and Grand Avenue, the Laramie Plains Civic Center and the Union. The envisioned CommuterLink west route would include stops at Wal-Mart, the corner of Beech and Glacier Street, LCCC, the Laramie Recreation Center, Ridley’s, Spanish Walk and the Union.
Rhonda Young, a chairperson on the ACTA board and an associate professor in the Civil Engineering department, said ACTA would continue to reach out to the community to secure funds for continuing transportation services in Laramie during general elections.
“In the interim, the university recognized that the system was around 65 percent students, that there was a student need, so that’s why they stepped in with their system,” Young said.
The implementation of CommuterLink comes following financial and technical issues with the Gem City Grand line that made a replacement necessary. Randy Hunt, a Laramie community development director and member of the ACTA board, said it is a plan they are very comfortable with.
“We’re delighted that UW is in a position to step forward and pick up where the Gem City Grand wasn’t able to continue going,” Hunt said. “This’ll fill the gap as well as anybody could expect and really better than we could expect.”
