By Anne Levin

Proposed changes to the schedule of the FreeB, which takes commuters to and from the Dinky train station and other locations in town, are being reconsidered following comments offered by members of the public at a meeting of Princeton Council Monday night, October 23.

A report on final route changes indicated cuts on some commuter runs and added trips on the neighborhood loop, which travels between Elm Court, the downtown, Princeton Shopping Center, and Bunn Drive. A ridership survey showed that the commuter runs had an average of three passengers per trip, but the neighborhood runs showed an average of 13 passengers. Commuter ridership has decreased from about 12,000 trips per year before the Dinky station was moved to its present location, to just under 10,000 trips.

A common complaint among members of the public has been the lack of publicity about the free bus. “People don’t know about it,” said Molly Sullivan, who rides the bus to and from the Dinky station during the work week. She suggested the committee change its strategy to first market the service, then collect data, and finally come up with a new schedule. “The proposed schedule doesn’t serve the main commuter time in the evening,” she added.

Ted Moss, driver of the FreeB for the last six years, urged the committee not to cut out the 5:25 p.m. run to the Dinky station. On the neighborhood runs, the 10:08 a.m. stop at Redding Circle draws the most riders, he said. Moss had several points to raise, including a complaint about faulty heating on the bus. “We have a brand new, $90,000 vehicle with heat from the third seat forward and nothing behind,” he said. “I have complained since October but nothing has been done.”

Fay Reiter, chair of the town’s Public Transit Advisory Committee, acknowledged that the complaints have been lodged and said they were under consideration. Mayor Liz Lempert advised the committee to do some tweaking, and then come back to Council not for a vote, but just to inform them of changes and help convey them to the public.

“It’s a complicated optimization challenge and a lot of it is basic math,” said Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller, liaison to the committee. Reiter commented, “Our goal is to offer more service, expanding it, starting earlier in the day and later in the day. Everybody is in full agreement of that.”

Among other actions, Council approved a resolution requesting the New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) to install pedestrian crossing traffic signals at three intersections in town: Washington Road and Nassau Street, Witherspoon and Nassau streets, and University Place and Nassau Street. It was at the Washington Road and Nassau Street crosswalk that 62-year-old Leslie Goodrich Rubin was fatally struck by a cement truck on October 11.

Lempert said she called the DOT the morning after the accident and reminded them that this was something the town has requested in the past. “They were interested in seeing a copy of the police report,” she said. “I think that will be done sometime this or next week. The last time they looked at [the issue], they rejected it. But they didn’t say absolutely no, so I think this resolution will help.”

Ms. Lempert said she heard from many concerned members of the public following the accident. It is important to remember that “… this signal is not under the municipality’s control, because Nassau Street is a state road,” she added. “The DOT makes the decision.”