The Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority will soon be launching what it calls its dual-directional bus route ride called Blue Line on Saipan that will provide public transportation that’s going to the north and south sides of the island.
According to Alfreda Camacho Maratita, who is the special assistant for public transportation for COTA, the northbound fixed bus route will start at Tottotville Estate and end at the American Memorial Park. It will be making stops at 64 stations along the way.
The southbound fixed bus route, on the other hand, will run from the Paseo de Marianas in Garapan all the way to Tottotville Estate. It has 31 stations.
To familiarize the public to this new bus service, Maratita invited the media on Friday afternoon to experience the ride aboard a COTA bus during the northbound and southbound rides. She was joined by members of the Office of the Governor’s Information Office aboard the bus.
Maraitita said the inaugural Blue Line 1B will start this Friday, Nov. 24, and rides will be free for the rest of the year.
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, though, the regular fare is $1. For students, veterans, active-duty military, senior citizens, and individuals with disabilities, fare is 50 cents.
Operation hours are Monday through Friday, from 6:30am to 8:30pm. Weekends and holidays is 6:30am to 8pm.
Maratita said everything is federally funded through their federal grants agency, the Federal Transit Administration.
She said 10 Americans with Disabilities Act accessible buses were awarded through a competitive grant under the Bus and Bus Facilities Program Section 5339 under the Federal Transit Administration.
Each bus has 20 seats. If someone with a wheelchair is to use a seat, it will go down by two seats.
Maratita said the buses have a bike rack so anyone that is interested in taking service for a bike ride is welcome to join them.
She said there was a pilot program that was launched back in 2017 and that covered Route 1A.
Maratita said they had the opportunity to assess what worked, what didn’t work, and realized there was more traction on Route 1B.
“So this is what we wanted to focus on,” she said, referring to Blue Line 1B route.
She said it did take a couple of years again to revisit the program, only because they suspended the services due to austerity measures back in 2019 and 2020. Then COVID-19 pandemic hit, so they had to suspend it indefinitely.
“So we’re really happy to be able to relaunch this again,” Maratita said.
She said this is a blessing for everyone that lives here, everyone that needs to get to and from their doctor’s appointments, to school, places of leisure, grocery shopping, catching movies, or just about else that people want to do.
“We’re basically here to connect our people in this community,” she said.
For now, Maratita said, they’re experiencing anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour to get to and from the end of their destinations, and that’s considering the ongoing construction works that are happening on Route 30.
She believes, though, that with additional time and cooperation from all agencies, particularly the Department of Public Works, which is partnering with them, they will be able to identify and solidify the times even further.
“This is a work in progress. And we are happy to share this with everybody,” she said.
Under this system, one bus will be going north simultaneously with the second bus going south, and the third one is a spare.
In total, she said, they’re looking at five buses once they connect another route they are planning to call 1A.
“Now we are focusing on 1B. This one that we’re going on is 1B. 1A would also have the same, so a total of five,” Maratita said.
She said 1A is from Northern Marianas College and connect through As Lito area, down As Terlaje Hill into Middle Road, the hospital, and circle around back to Paseo de Marianas.
As soon as COTA get this Bus Line 1B off and running, the next phase is to connect 1A.
“We’re looking at connecting the east side, which is Kagman. That is an area where I know a lot of our folks need to get into the community,” she said.
If not, Maratita said, they are going to connect all the way up to As Matuis.
Smoking and chewing are not allowed on the buses. If passengers are intoxicated and are belligerent, the driver has the right to call the Department of Public Safety and have the authorities handle them.
Maratita said they would consider extending their hours if there’s demand that they need to open the hours a little bit longer.
View the full article: https://www.saipantribune.com/news/local/cota-ushers-bus-line-route/article_7dc2118e-86ae-11ee-b603-4bbe0bb300f6.html
