Last week Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) extended the route of the Hopper beyond the Elm Street corridor. It now includes Moses Cone Hospital, the State Street shopping and dining district, and Revolution Mill, an office and residential complex.
The free transit service debuted last summer and wrapped up its first year in June.
GTA marketing and communications manager Kevin Elwood says they’ve learned some things from the first year’s usage, and that led to changes in addition to the expanded route.
“We realized that ridership dropped off significantly during the winter months," he says. "So we decided going forward, we were going to make the trolley seasonal, meaning that it will run through the end of October, and then it will take a hiatus until April.”
Elwood says the savings from not offering the free service in the off-season helped pay for the expanded route.
Because the trolley will go farther, riders may have to wait longer for pickups, he says. A trolley will likely come by about every quarter-hour instead of every 10 minutes.
Elwood says in its first year the Hopper provided more than 52,000 rides.