GATEWAY extends hours for holiday shoppers
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 9, 2010 1:46 PM
A popular Wayne County holiday tradition will get under way Saturday when hours will be extended for all GATEWAY bus service routes.
The extended hours will continue through Dec. 23. The extension, to accommodate holiday shoppers, was approved by the Goldsboro-Wayne Transportation Authority Board at its December meeting.
Establishing the actual hours was left to the discretion of authority Director Alan Stubbs. Bus fare are not affected by the longer hours.
Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.
The express route will operate from 6:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
During the December meeting there had been some discussion of just extending the hours on selected routes.
Stubbs said it was finally decided to include all of the routes because, "we didn't want to miss anybody."
"Every year passengers start asking questions around Thanksgiving if we are going to have it," he said. "There is a little spike (in rider numbers), but we see more people riding later. Instead of going out earlier they can go out later in the afternoon."
While the extended hours are a convenience for customers they make for a long day for drivers, he said.
"It is just kind of tough on our people," he said. "Our drivers are sacrificing to take care of our customers."
The GATEWAY office will close at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 24 and will be closed on Christmas Day.
The van service will operate on normal hours other than closing at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 24 and being closed Christmas Day.
Normal operations will resume Dec. 27.