North Shore Cities Look To Expand Public Transit Options

PEABODY, MA -- The mayors of Beverly, Peabody and Salem are looking for ways to expand public transit offerings to make the North Shore a more attractive place for people to live and employers to locate. Officials from the three cities are working on a study with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council that would determine routes, schedules and private sector-support for a regional bus system.

"We're trying to figure out if there's a hub-and-spoke system using some of the rail service we have, and linking that with cars and shuttles in a way that gets people to have other options — other than driving from point A to point B," Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll told the Salem News, which first reported this story.

In addition to looking at serving the needs of people who live on the North Shore, the consortium want to look at people who travel to the North Shore for work or pleasure via public transportation. Driscoll described it as a "last mile" problem, meaning people can take the MBTA commuter rail to the region but then have limited options for moving around the region.

"If you live in Salem and work at Cummings Center, really, the only way to get there is to drive. The train doesn't go there," she said. "If you live in Marblehead or Swampscott, you have to drive."

The plans are in the earliest stages. The three cities are waiting to hear back on a grant application from MAPC that would fund a formal study, which could begin as early as this fall.

For more on this story, see the Salem News. Subscribe to Salem Patch and Peabody Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).