Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Forget the Car - Take the PTown Shuttle


Provincetown is very walkable, being such a small town, but sometimes you need a ride. Or you might have something to carry. Maybe you want to go to the beach without having to drive or pay the parking fee. And if you came to Provincetown without a car, we thank you for that!  The Provincetown Shuttle can take you just about anywhere you want to go, and you can even bring your bike with you. There's room for two bikes to ride along on the bike rack on the front of every shuttle bus.
Photo from shuttle website
There are routes from the center of PTown to the Provincelands Visitors Center, Race Point Beach and the Airport; one to the Provincetown Inn and Herring Cove Beach, and one that runs along Bradford Street and out onto Beach Point and all the way to the campgrounds in North Truro, and you can flag down the bus anywhere along its route, or catch any one of these buses at the bus plaza, in the center of town, near the Chamber of Commerce and the public restrooms. And new this year is the Outer Cape Bike Shuttle, pulling a trailer behind the bus, with room enough to carry about a dozen bikes and riders. It provides access to other bike trails beyond the eight miles of paved trails in the PTown area. This route has specific stops from Provincetown to Wellfleet, and it runs only on Saturdays and Sundays. All these bus routes are served by the fleet of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority. These buses come in various sizes and shapes, but they are always white with a bit of blue and green somewhere on the bus. They are all scheduled to leave the bus plaza (MacMillan Pier stop on the printed schedules) on the hour and the half hour, with most routes running daily until midnight. All rides are $2 for adults, $1 for kids, seniors and those with disabilities. You can get a money-saving pass from your driver. Click any of the links on this page to find fare and schedule information from the company's website. 
Judy Hogan enjoys her job  
The fleet also includes the Flex Bus, running from Provincetown to Harwich, for access to Cape Cod Hospital and other destinations further up the cape. It runs every day in the summer, leaving PTown on the hour from 6 AM till 8 PM.
Judy Hogan was among the first drivers when the Flex Bus began running from Provincetown to Harwich about seven years ago, switching to the P’town shuttle route during the summers of these last few years. She actually prefers the route she drives in the summer, carrying her passengers back and forth between Provincetown, the resorts and motels on Beach Point and the campgrounds in North Truro. She says she enjoys bringing people from one happy place to another.

These buses make it pretty easy to get wherever you want to go in the summertime, and using the bus saves fuel and decreases air pollution as well. So rather than driving, or taking a taxi, take a bus that's already going to your destination. Mother Nature will thank you for it, and we'll all breathe easier.


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