The TrainLink shuttle, a commuter service that runs from Forrestal Center to the Princeton Junction Train Station, has run regularly for 14 years. Lately, predictions of its future have made the free bus route look more like a roller coaster ride.##M:[more]##
Last month Forrestal Center announced it would cut its funding for the shuttle. The group’s funding, having supported the service since its inception, amounted to forty percent of the total operating cost. In the time since, the GMTMA and Executive Director Sandra Brillhart have secured additional funding and lost it again within the space of a few days.
On March 8 Brillhart held a meeting with the company as well as with Merrill Lynch, Munich Re America, and NEC Laboratories, and other companies, all of whom have employees who use the service. After the meeting, Brillhart said funding had been secured and that the shuttle would continue running uninterrupted.
Days later, Brillhart says one or more of the companies may take back their offer. “”We won’t know for sure until next week,”” said Brillhart on Thursday, April 5.Approximately 125 commuters use TrainLink currently. It runs from the hours of 7 to 10 a.m. and from 3:30 to 7 p.m. Its schedule coincides with trains departing for or coming from New York, but Philadelphia riders use the service as well.
Brillhart said even if no additional funding is secured, it is not likely that riders will be charged to use the service. “”We have looked into that. I don’t know that it would contribute enough money to keep the service running,”” she said.
