Beginning sometime in the spring, Plainsboro residents will have another way of getting to the Princeton Junction train station, and it will only cost them $1 or less.
That comes thanks to a federal grant obtained by Middlesex County to start a new shuttle route from Jamesburg, through Cranbury and Plainsboro, and to the train station, and back. According to Les Varga, the township’s director of planning and zoning, the new shuttle route will supplement the county’s 600 bus.
It will run every hour from 6 a.m. to about 6 p.m., with a route that takes passengers from Veterans Park in Jamesburg, down through Gatzmer Avenue, Forsgate Drive, and Perrineville Road, through Prospect Plains Road, to Cranbury-Half Acre Road, up Route 130, to Old Trenton Road, then down North Main Street, through Cranbury, and then to Plainsboro Road. From there, it will come down around Scudders Mill Road onto Schalks Crossing, and then onto Enterprise Drive.
It will make a route around the Village Center and the municipal complex, head to Maple Avenue, and then to Grovers Mill Road, where it will end at the Princeton Junction train station. From there, it will turn around and head back along the route.
Varga said there are seven stops planned right now along the entire route, including two definite stops at the Village Center and municipal complex in Plainsboro. There is a possibility that there will be a stop at the intersection of North Main and Plainsboro Road.
There is no cost to the township for the route, and it is something Mayor Peter Cantu has been trying to establish for a long time, Varga said. “This is the fifth or sixth type of shuttle the county has going, but nothing has seeped this far down into the county,” said Varga. The mayor was also urging the county to implement a shuttle service that was sustainable. “This is hopefully going to be around for a while.”
The price to ride the shuttle will be 50 cents for senior citizens and $1 for all other passengers, and Varga said he believes the shuttle will be a 16- to 30-passenger bus, similar to the fleet the county uses already on other routes. There has not been a date set for the implementation of the shuttle, but officials are anticipating it will begin in the spring. “If this fits your schedule, this would be ideal, especially during the midday times to get into the village area and hospital, and even to get down towards Cranbury,” said Varga.
