Greenway, a company providing public transportation services in Caldwell, Burke, Alexander and Catawba Counties, recently began a pilot project for a new micro-transit zone in Caldwell County. Those within the zone could purchase on-demand transportation services for the price of $2.50 per ride between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. The zone is part of an initiative by the company and by local municipalities to improve the quality of transportation available to county residents, said Greenway mobility manager Kaylan Kelley.
The pilot project started on Monday, Aug. 5, with a single driving serving a roughly triangular zone that covers Lenoir, Hudson, portions of Cajah’s Mountain and Gamewell (along Morganton Boulevard and to the east), according to an interactive map found through mygreenway.org.
As residents use the service to travel to popular locations like Walmart, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, Yokefellow, and the libraries in Lenoir and Hudson, Greenway will collect data on usage and demographics that they may then use to develop the program father. If the program proves successful within the county, it may be made permanent.
For the time being, the program will run until late fall in 2025, Kelley said, after which the total collected data will be reevaluated.
“So anyone who lives within the zone can call into the dispatch office and request a ride for anything within the [micro-transit zone],” said Kelley. After calling, users can wait for as little as 10 minutes or between 30 minutes and an hour on an especially busy day for the vehicle to arrive. For a $2.50 fee upon each boarding, riders can travel to anywhere else within the zone.
Although there is currently only one driver, Kelley said that the company would hire more to meet increasing demand if it were to become necessary. She also mentioned that, because the cutoff for dispatch is 5 p.m., users of the service should call in their last rides of the day by 4:30 p.m.
Greenway started a micro transit project in Burke County in 2022 that allowed the company to recover ridership decreases that occurred in the wake of the pandemic, Kelley said. Similar to the Caldwell zone, the Burke zone encompasses Morganton, Valdese, Drexel and Rutherford College. Kelley said that ridership has increased by 30%, replacing some more traditional routes.
The Caldwell zone was developed over the course of several years and through conversation with leaders of local governments to allow those without cars greater access to the amenities of the county, Kelley said. She mentioned the Caldwell Senior Center as an example, saying that because the center has so few parking spots, guests can make the trip with a higher confidence that they will be able to use the facility.
“I think that’s a really nice addition,” said Lenoir Mayor Joseph Gibbons. “I think that’s something we probably need around here to help people out. I hope that will be a feature for the county that will help a lot of people.”
Additional information about the micro-transit zone and other services offered by Greenway may be found at mygreenway.org, and the phone number for the dispatch center is 828-465-7634.
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