A contract with National Express Transit Services Corp. (National Express) to provide PART Express fixed-route commuter services in the Piedmont Triad region was approved unanimously this week by the board of the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation in Greensboro, N.C. Services under National Express are scheduled to begin Saturday, December 1, which include management and operation of 42 vehicles, operating six days a week, running 13 express and shuttle routes all across the Piedmont Triad.
“We are so proud to add PART to our growing list of customers, and more importantly, we look forward to implementing safe and convenient services for the passengers who rely on PART each day,” stated Pete Settle, chief executive officer of National Express Transit Services Corp.
Scott Rhine, PART programs manager, expressed, “National Express was the easy choice to serve as PART’s next operator for the express services. They proposed a solid operations and transition plan and proposed a cost-effective pricing structure, all based on highly recommended experience operating similar services elsewhere in the country.”
Both Rhine and Settle anticipate a smooth transition of the service over the next several weeks. “We are already marshaling the corporate and regional resources needed to accomplish a smooth start-up and will soon have our entire resident team in place to ensure that we are ready at the end of the month,” said Settle. Rhine added that he expects National Express will consider hiring the vast majority of the contracted employees who are currently providing the service who would like to be considered, pending successful background checks and mandatory safety screenings.
