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    ‘The Green Line’ celebrates 13 years with route change

    ‘The Green Line’ celebrates 13 years with route change

    Photo By Sgt. Brittany A. James | Marines and sailors embark on The Green Line shuttle Oct. 24 at Camp Foster. The Green...... read more read more

    CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, JAPAN

    10.15.2014

    Story by Cpl. Lena Wakayama 

    III Marine Expeditionary Force   

    CAMP FOSTER, Japan - The Green Line celebrated its 13th anniversary Oct. 15 in a unique way: by implementing new bus routes across Marine Corps installations on Okinawa. The new system is being called TGL Enrichment 2.

    “In early 2013, we (implemented) TGL Enrichment, which was a complete overhaul of the bus system that we run between camps and also within camps,” said Capt. William Sanford, fleet manager of garrison mobile vehicles, Marine Corps Installations Pacific-Marine Corps Base, Camp Butler Japan. “At the time (TGL Enrichment) was a good plan, but due to the changes in population densities and ways that Marines need to move from camp to camp, we saw that there were changes that could be made to make (travel) better for the customer.”

    TGLE2 will operate on a hub and spoke system, according to Thomas L. Ramer, the operations officer for Garrison Mobile Equipment and creator of the Green Line. The buses will be centralized at a hub or hubs and will depart for various destinations from there. TGLE2 will have two hubs, which will be located at Camps Foster and Hansen.

    As an example, Ramer used the route from Camp Schwab to Foster that under the current system takes more than two hours.

    “Before, Schwab Marines would (stay on the bus) through Hansen; but now they will have to debark at Hansen,” said Ramer. “Changing buses gives them the opportunity to choose the destination. It gives them the opportunity to go to the commissary on Courtney or come straight down to Foster.”

    In addition to the hub option, there will also be a direct line from Schwab to Foster and Foster back to Schwab, running four times a day. The direct line will cut the previous two-hour travel time to one hour.

    Another new feature of TGLE2 is the bunch departure, in which all buses will leave its beginning destination at the top of the hour, every two hours, which will make it easier for passengers, according to Sanford.

    Along with the buses leaving at the same time, the buses will also be arriving five minutes early at the hubs and places where routes originate. The bus drivers will then stop, turn their engines off and allow Marines to board early if they wish.

    “This (addresses) the issue that we’re currently facing with people thinking we leave early or late or thinking the bus didn’t show up at all,” said Ramer. “We hope to end those types of customer service problems with the bunch departures.”

    Although the new schedule will make it easier for customers to remember when the buses depart, they will still have to plan out their trips, according to Ramer.

    The decision to have the buses leave every two hours was made so the service will remain in place, according to Sanford.

    “We preserve it or we lose it,” said Ramer. “You can wait two hours between buses today and have a Green Line running next year and the year after, or we can keep the hourly departures, and in a year or two there won’t be a Green Line anymore.”

    The Green Line shuttle provides a way for Marines and sailors on Okinawa to travel within bases as well as between bases at no cost to them.

    “I use it a lot and it's a good source of transportation for everybody,” said Cpl. Geoffrey Bentley, a generator mechanic with Facilities Engineer Division, Headquarters and Support Battalion, Marine Corps Installations Pacific-Marine Corps Base, Camp Butler. “It doesn't cost us money and it gets us from place to place.”

    While the Green Line is known for its shuttle, a common misunderstanding is that the Green Line is only a shuttle service, according to Ramer.

    “Our mission, at the core, is to support the strategic mission of the Department of Defense and the Marine Corps here in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Ramer. “People think we’re just a shuttle bus, but we’re here to move Marines.”

    During its 13 years in existence, the Green Line has moved Marines returning from combat and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, and even transported Japanese children whom arrived on Okinawa to take part in a home stay program with American families.

    “When (Ramer) started the Green Line at its infancy, he probably never thought it would have made it this far,” said Sanford. “It has supported (III Marine Expeditionary Force) deployments, redeployments, contingency operations and real world operations, so (this anniversary) is noteworthy.”

    For more information regarding the Green Line and its new schedule, please visit http://www.mcbbutler.marines.mil/BaseInformation/TheGreenLine.aspx

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 10.15.2014
    Date Posted: 10.29.2014 00:47
    Story ID: 146390
    Location: CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, JP

    Web Views: 1,235
    Downloads: 0

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