FORT BRAGG, N.C.— The Fort Bragg post shuttle service and the Fayetteville Area System of Transit bus or FAST, are scheduled to connect this summer to help support the growing population of soldiers and civilians working and living on the post and in the city of Fayetteville.
The present connection is part of the continuing process of improvements to create a more sustainable community, a plan researched and orchestrated by Timothy Shea, transportation chief directorate of logistics.
“The ‘red route’ connects to the FAST bus at the Yadkin Road access control point from Monday through Saturday,” said Shea. “This was part of the crawl, walk, run phase to test out how the connection would work and if people would use it.”
When the two transit systems merge, it will expand the current connection at the Yadkin Road ACP that has already been established between the post shuttle and the FAST bus.
“The FAST bus will travel from Yadkin Road and stop at the mini mall,” said Shea. “It will also travel from the Cross Creek Mall to Bragg Boulevard, through the Randolph gate and stop at the multi-mobile hub located in front of the Starbucks and furniture store near Butner gate.”
When transferring from the post shuttle to the FAST bus, currently there is a small fee. When transferring from the FAST to the post shuttle there is no fee.
“At a planning meeting, a new rule was put in effect that Soldiers in uniform will ride the FAST for free and pay when in civilian clothes,” said Randy Hume, FAST director.
When the tie takes place patrons transferring from the FAST bus to the Fort Bragg shuttle will only have to show their identification card. From there, they can travel throughout post using any of the 12 routes and then transfer back to the FAST.
City transportation operating on Fort Bragg has not occurred for quite some time.
“This is historic,” said Shea. “The last time a commercial bus was on Fort Bragg was in 1986, 27 years, it’s kind of amazing to think about that.”
Shea can now breathe a small sigh of relief that the ball is rolling. After his initial meeting with city officials from the eight surrounding counties, and getting the approval from former Garrison Commander Stephen J. Sicinski in 2009, all that hard work is finally paying off.
For information on the Fort Bragg post shuttle service, visit www.bragg.army.mil/directorates/logistics/ITO. The post shuttle is also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FortBraggShuttle.