Rowan Express East is on the road

Rockwell Mayor Beau Taylor steps off the Rowan Express East bus at its sendoff Monday morning at Granite Quarry Town Hall. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

The Rowan Express East bus serves Granite Quarry, Faith and Rockwell with connections to Salisbury and beyond. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

Several public officials pose for a picture on the Rowan Express East bus, including, from left, Salisbury Councilman William "Pete" Kennedy, Granite Quarry Mayor Mary Ponds and Rowan Transit Director Clyde Fahnestock. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

Faith Mayor Keith Deal is reflected in a window of the Rowan Express East bus now serving the towns of Granite Quarry, Faith and Rockwell. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — Public transportation in Rowan County took a step forward Monday with the full-blown start of bus service to the towns of Rockwell, Faith and Granite Quarry.

Rowan Express East offers a 14-passenger bus traveling a 22-mile, hour-and-20-minute loop seven times a day from Monday-Friday.

The route will start each day at the East branch of Rowan Public Library in Rockwell at 6:55 a.m. and take an inbound course, stopping at the Food Lion in Rockwell, the Saleeby-Fisher YMCA on Crescent Road, Faith Baptist Church, Brinkley Center in Granite Quarry, Fred’s department store in Granite Quarry, the Rowan County Health and Social Services departments and the Salisbury bus transfer station on Depot Street.

The bus then leaves Salisbury for eastern Rowan, making its stops in Granite Quarry, the YMCA, Rockwell and Faith before looping back to Granite Quarry, the Health and Social Services departments and the transfer station.

The service ends each day at Faith Baptist Church at 6:12 p.m.

The cost of riding is $1 per passenger. Children under 5 ride free.

Transfers from Rowan Express East to Salisbury transit or, farther south, the Concord-Kannapolis RIDER Transit System also are free.

State transportation and local municipal and county officials gathered at Granite Quarry Town Hall this morning with a new Rowan Express East bus parked outside.

Meanwhile, another Rowan Express East bus already was on the route and in service.

N.C. Public Transportation Director Miriam Perry said Rowan Express East, a sister to the Rowan Express service started for southern Rowan County in April 2009, represents a regional transit vision that goes beyond municipal borders.

Granite Quarry Mayor Mary Ponds, Faith Mayor Keith Deal, Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz and Rockwell Mayor Beau Taylor said the new bus service immediately connects their four communities.

“If I seem to be excited, I am,” Ponds said. “... We have now added some fingers to the hand.”

Kluttz noted this region’s status as a federal non-attainment area for air quality and said the bus service not only connects eastern Rowan to Salisbury, but it’s better for the environment if people take advantage of the cheap ride, with free transfers to other parts of the region.

The public officials said the bus service will be important for people looking for options to get to work, shopping, libraries, health and social services, other county offices, doctor’s offices, hospitals and school.

N.C. Department of Transportation Board Member Ralph Womble said riders in eastern Rowan County are, in fact, connected to the rest of the East Coast.

A Rowan Express East passenger can easily take the bus to and from the Amtrak station in Salisbury.

Womble said the new service reflects the N.C. Department of Transportation’s continuing efforts to change from being a highway center to an emphasis on all modes of transportation connecting people and places.

The small bus is accessible to the handicapped and racks will be installed to carry bicycles.

Getting the service up and running represents a coordinated effort, officials said, among Rowan County commissioners, the four municipalities, Rowan Transit System, the health and social services departments, Salisbury Transit, the Cabarrus-Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization and the DOT.

Clyde Fahnestock, director of the Rowan Transit System, said state Rural General Public Funds will pay 90 percent of the operating costs for Rowan Express East. Rowan County pays the remaining 10 percent.

The county received an additional $101,000 grant from the N.C. Public Transportation Division to cover the cost of a vehicle, four bus-stop shelters and eight benches.

Rowan Transit is using Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds to install bike racks on two of the buses.

Fahnestock says the county will have five mini buses available for the South Rowan and East Rowan routes. He said he hoped Rowan Express East could average 35 to 40 riders a day starting out, with numbers approaching 50 to 60 a day toward the end of its first year.

Gary Price, transportation manager for Rowan County, said Rowan Express East had a “soft startup” last Wednesday through Friday, just to help drivers get used to the route, work out any kinks and also serve as a moving billboard to advertise the service.

Ernest Sharpe (mornings) and Elijah Summers (afternoons) will be the drivers for Rowan Express East, which will have one bus running at a time. On the Rowan Express South route, two buses are operating at one time.

Fahnestock said Rowan Express South is “going well,” averaging 56 riders a day. On a recent day, it had 72 riders, he said.

For more information on bus stops and schedules for Rowan Express East, contact customer service at 704-216-8888, or visit the Web site at www.rowancountync.gov/rowanexpress.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com.