A quick shout-out to DelDOT: please make it clearer on your website and schedules that bus service in Sussex County is only in operation Monday through Friday. I took a leisurely walk to Rehoboth from Lewes last weekend – through Cape Henlopen State Park, over guts and marshes, through the dunes, around Gordons Pond, down the beach – you get the picture.
After looking up bus schedules online, I figured I could leave Lewes and make the 12:19 bus leaving from the Boardwalk at the end of Rehoboth Avenue. That would put me back in Lewes half an hour later, at the Beebe Medical Center stop. A nice cheap way to spend the day off.
The tide was down and that allowed me to cross a couple of drainage ditches in the park that would have otherwise required a long runaround and another hour. But three and a half hours after leaving downtown Lewes I was on the Boardwalk waiting for the 12:19. The bus costs $1. You can’t beat that for getting around.
At 12:25 I was getting concerned, about the bus. The waiting didn’t bother me. Lenny Nelson came by in his car and we talked a while. He just came back from a ski trip to Mt. Snow in New England. “Been taking a group of kids up there every winter for more than 30 years,” Lenny told me. His knees won’t let him ski any more. They’re all beat up from his days playing football. But he still loves putting the trip together, seeing the kids having fun and besides, Roxanne – Lenny’s wife – didn’t play football and she still likes to ski. Lenny’s one of the Boardwalk regulars in Rehoboth.
At 12:45 I knew I had a problem and I took a close look at the bus stop sign next to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union fountain. MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SERVICE ONLY.
Now wasn’t that a kick in the pants. I thought of people I could call. Becky was working and I didn’t feel like imposing on others for my miscalculation. So I called a cab. $25. I was fortunate to have the money. That’s enough to make 25 trips on the bus, when it starts running every day. I understand it’s a budget thing with the buses and maybe there aren’t enough people riding to keep it from being a complete and total bust. But I will be happy when the transportation is available every day of the week.
For me it’s a convenience. I like that I can ride my bike to Rehoboth and then put it on thefront of the bus for the trip back to Lewes. I won’t hike the whole way very often but when I do it will be on weekends and it would be nice to catch the bus back. The buses are an important part of the whole transportation-as-part-of-the-destination initiative that can continue to make our area more appealing for visitors and residents. Buses, ferries, water taxis, bike and hiking trails – a great part of the Delaware Cape Region experience.
For other people, the buses are a necessity. They’re a way to get back and forth to jobs, visiting loved ones in the hospital, getting their families to the beaches for a fun and affordable day. But many of those activities take place on weekends. The sooner that seven-day, year-round service is added, the sooner people will be able to live fuller lives based on public transportation.
Lord knows we have the roads. Sussex County is riddled with roads. We don’t need more. We have the infrastructure to handle lots of buses and get people around. Third world countries, where people have no choice but to live within their means, figured out the bus thing a long time ago.
Trains are great – but they require expensive tracks and operating systems. We have the roads and should use them. DelDOT’s primary responsibility should be to maintain the great system of roads we have in place and get more buses running. Then I wouldn’t have to pay $25 instead of $1.
Rant over. Have a nice weekend.
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Dennis Forney has been a journalist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972 and has been writing his Barefootin’ column for The Whale and then the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years. He blogs at www.capegazette.com/blogs/dennisforney. Contact Dennis at dennisforney@capegazette.com.
