Manchester airport to offer bus service from Charlestown
By Peter J. Howe, Boston Globe, 10/07/2006
Manchester Boston Regional Airport officials said yesterday they hope to have a new shuttle bus between the New Hampshire airport and Charlestown running by the end of this month. But negotiations over having it stop in Woburn haven't been resolved.
For air travelers in the Boston area, particularly those without cars, the free service could boost the convenience of flights offered from Manchester by low-fare carrier Southwest Airlines, which does not serve Logan International Airport. Southwest offers 28 daily nonstop flights from Manchester to six destinations: Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Chicago's Midway, Las Vegas, Orlando, Philadelphia, and Tampa.
MBTA general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas, in an e-mail interview yesterday, said he expects next week to sign the necessary license agreement for Manchester airport shuttle buses to leave from the Sullivan Square Orange Line parking lot in Charlestown between 3:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Manchester has to pay the T a $500 annual fee and a one-time licensing charge of $500, Grabauskas said.
Manchester officials want the route also to serve the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn off Interstate 93, which now offers Logan Express bus service. But that requires approval from the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan and controls the Anderson facilities the Manchester bus would use.
Massport spokesman Richard Walsh would only say that "Massport and Manchester airport officials are meeting next week to explore the operational feasibility" of the service.
Manchester airport manager Kevin Dillon said he's confident of reaching a deal with Massport. "What we're targeting is that we have it up and running by the end of this month," Dillon said. "I don't anticipate any hang-ups, but for some reason there was an issue with getting access at Woburn. We could just move ahead with service from Sullivan Square only, and if need be look for another site in northern Massachusetts" to serve Route 128-area suburbs.
Manchester plans to offer service in 20- and 30-seat buses, now used to take passengers from the terminal to parking lots. Dillon said during busy times like Thanksgiving week, they could temporarily shift to 50-seat coaches. A one-way trip is expected to take an hour.
Plans for the new shuttle come six months after the Manchester airport, 55 miles from the Hub, added "Boston Regional" to its name to boost its appeal to travelers, especially from the South and West, headed to Eastern Massachusetts.