A grand opening will take place tomorrow at the location of the Jonesboro Economical Transit System’s new Regional Transfer Center. The transfer center is located in the middle of Jonesboro, and will house all of the JETS buses, as well as up to eight 60-passenger coaches at one time. Director of JETS Steve Ewart says the transfer center has been in the works for several years.
“This has been in the planning stages for the last four to five years and it has been under construction for the past four months. It will be a new day for transportation and transit for the city. There will be a lot of benefits to the citizens and the visitors of Jonesboro, mainly in the ease of getting around town due to the transfer center.”
The Regional Transfer Center will have waiting space, rest rooms, and driver support for JETS. All five fixed routes serviced by JETS will pass through the Regional Transfer Center.
“Buses will come in from all directions to the Transfer Center to facilitate transfers. This will help people move more effectively across the city. What this will mean is that people will no longer have to stay on the bus for long periods of time to get from one point to another. This should help cut the time down a lot.”
He tells what the facility can hold.
“In addition to the eight large buses that can be housed here. Eventually, it will be a seven-day-a-week operation and it could house Greyhound. We also anticipate that air travel will grow as well, and this will be a perfect complement to those who are flying into town.”
Ewart says the center will have the latest technology and will used in the future for providing rural public transit systems a place to connect with JETS.
“It was built to not only meet the transit needs of today, but also to meet the needs of the next 20 to 25 years. It has the latest technology and will be updated in the future as needed. This is designed to be a functional facility that will not have any wasted space. We are excited about this facility.”
Some of those systems that are expected to use the JETS facility include the Jonesboro/Craighead County-based Northeast Arkansas Transit System and the Black River Area Development transit system that operated from Pocahontas. The grand opening of the JETS Regional Transfer station will take place at 11:00 Friday morning and the Transfer Center will be in operation starting at 5:30 Monday morning.
