Advance Transit has been connecting the Upper Valley for 40 years now, and if current ridership is any indication, it’s not slowing down anytime soon. What started as a program of the Upper Valley Senior Citizens Council has grown into a free multistate operation, with more than 14 million passenger trips to date. Recently, AT has added even more to its offerings, including evening and weekend services and a new route. It’s not at all unusual to find buses packed with only standing room available.

Steve Leavitt, who has been driving for AT for 40 years, thinks the bus is more popular than it ever was. “I never thought the Upper Valley would be big enough to support something like this,” Steve says. “And it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

All the success begs the question: How does a transportation system grow and thrive in such a small rural community? AT Executive Director Adams Carroll says it’s a combination of things,
but mostly it’s this: The people here love it.

 

Demand from the Start

Adams meets me for an interview at the King Arthur Cafe, down the street from the AT operations center, which is currently undergoing renovations. The company had grown too large for its building, with people doubled and tripled up in offices, and so, he tells me, it was time to expand.

This need to expand has been a regular theme for AT since it began in 1981 as a program of
the Upper Valley Senior Citizens Council. The company was officially incorporated as a nonprofit in 1984, and Helene Chapman served as the first executive director until 1987. Van Chesnut, who ran the company for 35 years until his retirement in 2022, is a major credit for its growth. It was under Van that AT established the community partnerships and funding model it still benefits from today, and it was under him that fare-free service began in 2002.

Adams has been picking up where Van left off. In 2022, he helped AT introduce a couple electric vehicles to the fleet, and about a year and a half ago, he and the AT team were finally able to secure funding and move forward long-planned efforts to establish evening and Saturday services.

Maybe it’s due to the more services available, or maybe it’s due to more housing and apartment
complexes along the routes, but whatever the reason, ridership continues to grow, with 697,149 rides in 2024, up from 565,868 in 2023.

Adams says local backing is what has enabled AT to keep up with demand. Upper Valley towns provide municipal support, but most funding comes from the private sector, including Dartmouth, Dartmouth Hitchcock, property managers, businesses, foundations, and individuals. “We are a 501(c)(3). What that allows us to do is bring together a lot of different groups,” Adams says. “Because we have all of these different groups at our back, we’re really competitive with federal grant funding.”

 

Making It Easy

Half the riders use the bus because it’s their only option. The other half choose the bus because it’s a favorable option—it’s free, good for the environment, and, if you live near a stop, it’s convenient. “When you have the option to make transit an easy choice, people will take it,” Adams says. “You can spend 20 minutes on 120 with your hands gripping the steering wheel, wishing somebody would do something about the traffic, or you can be chauffeured to work.”

Making it easy is something the AT team has been working hard at, having recently put out new brochures, schedules, and maps that Adams thinks are more digestible. You can get real-time bus whereabouts on the website, by phone, and via app.

In addition, AT now has a YouTube channel for new riders feeling trepidation about that first trip that covers things like how to transfer buses, how to use the bike rack, and how to navigate. Several showcase destinations accessible via AT, from bookstores and cultural institutions to family-friendly stops. “It can be overwhelming to just see a bus schedule and figure out how to get from Point A to B, if you’re not in the habit of doing that. We find that it’s all about getting people to try that first ride,” Adams says.

 

Rewards

Running AT is not easy work; bus driving in particular is a challenging occupation. You’re operating heavy machinery in the public right-of-way, and you never know what people on the road are going to do. Conditions range from summer days to feet of snow. But everyone I talk to who works for AT tells me the work is satisfying. They like helping the community: Their work minimizes car congestion and creates cleaner air to breathe. For some of their riders, it’s their only way to get to the places they need to go.

“The drivers have relationships with the passengers they carry. They know what’s going on in their lives and feel a sense of connection to the work that they do, and that’s meaningful,” Adams says. “They’re able to help people get to work or to school or to a first date with somebody—those important moments in people’s lives that, without access to transportation, might not be happening.” 

 

Ride Advance Transit

Where: Hanover, Lebanon, Canaan, Enfield, Hartford, and Norwich

(802) 295-1824, advancetransit.com

YouTube: youtube.com/@advancetransit

App: Transit, Google Maps, and Apple Maps