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JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) – A famous Chautauqua County bus system has rebranded, getting dozens of new vehicles and some trollies to incentivize the county’s public transportation.
CHQ Transit, formerly known as CARTS, has rebranded purchasing a slew of new vehicles all with custom wrapping jobs, featuring photographs from iconic Chautauqua County locations.
Using a $826,900 dollar grant from the State Department of Transportation, CHQ Transit was able to purchase the vehicles.
CHQ Transit Coordinator Michele Westphal touted the new changes made possible from a $1.5 million dollar grant from the State DOT
“So with that money we were able to buy three trollies, rebrand CARTS with the help of KathodeRay Media, they are consultants that are helping us do this,” explained Westphal. “We also have a little over $400,000 dollars for new technology. We are going to be getting a cashless fare system, a mobile app, and signage and different things for our transportation hub when that’s completed. And we also have a little over $100,000 dollars to get a consultant in here to help us look at our routes to make sure that there’s nothing we can do that’s more efficient.”
Currently there are nine of the new busses hitting the streets as soon as today, with 35 busses in total getting new wraps over the next few months.
For one CARTS patron, she is excited to see what the redesign has to offer.
“They’re more reliable, economical, and it’s cheaper,“ stated Rebecca Isaacs. “It gets you from point A to point B. The cabs, it takes time and is more expensive.”
“I love it,” exclaimed Issaccs. “I’ll ride as much as I can.”
In addition there will be three hybrid public trollies for a classic venture around Chautauqua County, officials also hope the trollies will increase tourism to our region.
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