Bliss: 'White Mtn. Transit set to start Feb. 2' New transit service to begin rolling
by Tom Eastman

February 1, 2007

The new White Mountain Transit Authority is to begin operating a shuttle service in North Conway from the Eastern Slope Inn to the North Conway Grand and Cranmore Mountain Resort come Friday, Feb. 2. The shuttle will initially use two 25-passenger heated Ford passenger vans. and will be augmented by two 30-person open-aired trolleys come the summer season. Shown with one of the new shuttles (above, left to right) are Michael Curreri, Jonathan Bliss, Frank Curreri, and Mark Curreri. (Courtesy Photo)

NORTH CONWAY — Two Ford passenger shuttle vans are set to begin rolling come Friday, Feb. 2, as the White Mountain Transit Authority is set to launch its local North Conway service.

The shuttle will operate at a cost of $2 a ticket on a loop that will travel south from the Eastern Slope Inn to the North Conway Grand before heading north to Cranmore Mountain Resort.

Weekend family passes will also be available.

Each loop will take between 20 and 25 minutes.

The shuttle, according to White Mountain Transit Company co-proprietor Jonathan Bliss of North Conway, will run in winter three days a week, beginning Friday afternoons at 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. It will operate Sundays, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Bliss said.

The shuttle will operate daily during February vacation week.

Regular daily service is envisioned for the summer season, beginning July 4.

Two 25-passenger Ford Starcraft vans will be used in winter. Two 30-passenger bus trolleys are now under construction at Molly Trolley in Ogunquit, Maine, and will begin service to add to those two vans here in the Valley beginning the July 4 holiday, Bliss said.

In December, Bliss and partner Michael Curreri announced the formation of the for-profit trolley service

In an interview this past Monday, Jan. 29, Bliss — proprietor of the Village Cigar Emporium — and Curreri, of Entertainment Tours of Braintree, Mass., announced that all systems are go for the launch.

"We have now gone to the state Department of Transportation and gotten all approvals. We have now set up our route in the Valley, which encompasses the Eastern Slope Inn, Settlers' Green Outlet Village Plus, the North Conway Grand and Cranmore Mountain Resort," said Bliss.

Concept 'favorably received'

Business response has been encouraging to date, not only from those businesses, but from local restaurants and shops which have agreed to serve as stops along the looped route, according to Bliss and Curreri.

"For restaurants, we have Delaney's, May Kelly's and Moat Mountain Smokehouse. We will also have a public bus stop at The Met which will swing by the Conway Scenic Railway and the North Conway Community Center," said Bliss.

He said the two shuttles will run simultaneously — one heading north from the North Conway Grand, probably along the North-South Road, to Cranmore, and one southbound from the Eastern Slope Inn.

More stops will be added as the business evolves, he said,

"We'll be fine tuning this as we go along," Bliss said, so that the system is up to full operation by February Vacation Week.

Bliss said the company will be selling advertising space on the sides of the vehicles and the interior.

Both the trolleys will be handicapped accessible with special doors in the back. Each will be red with forest green. Both the shuttles and trolleys will be equipped with ski racks in the back of each.

'Differs from past service'

Bliss and Curreri note they are well aware that trolley service has been tried before in the Valley, dating back to the late 1980s.

That service did not succeed, however, due to limited ridership, on a loop that may have over-extended itself, operating from North Conway to Jackson Village from the outset.

Bliss and Curreri feel they will be smart to start out with a route this winter that will be concentrated in North Conway, although they note they plan to offer ridership to Story Land this summer and perhaps Attitash and/or Jackson Village next winter .

Another big change from the first shuttle operated by another company in the 1980s? There is now a North-South Local Road, which provides an alternative to when Route 16's Strip is clogged with traffic during busy season.

Bliss also underscored the experience that Curreri brings to the company.

"Michael's family business is Entertainment Tours, comprised of himself, his brother, Mark, and his dad, Frank. They have been in the shuttle business for 15 years. He was a customer of mine here [at the Village Cigar Emporium] and we got talking one day about how this area could use a good shuttle service," said Bliss, noting that Entertainment Tours has provided service for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics and the Goodwill Games, and that the company currently operates shuttles to New York's Penn Station from Boston, Boston to Mohegan Sun, and numerous hospital and shuttles in the Boston area.

"Having been a frequent visitor to this region, I think the timing of starting this service is perfect," said Curreri in a phone interview from his Braintree office this week.

"With the area's growth, the opening of the North-South Road a few years ago, and the local development plans with the coming of Lowe's and Home Depot, I think there is a need which we will serve," Curreri said.

Bliss said he envisions people using the shuttle during the day to get their kids to Cranmore and to visit the village, and at night for dining destinations.

"If you're staying at the North Conway Grand on a Sunday morning, for example, and your kids want to go skiing and you're still eating breakfast, the kids can jump on the shuttle while parents finish breakfast and checkout. Or, you can go out to dinner, and let us be the designated driver," said Bliss.

He said the goal is to help alleviate parking and traffic pressures on the village during busy season.

"Having lived here for 14 years, and being a businessman, I know that the need is there in winter on weekends and vacation weeks, and in summer," Bliss said.

The service may also be available for special charters.

"We may bring groups up from Boston who want to ski," said Bliss.

For further information, call Bliss at 986-6887.