Dial-A-Ride to offer trial Zip Line service

By Kayleigh Rahn
A new public transportation service will open in Douglas County in the coming months.

During the Wednesday, March 20 Douglas County Board meeting, Kaycie Sanders, Dial-A-Ride administrative director, said starting Wednesday, May 1 the service will open a “Tuscola Zip Line” that will establish a bus route three days each week.

“Right now we are in the process of gathering the locations approved that we thought would be good places for a stop,” Sanders told the board. “It goes to designated stops at designated times between Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. No reservation is required. It will be $1 to get on the bus.”

The proposed stops will include Rider Place Apartments of Arcola, Parkview Trailer Court outside of Tuscola, Van Voorhis Street, Carle Clinic, IGA, the outlet mall, Douglas County Health Department, Douglas County Courthouse, Festival Corner, Douglas County Mental Health, and Sav-Mor Pharmacy. Additional stops may be approved in the coming weeks.

“This will run for a trial period before the advisory committee meets at the end of May,” Sanders explained. The transportation line will be required to meet ridership goals to continue.

In other discussion, several area businessmen addressed the board regarding the ongoing consideration of the Harvest Ridge Wind Farm slated for construction in the northeast corner of the county.

Newman resident Jim Allen encouraged the board to take a stand to protect the rights and health of its county residents rather than protecting the rights of a company with headquarters in Madrid.

David Albin of Longview Capital Corp. spoke during the February board meeting regarding his concerns that the wind turbines or the cranes on site during construction could disrupt his banks’ abilities to send data between the their branches. He updated the board last week that he is content knowing that the locations of the proposed turbines will not affect the bank business, but he is still concerned about the cranes’ arms interfering, though he is happy to continue working with EDP representatives.

The full story can be found in the Wednesday, March 27 edition of The Tuscola Journal.