Monroe North neighborhood catches DASH bus service

If all goes according to plan, residents and employees in Monroe North neighborhood will be able to hop on and off the DASH North buses beginning Dec. 1.

The Downtown Development Authority and the Monroe North TIFA approved $75,000 contributions each toward the equipment and operations for the new service. Though conversations with local employers for additional funding will continue, the money provided by both organizations is enough for the highly anticipated project to become a reality.

“We are exploring opportunities with major employers in the area to contribute to the overall cost,” said Kristopher Larson, DDA executive director. “Obviously, anything we can do to buy down the public dollar that is going into the project, the better it will be and the more it will help the long-term sustainability of the route. So that is our goal.

"We’ve got a couple of meetings set up right now to find future or additional partners," Larson said. "But from a need perspective, we currently have the contributions we need toward providing the service right now. We are looking at how we can improve it. So the more money we have, the better we can deal with reducing (overhead) and providing more buses to make it a more viable service for more riders.”

The DASH North service route is still being charted, but the expectation is that it will reach as far north as Leonard Street, with stops every couple of blocks.

“It’s sort of a hybrid of a bus route versus the DASH service,” Larson said. “It’s not a shuttle. It’s not a door-to-door service. We are going to do our best to get as close as we can to as many of what we call trip generators, but there will be stops, probably every few blocks, to make it as user friendly as possible.”

Monroe North neighbors can expect to see marketing for the bus route in the coming days.