Connecting the community
Mountain Brook might not be the largest city, but that doesn’t mean it comes without its own traffic and parking problems. So to make it easier for people — both residents and visitors — to make a quick trip without their cars, the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce, along with the city and the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA), is starting a shuttle Nov. 5.
Dubbed the Spartan Shuttle (or Route 99 through MAX Transit) the bus will connect English Village, Crestline and Mountain Brook Village from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The program will run as a pilot program for three months and was initially presented to the chamber by Josh Johnson, director of planning and development with the BJCTA.
Johnson initiated a similar program earlier this year in Montevallo, which he said had around 600 people riding it in the first few weeks. The goal, he said, is to “stir commerce and increase mobility within the city while providing traffic and parking relief.”
Twenty-two stops are scheduled over a 7.65-mile route for the shuttle and three are designated park-and-ride stations: Mountain Brook Baptist Church, Mountain Brook Office Park on U.S. 280 and Shades Valley Presbyterian Church. While Shades Valley Presbyterian is not a designated stop on the circulator’s route, people can park in the upper lot and walk one to two blocks to the nearest stop in Mountain Brook Village, Johnson said.
“The park and ride options allow people from outside the community to come park a car and then be dropped off,” Suzan Doidge, executive director of the chamber, said.
She said the stop at Office Park, as well as others, will also be convenient for employees, as they don’t have to worry about taking a car and finding parking in another village if they want to go somewhere for a quick breakor lunch.
Currently, Cahaba Village is not included in the route because it would add a significant amount of time to the existing 30- to 35-minute travel time of the shuttle, Johnson said.
“With Mountain Brook being the socioeconomic status that it is, when we start making this route super long, people will just say, ‘Well I’ll just get in my car,’” he said.
If the city opts to continue the program, however, he said there is a possibility for adding a second shuttle, which would allow for stops in Cahaba Village.
The Spartan Shuttle route also connects with MAX Transit’s Route 43 with a stop at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Route 280 with a stop at Office Park and Route 50 with stops on Montevallo Road and in Crestline Village.
The bus itself is 35 feet in length and will seat 30 people, Johnson said, and is outfitted with Wi-Fi and a bike rack. Johnson said the shuttle is “free by design” for riders and for the three-month trial period, it will be a free service to the city, too.
If Mountain Brook decides to keep the Spartan Shuttle, he estimated it would cost $158,000 per year to operate, although there are grants available to help with funding.
Johnson said there were a few reasons why the BJCTA wanted to try this program in Mountain Brook: the connector will help serve the residents and visitors, the city has been a funding partner of the company for many years and the city has a “superb sidewalk system, which is a prerequisite for accessible transit access.”
“Mountain Brook is a vibrant city and we hope that a circulator among the core areas will be a pillar of that community,” Johnson said. The shuttle will also allow the BJCTA to expand their paratransit services for riders who are elderly or have disabilities.
Doidge said the circulator program came at a perfect time and could present a lot of benefits for merchants, residents and visitors.
“We also have been coming at a time when there’s a lot of construction going on in our community,” which takes up a lot of parking and makes it harder for shoppers to park near their destination, she said. The shuttle could help store owners by bringing in more guests, and Doidge said it could work for shops whose employee parking “is at a premium.”
“Some people in the community who will never drive a car, it gives them the opportunity to go to other villages,” Doidge added.
While the bus system isn’t designed to be used by students, it is possible that some students may use it as needed. “There are a variety of things this is going to do for Mountain Brook,” she said. And because it’s free through the first three months of the pilot program, Doidge and Molly Wallace, project manager with the chamber, thought, “Why not?”
“If it doesn’t work, it’s like no harm, no foul,” Doidge said. “But if it does work, we’ll be standing together to say, ‘We see this as an option for our community.’”
At the end of the three months, Johnson will meet with city officials to review ridership numbers, and from there they will decide to continue with the program, make adjustments or discontinue the shuttle.
Existing bus markers, as well as newly installed ones, will designate the stop locations along the route with “Spartan Shuttle” or something similar. Riders can download the myStop app on their phone to see the location of the bus in real time and know what time the bus will be at their stop.
SPARTAN SHUTTLE ROUTE STOPS
► Chester’s International
► Birmingham Zoo (outbound)
► Etc. Jewelry
► Mountain Brook Office Park on U.S. 280*
► Cahaba Road/Watkins Road
► PNC Bank, Mountain Brook Village
► Harrison Limited
► Village Sportswear
► Montevallo Road/Overhill Road
► Montevallo Road/Canterbury Road
► Mountain Brook Baptist*
► Miss Dots
► Ollie Irene
► Valley National Bank
► Country Club Road/Ridge Drive
► Country Club Apartments
► Fairway Drive/Somerset Road
► Lane Park Townhomes
► Botanical Gardens (Lane Parke Road)
► Grand Bohemian
► Zoo/Botanical Gardens (inbound, Cahaba Road)
► English Village Apartments
*Park-and-ride stop. Shades ValleyPresbyterian Church will also serve as a park-and-ride stop, although patrons will have to walk down to Mountain BrookVillage to get on the shuttle.