Green Mountain Community Network

Green Mountain Community Network (GMCN) is a private, nonprofit organization, that owns and operates the public bus transit system in Bennington County in southwestern Vermont called the Green Mountain Express. Their bus service currently has 3 local "fixed deviated" weekday routes in Bennington: the Red, Blue and Brown routes, which can deviate up to 1/4 mile from their alignment upon request. They also have two local Saturday (Green and Light Green) routes, and three commuter routes: the Orange Line, with weekday plus Saturday service to Manchester, and the Purple Line, with weekday service to Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the Emerald line, with weekday service to Wilmington.^[2] The Emerald Line is a partnership between West Dover-based Southeast Vermont Transit's "the MOOver" and GMCN.^[3]

The company also provides paratransit and Medicaid transportation services for Bennington County.

GMCN had an annual ridership of approximately 64,900 in fiscal year 2010, the second fewest of any public bus transit provider in Vermont for that time period when not including the Brattleboro BeeLine (now fully operated by the Current).^[4] They now have an annual ridership of about 135,000.^[5] There are 22 wheelchair accessible vehicles in GMCN's fleet.

History

Prior to February 2007 and dating back to 1985, the Green Mountain Chapter of the American Red Cross filled the role of providing the Bennington area's public transportation needs.^[6]

On July 9, 2012, GMCN added the Emerald Line to their schedule with weekday service to Wilmington, along with the opening of the renovated Pleasant St office building as their transit center.^[7] And as of July 1, 2014, the Yankee Trails Bennington shuttle and Vermont Translines' Albany to Burlington intercity bus route use the transit center as their Bennington stops as well.^[8][9]

As of January 19, 2015, trip planning via Google Maps is also available for GMCN bus routes.^[10]

Route list and fare schedule

(information is current as of July 1, 2016)

Children under 5 years of age ride free upon boarding with a paying adult, as do Mount Anthony Union High School, Burr & Burton, Bennington College, CCV, Northeast Baptist College and Southern Vermont College students. All local one-way fares are $0.50 unless indicated otherwise. Slightly discounted 10-ride, 22-ride, and 44-ride passes are also available for local routes. Bus passes for the Orange Line between Bennington and Manchester are also available, and fares vary on the Orange and Purple routes, depending on the boarding passenger's origin and destination. As the Orange Line and Purple Lines are out-of-town commuter routes featuring a zone-based fare structure, travel between one or two towns (one zone) is $0.50, with an additional $0.50 tacked on to each additional town passed through. The local passes mentioned above may also be used on those routes. One ride is deducted from such passes per zone traveled on these two routes.

As of August 2016, there is no discount fare schedule for seniors, the disabled or Medicare cardholders on fixed deviated routes.

Transfers

Bus-to-bus transfers are available as well between the three local routes (the Red, Blue and Brown Lines), but are not valid for round trips or when traveling northbound from Bennington on the Orange Line or southbound from Bennington on the Purple Line.

Bus passes

• $4 per 10-ride pass on local routes
• $10 per 22-ride pass on local routes
• $20 per 44-ride pass on local routes
• $60 per 40-ride pass on Orange Line between Bennington and Manchester

References

External links

• GMCN website