MANCHESTER, NH – The public can ride the Manchester Transit Authority (MTA) mall bus for free for the entire month of December – all stops along Route 8 will be offered free of charge.
Mayor Craig and MTA began this offering during the holiday season in 2018, and are pleased to continue this tradition for the entire month of December.
“Downtown Manchester, the businesses along South Willow Street and the Mall of New Hampshire are all excellent places to do holiday shopping. By making travel free along Route 8, we’re hoping to give people riding the bus to go to work or shopping a stress-free experience for the holidays,” said Mayor Joyce Craig. “I’d like to thank everyone at MTA for working with my office to offer free travel along this route during the holidays since 2018.”
MTA’s Route 8 begins service at 5:30 a.m. and the last return to downtown Manchester is 6:25 p.m.
“Just this year, our South Willow Street route is offering 30-minute frequency, eight times a day, on the hour from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is one of MTA’s first routes to have increased frequency and the passenger ridership counts are proving successful,” said Ryan Renauld-Smith, Assistant Director, MTA.
MTA is encouraging Manchester residents to use the bus to access shopping on South Willow Street to mitigate traffic congestion. MTA also has pushed out their app, RouteShout 2.0, which allows passengers to have bus arrival time and bus location in real-time. In conjunction with a Free Fare on 8, there is no need to stand around wondering when the bus will arrive, download the app and hop on the bus.
MTA Route 8 makes thirteen regular loop stops — the Downtown Manchester Doubletree Hotel, Michaels/Burlington Coat Factory Plaza on South Willow Street, Walmart on Gold Street, the Mall of New Hampshire, South Willow Street, and Downtown Manchester.
For a full list of route stops and times, visit MTAbus.org.
