Launch Free Shuttle In Shopping District

East Hampton Village will offer visitors and residents a free ride beginning Tuesday, hoping they will leave their cars at the Lumber Lane parking lot, or elsewhere outside the heart of the shopping district.

In a move he called "a major step forward" in mitigating the seasonal traffic tangle here, East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. announced Friday that a 25-passenger white bus will circulate throughout the village's commercial area every 15 to 20 minutes daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The service will begin Tuesday and continue through Labor Day.

The village originally planned to run a much more limited shuttle in conjunction with an East Hampton Town shuttle to the town beaches in Amagansett. When the town abandoned its shuttle after some residents objected to a bus running along the hamlet's streets, the village decided to forge ahead on its own with a more ambitious plan.

Proposed Route

So committed is East Hampton Village to bettering its downtown parking and traffic situation that the Village Board resolved to find an unbudgeted $26,838, or $426 a day, to pay Sea Coast Transportation Company of Mastic for the seasonal service.

"It's the right thing to do," the Mayor said. "We'll pull the funds from the operating budget."

The shuttle's tentative route goes from the Lumber Lane parking lot down Newtown Lane, then a loop around Main Street from Guild Hall to the Post Office, then back up Newtown Lane.

It will include stops across from the middle school, at the westbound Hampton Jitney stop on Main Street in front of the Ladies Village Improvement Society's headquarters, at Guild Hall, at the eastbound Hampton Jitney stop in front of the Palm, at the Post Office, in front of the middle school, and back at the Lumber Lane lot.

While the town's aborted shuttle was primarily for beachgoers, village officials have opposed bus service to village strands.

Earlier Actions

The decision to offer the free shuttle follows Village Board action earlier this month to eliminate daily parking at Main Beach because of crowding and to charge fees for long-term parking at the lot nearest the Long Island Rail Road station. It also increased to 35 spaces the seven-day free parking along the railroad tracks.

The village has launched a campaign in the commercial district urging businesses to have their employees park in the "free parking" lot nearest Herrick Park and is distributing posters and flyers with that message to business owners and in shoppers' packages.

The Mayor said he will ask the Chamber of Commerce and the East Hampton Business Alliance to help support the new bus.

Could Extend Hours

To increase the shuttle's effectiveness, village officials are asking organizations sponsoring major fund-raising events on Main Street at peak season to urge their volunteers and patrons to park at the Lumber Lane lot to alleviate gridlock, Larry Cant well, the Village Administrator, said this week. He added that the shuttle's hours could be extended if necessary.

The groups include the Ladies Village Improvement Society, the East Hampton Historical Society, and Guild Hall, which in some cases have major events scheduled for the same day.