with transport for greater manchester . manchester transit authority founded 1973 headquarters 110 elm st manchester nh locale manchester new hampshire service area greater manchester nh service type bus service paratransit express bus service routes 13 destinations greater manchester concord & nashua nh hubs veterans park fleet gillig 29 low floor daily ridership 1 905 2005 1 chief executive michael whitten website mtabus.org the manchester transit authority or mta is a public transportation provider in manchester new hampshire united states . it was founded in 1973 and operates 13 regular bus routes through the city including a free downtown circulator which was rebranded as the green dash downtown area shuttle in 2011 . in general service is hourly with more frequent service along corridors served by multiple routes and especially on the green dash . it is a hub and spoke system that meets downtown at veterans park labeled as center of nh on southbound departing lines with one line departing from the nearby canal street transportation center . service is generally limited to the city of manchester with a few lines extending into the neighboring towns of bedford goffstown hooksett and londonderry and two express lines running to concord and nashua . since july 2013 the mta has offered weekday service between concord and manchester boston regional airport with most trips also stopping at the center of nh hub in downtown manchester from 3 30 a.m. until 12 45 a.m. 2 the neighboring suburb of bedford contributed funding to the mta until 2010 and service coverage was significantly reduced within the town the following year . as of 2009 97 % of manchester residents lived within one quarter mile of an mta bus line . 3 the mta is the public successor to manchester s private bus service which reached a peak annual ridership of 15.1 million in 1948 and the manchester street railway that existed until 1940 . the mta was created by the city in may 1973 following requests by the private manchester transit bus provider for public subsidies . 4 as of 2005 the mta served an average of 1 905 riders each weekday though ridership has grown since that time despite budget cutbacks by the city and subsequent service cutbacks . 5 ridership in 2011 had increased 21 % over 2004 growing from 382 979 to 462 109 total rides . service peaked for the decade in 2009 with 531 961 rides before falling as a result of service cuts in 2010 and recovering slightly in 2011 . the general trend during the period however has been a growth in ridership . 6 in recent years the mta has sought to expand its ridership with new routes such as the green dash and concord express that are aimed at riders who might otherwise choose to drive . in addition to the 13 public transit routes the mta operates a stepsaver paratransit service two free shopper shuttle routes that operate three days a week and pupil transportation for the manchester school district . contents 1 routes 2 circulators and shopper shuttles 3 references 4 external links routes edit route starting point terminus operates notes 1 healthcare shuttle east side plaza veterans park operates as a loop via elliot hospital weekdays operates weekdays as counter clockwise loop connecting east side healthcare institutions 1s healthcare shuttle east side plaza veterans park operates as a loop via va medical center & bridge st saturday operates saturdays as counter clockwise loop through the city s northeast neighborhoods 2 hanover st e. industrial park veterans park e. industrial park massabesic circle even hours weekdays ends at e. industrial park odd hours ; continues to massabesic circle even hours 2s hanover st e. industrial park veterans park east side plaza via elliot hospital saturday 3 brown ave airport canal st transportation center manchester boston regional airport monday saturday service to harvey rd & stonyfield weekdays only 4 concord express manchester boston regional airport stickney ave concord weekdays twelve round trips daily between concord & manchester boston regional airport eight of which stop at the center of nh ; service runs from 3 30 a.m. to 12 45 a.m. ; requires day pass to ride 5 snhu river rd veterans park snhu monday saturday 6 bremer st mast rd veterans park shaw s pinardville via st. anselm college monday saturday operates as a counter clockwise loop through manchester s west side 7 green dash veterans park operates as a loop through downtown & millyard weekdays service is free & frequent ; operates as a figure eight loop through downtown & millyard via spring st 8 south willow st mall of nh center of nh mall of nh monday saturday 9 nashua express center of nh nashua mall nashua weekdays five trips daily ; requires day pass to ride 10 valley st mall of nh center of nh mall of nh monday saturday 11 front st hacket hill rd veterans park wal mart hooksett monday saturday 12 so . beech st mall of nh center of nh mall of nh monday saturday 13 bedford grove plaza second st veterans park wal mart bedford monday saturday service was cut in 2011 from bedford highlands to bedford grove following bedford s decision to stop funding portion of mta manchester shopper shuttle mta elm & gas st hannaford east side plaza mondays & fridays service is free hooksett shopper shuttle mta elm & gas st hannaford northside plaza hooksett thursdays service is free circulators and shopper shuttles edit the green dash downtown circulator operates for free as a weekday figure eight loop through the millyard and downtown every ten minutes during peak hours and every twenty minutes during off peak hours . originally the buses were wrapped with historical images of manchester . in an effort to boost ridership and publicize the service the downtown circulator was rebranded as the green dash in 2011 and the buses were given a new green color scheme that no longer obscures the windows and clearly marks them as a free loop bus . 7 the free service is funded through a combination of federal grants and parking revenue . this marks the second attempt by the mta at offering free transit downtown following a fourteen block free ride zone that began in 1974 but has since been discontinued . 8 route 1 operates as a healthcare shuttle connecting elliot hospital doctors park on tarrytown road dartmouth hitchcock clinic veterans administration hospital and the manchester mental health and is funded through a grant from the fta . 9 the mta also operates two shopper shuttles which run only on select days of the week and are funded by private retailers but which offer free service mostly targeted at senior citizens . references edit http scholarworks.umass.edu cgi viewcontent.cgi article 1366 & context theses http www.salemnews.com nationalnews x1876431599 new england bus ridership goes up as economy suffers print http scholarworks.umass.edu cgi viewcontent.cgi article 1366 & context theses http scholarworks.umass.edu cgi viewcontent.cgi article 1366 & context theses http www.salemnews.com nationalnews x1876431599 new england bus ridership goes up as economy suffers print http www.snhpc.org pdf finalrtp102412.pdf http www.unionleader.com article 20120119 news02 701199951 http scholarworks.umass.edu cgi viewcontent.cgi article 1366 & context theses http www.fta.dot.gov news news events 11820.html external links edit manchester transit authority official website mta system map downtown circulator route & schedule article in the hippo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title manchester transit authority & oldid 661440792 categories manchester new hampshireintermodal transport authoritiestransportation in new hampshiretransportation in hillsborough county new hampshirebus transportation in new hampshire navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 8 may 2015 at 17 34 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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