The COAST bus service has reached an agreement with officials in Newmarket and Exeter to keep the Route 7 bus line running through both towns. The new route will connect Newmarket and Exeter, with buses running three weekdays and on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We went back to the drawing board again, and looked at limiting the geographic coverage of the service in order to retain a connection between Exeter and Newmarket through Stratham,” said COAST executive director Rad Nichols.
The route previously connected six communities: Portsmouth, Newington, Greenland, Newmarket, Stratham, and Exeter. After many of those communities withdrew funding for the route earlier this year, COAST announced it might end the route. At a series of public meetings earlier this spring, Nichols said COAST and town officials heard from riders in both towns how eliminating the route would make commuting difficult for them.
Funding for the new route will come from the funds Newmarket and Exeter previously approved for COAST. People with disabilities can still use the route through COAST’s paratransit service, though coverage will be limited to the route’s new geographic area. According to Nichols, the route’s stop in Newmarket will allow all riders to pick up connections to Durham, Dover, Portsmouth, and other communities through Wildcat Transit. The new route will take effect on June 29. — Larry Clow