The new Sun Shuttle neighborhood transit circulator service, which was introduced in May by the Regional Transportation Authority, made significant improvements in the month of August.

The transit service was implemented in the communities of Marana, Oro Valley, Catalina, Sahuarita and Green Valley.

During its introductory month, Sun Shuttle offered a free fare and collected comments and suggestions in June and July.

Based on input from the community, Sun Shuttle routes are now providing more frequent service and convenient connections to the Sun Tran system. Additional changes to the system include the ability to use all valid Sun Tran passes to board Sun Shuttle routes and the introduction of the Sun Connect pass, allowing Sun Shuttle riders a free transfer to connecting Sun Tran routes.

Based on data collected thus far, the changes have been a success and it is anticipated that during the month of August Sun Shuttle will break its monthly ridership record since the introduction of fares. "The increased ridership illustrates that we are moving in the right direction but there is still a lot of work to reach the ridership goals we have for these services,’" said RTA Executive Director Gary Hayes.

Illustrating our commitment to the success of Sun Shuttle services, the RTA will conduct open houses this fall in select shuttle service areas to share possible service improvements and alternatives that may better meet the needs of neighborhood residents. Input from residents will be incorporated into improvements that are anticipated in the first quarter of 2010.

For more information, visit www.suntran.com and follow the Sun Shuttle link.