Harvest Media Center
NB Liquor Harvest Park and Ride Expands This Year
September 10, 2009
Drop your car; catch a ride.
The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival announced today that the NB Liquor Harvest Park and Ride has expanded substantially this year, making it more convenient for patrons than ever.
This free transportation to and from the Festival now includes several southside hotels and the university campus in addition to the FREX run that was introduced last year.
The NB Liquor Harvest Park and Ride buses will run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the Festival on three separate routes designed to accommodate many Harvest Patrons. This is hoped to reduce gas emissions and parking congestion downtown, as well as to ensure that patrons have safe transport to and from the downtown.
"We are committed to being an environmentally-friendly Festival by reducing our carbon footprint," says Patti Graham, Chair of the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. "This means encouraging organizers, patrons, volunteers, and musicians to do their part individually during Festival week. We hope that implementing great initiatives like the NB Liquor Harvest Park and Ride will make it a little easier to think green."
Running every 20 minutes from 3pm to 3am daily, the FREX run will pick patrons up in the FREX parking lot, on the corner of Smythe and Saunders Streets, make a stop at the Delta and drop patrons off at Wilmot Alley, at the heart of the Festival.
New this year, the NB Liquor Harvest Park and Ride will make two hotel runs early in the evening to pick up patrons, then at the end of the night to bring them safely back to their hotel. The hotels included in the runs are Lakeview Inn, Comfort Inn, Howard Johnson, Fredericton Inn, Amsterdam Inn, Best Western, as well the Student Union Building on UNB's campus.
The buses will pick up patrons on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at all 6 hotels and the UNB SUB between 5pm and 6pm and again between 7pm and 8pm, dropping them off at Wilmot Alley downtown. The buses will return to all hotels and campus between 11pm and 12am and again between 1am and 2am.
"NB Liquor has been a strong supporter in implementing and expanding the Park and Ride program," Graham says. "They are setting a very positive tone to enjoy the Festival, but to do so in a responsible way."
In addition to the NB Liquor Harvest Park and Ride, the City of Fredericton is also offering free public transit all day on Saturday, September 18th for anyone who rides the bus that day. This offer will encourage Harvest patrons and Fredericton residents alike to leave their cars at home and take a greener route at no cost whatsoever.
For the full NB Liquor Harvest Park and Ride schedule and maps, please visit the Park and Ride page. And for more information on all the Festival's green efforts and what you can do to keep the Festival green, visit the Festival Green page.
