Arrowhead Transit driver Mark Quello wants everyone to know that the Arrowhead Transit buses serve people of all ages. Rides are available Monday through Friday and Sunday mornings for $1.00 one way. In 2009, ridership was up significantly over previous years.
Your car is in the shop, so you hitched a ride home with a friend, but now you realize you have to run to the grocery store for dessert ingredients because you promised you’d make bars for a fundraiser tonight. You need a ride!
Or you are busy at work and your child calls you from home, desperately wanting to meet a friend down at the pool. She needs a ride!
Don’t let the fact that the Arrowhead Transit bus parks down at the Cook County Senior Center in Grand Marais mislead you – Arrowhead Transit is for everyone.
In 2009, Arrowhead Transit provided 17,136 rides to people in Cook County, a significant rise over the previous 15 years.
Driver Mark Quello wants the entire community to know that the bus is available for people of all ages. He has a booster seat for parents of toddlers, he can transport school-age children without their parents, and people over 90 ride for free. Quello can be spotted all over the route’s five-mile radius around Grand Marais and is often seen going out of his way to help riders with mobility challenges get on and off the bus.
People wanting a ride can call Quello at (218) 370-1515. With about a half-hour of lead time, rides are available from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sundays. The cost is $1.00 for each time a rider boards the bus – a total of $2.00, for example, for a round trip to the grocery store. For those without cell phones, grocery store personnel routinely allow use of their phones when shoppers are ready to go home.
Twice a month – on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday – the Arrowhead bus takes people to Duluth. As much as possible, drivers try to allow two stops per person (usually not including the West End of Duluth). Riders often request a drop-off downtown and a drop-off in the mall area.
A commuter route transports riders between Grand Marais and Grand Portage, and a West End-to-Grand Marais route is available the first and third Thursdays of each month.
A 10-pass ticket book can be purchased for $9.00, and a monthly pass can be purchased for $20.
Arrowhead Transit has two buses in regular use plus one backup. In addition to fulltime driver Mark Quello, Bill Schaffer and Michael Ficken drive part-time for Arrowhead Transit.
With groups such as the Cook County Local Energy Project trying to promote energy efficiency, taking the bus is a great way to get from Point A to Point B.
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