Chariot begins shuttle service in Athens

The Chariot Bus Lines is expanding to include a shuttle service inside the city of Athens starting Friday, March 1.

The Monday-Friday service will run twice in the morning, hitting the major apartment complexes in the city before heading to business centers. The route will be reversed in the evenings.

Tentative morning pickup times include:

To get to work by 7 a.m.

• 5:45 – Village Apartments
• 5:50 – Summit Apartments
• 5:55 – North Loop Apartments
• 6:00 – New Haven
• 6:05 – West Highland
• 6:10 – Victoria Place
• 6:15 – TVCC
• 6:20 – ETMC Hospital
• 6:25 – Fairview Apartments
• 6:30 – Townview Apartments
• Headed to Job Sites

To get to work by 8 a.m.

• 6:45 – Village Apartments
• 6:50 – Summit Apartments
• 6:55 – North Loop Apartments
• 7:00 – New Haven
• 7:05 – West Highland
• 7:10 – Victoria Place
• 7:15 – TVCC
• 7:20 – ETMC Hospital
• 7:25 – Fairview Apartments
• 7:30 – Townview Apartments
• Headed to Job Sites

Cost is $2 per trip.

The new shuttle service was honored Thursday, Feb. 28, with a ribbon cutting at the Athens Chamber of Commerce.

Chariot is a ministry of Gates Community Church in Athens, and is the brainchild of the Rev. Alan Coleman and Helen Thornton, who is the vice chairman of the East Texas Transportation and Steering Committee.

For the past five months, Chariot has been running a Monday-Friday route from Athens to Tyler.

Coleman said Chariot expanded because of requests from the community.

I wrote about the Chariot, including why a pastor and church would get involved, when the bus line opened. You can read about that, here.