New trolley loop is a nice idea for downtown Nashua

It’s a nice idea, having a trolley that does a loop to ferry people around downtown Nashua.

The Gate City Trolley, which launched last night, will run on a pilot basis for six months, according to Board of Aldermen President Brian McCarthy. The city will assess ridership and interest and then decide whether to continue or expand it.

The Nashua Transit System trolley will run fixed 15-minute loops from 6:15-10:30 p.m. Fridays and 5:15-10:30 p.m. Saturdays, allowing people to hop on and off between City Hall and Library Hill.

The route begins at the Elm Street garage near City Hall, goes to the High Street garage, then continues to Main Street and heads north to Library Hill, loops around Railroad Square, turns onto Canal Street, then heads south on Main Street to City Hall before returning to the Elm Street garage.

"Our hope for it is that it will be good for people who feel maybe they want to walk around downtown but they don’t want to move their car. They can jump on the trolley and go from one establishment to another," said Marylou Blaisdell, who chairs the city’s Downtown Improvement Committee.

The city also hopes people use the parking garages and board the trolley, but that may be a tougher sell, judging from some of the comments posted on the story written by Telegraph staff writer Kathryn Marchocki.

The city has installed new lighting, but some people said they still feel uneasy about parking in the garages, which means the city has some work to do to change people’s perceptions about safety in the garages after dark.

Bus translators will help newcomers assimilate

The Nashua Transit System served 445,087 passengers last year, according to the city’s website, and it’s a safe bet not all of them spoke English as their first language.

In fact, we know from the folks at the Adult Learning Center that the city has lots of residents from other countries who have relocated here for one reason or another. For many of them, transportation and communication can be huge issues.

Which is why it’s good news that the bus system recently launched Google Translate on all its fixed routes and paratransit buses. That means the vehicles are now equipped with an online language translator that enables drivers and riders to communicate quickly with each other in 50 different languages.

Anything that helps reduce obstacles to cultural assimilation has to be a positive, in our opinion.

Make preparations to fly
by allowing extra time

Travel season is upon us, and many people taking trips may, for the first time, experience the absurdly long security lines that have prompted the Transportation Security Administration to add 768 new screeners to its ranks by mid-June.

According to the TSA, it has also increased approved overtime use at major airports, converted some part-time workers to full-time and increased the use of bomb-sniffing dogs. That begs the question: Will all that make travelers any safer, or just inconvenience them slightly less?

Probably the latter. The TSA is much more worried about appearing to be good at its job than actually doing its job. According to The Associated Press, there is a breach of the outer defenses at a U.S. airport at least every 10 days.

Of course, the vast majority of men and women doing the actual work for the TSA are faced with a high-pressure, thankless task. So, while travelers rely to some degree on those agents to keep them safe, they can also do a few things to speed up the process.

When you travel this summer, know the rules, know where you are going, know what will be required of you at each stage of the process … and plan for delays.