Bus service to begin

TUSCUMBIA - Officials with Anchor Trailways & Tours say they expect to have bus service from Tuscumbia to Nashville in operation by the end of the month.

"Our plans, right now, are to start the line July 27," said Mark Szyperski, a business development official with Anchor Trailways & Tours, of Nashville.

The company has been awarded a five-year federal grant to re-establish the Shoals-to-Nashville route. Greyhound operated a local route for years but pulled out of the area in June 2005.

Ray Basden, manager of the Anchor Trailways office in Tuscumbia where the local terminal will be, said many people have asked when the service will begin.

"There is not a week goes by that we don't get calls asking about the bus routes," Basden said. "You can tell by the tone of their voice that they're disappointed when I tell them it's not ready yet."

Basden said the service will link the Shoals to the Nashville airport as well as to the Nashville Metro and Greyhound bus terminals, and the short track rail service from Nashville to Lebanon, Tenn.

"It should provide convenience for people trying to catch a flight out of Nashville or having business in Nashville," Szyperski said.

He said details of the route have been finalized and there will be three stops in the Shoals area.

"If demand grows, we can change the route and make other local stops," Szyperski said.

Szyperski said when the service begins, the route will start at the terminal in Tuscumbia, travel to Florence for pickups at the University of North Alabama campus and the Edwards Oil Quick Mart across from Regency Square Mall on Cox Creek Parkway, and then head to Lawrenceburg, Tenn. From there, the bus will go to Columbia, Tenn., follow U.S. 31 to Franklin, Tenn., and into Nashville, where it will go to the airport, the two bus terminals and the short track railroad commuter service.

He said there will be two round-trip runs daily and one on each Saturday and Sunday. Officials said plans are for the first bus to leave daily at 3:30 a.m. and then a second bus would leave at 8:30 a.m. The return buses would leave Nashville around 2:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Szyperski said the route will take just more than three hours from Tuscumbia to Nashville. He said tickets can be purchased at the Tuscumbia terminal on Woodmont Road, just past the police department, or online at ATrunner.com. He said the Web site should be up within the next few weeks.

Basden said new buses have been delivered to the Nashville terminal.

"We're now installing the wireless Internet, electrical hookups and satellite television," Szyperski said. "We've hired additional drivers, and they will begin training very soon."

"We're as excited as the public," Basden said.

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.