By Dakota Antelman — Dakota@concordbridge.org
When crowds arrive in Concord for next year’s 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution, event organizers hope a network of buses and trains will help prevent gridlock.
Facing a ticking clock, though, they’re still not sure how many people could show up.
“Do I think we’ll get 50,000 to 100,000 people? That’s a huge range,” Tourism Manager Beth Williams said. “We could get 30,000 people. We could get 120,000.”
Questions also swirl about how much the envisioned transit network will cost.
“People are coming,” said Executive Committee co-chair Robert Munro. “It’s going to be great. It’s going to be overwhelming, and it can only help us. And we have to put our best foot forward.”
Festivities and logistics
Concord’s 250th anniversary celebrations will kick off early on Saturday, April 19, with the traditional Dawn Salute.
A parade will step off at 8:30 a.m. and travel four miles toward North Bridge, where dignitaries will speak.
The town plans to dedicate its new permanent memorial in Concord Center before capping the day’s events with a drone show.
Local programming on April 19 will be part of a larger slate of events in Concord, Arlington, Lexington, and Lincoln that will continue into April 20. The schedule presents challenges.
“We need to get residents to the events safely and effectively,” Munro said. “We need to get employees to their jobs and make sure that they have access to that. And we want to get our visitors to and fro.”
Seeking outside help
Munro said the four towns plan to hire a bus company to shuttle people from lots in Waltham and other communities to event sites.
Williams said officials are seeking “large capacity” buses with 40 to 50 seats for out-of-town routes.
Though contracted buses likely won’t carry everyone, Munro said organizers hope the MBTA will lend a hand.
Munro said the T is “willing to extend hours” on the Commuter Rail’s Fitchburg Line. He said he was also working with the town to formally ask the T for support from its bus fleet.
A spokesperson for the MBTA referred questions to Keolis Commuter Service, which operates the Commuter Rail. Keolis spokesperson Jake O’Neill did not confirm plans, saying, “The MBTA and Keolis are meeting with event organizers regarding service options to support the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord.”
“We will share more details once they are finalized,” O’Neill said in an email.
Within Concord, Munro said the town plans to use its school buses to get employees and residents where they need to go. Some buses will also ferry police and other public safety officials between sites.
“We can only get what we can afford,” Munro said. “Once we have that, we can then leverage public safety and MBTA and MassDOT and all of them and say: ‘We have this. Help us figure out the rest.’”
Request for proposals
In early research, Munro said, a transit expert estimated busing guests into Concord would cost $300,000.
“We said: ‘That’s great. Thank you. We ain’t got it,’” Munro said.
Out-of-town buses will be funded through an intermunicipal agreement. Each of the four Battle Road towns paid $50,000 into the pact. Roughly half of the money from the towns will go toward busing.
Speaking on October 24, Munro said officials hoped to publish a request for proposals from bus companies “this week [or] next week.” Nine days later, on November 2, Munro told The Concord Bridge that officials were still finalizing the document “with support from regional public safety officials.”
“We hope to send out in the next week to 10 days,” he said in an email.
Financial unknowns
As plans take shape, uncertainties remain.
Munro said officials don’t know how many out-of-town buses their $100,000 budget will afford. He said they haven’t identified a cost for using school buses within Concord on April 19. As noted, officials aren’t sure how many people the buses will have to carry.
Asked whether the cost to mobilize the school bus fleet will be smaller than the cost of out-of-town buses, Munro wasn’t certain. “Yes — I think so,” he said.
As next year’s festivities approach, Munro said some Concord250 organizers are getting anxious. But, he said, “We have time.
“In a lot of ways, a lot of this work does tend to bottleneck itself in the last six months,” he said.
