New shuttle service to foster local businesses

A free shuttle designed to boost downtown business on football game days ran for the first time Saturday.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company agreed to sponsor the shuttle service as part of its newly-announced partnership with the UNC Department of Athletics.

Nationwide spokesman Mike Switzer said the partnership is only a one-year deal, so it is unclear if the shuttle will be available next football season.

He said the company is already looking forward to basketball season, although it doesn’t yet know what services will be offered.

“We aren’t sure how we’ll be involved, but I’ve heard it’s a big deal on your campus,” Switzer said.

The shuttle service is also part of Touch Downtown, a marketing campaign comprised of five local organizations like the UNC athletics department and the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau.

The campaign, which started three years ago, aims to get football fans to invest in local businesses while they are in the area.

UNC’s Assistant Athletic Director for football operations Rick Steinbacher said when Nationwide offered to pay for a shuttle, the department jumped at the opportunity.

“A football game here is a collaborative effort to pull off,” Steinbacher said.

“It takes a huge amount of cooperation to handle parking, transportation and security.”

The Nationwide shuttle runs continually from the Varsity Theater on Franklin Street to Fraternity Court and the bell tower from three hours before kickoff until one hour after the game’s end.

In the past, town shuttles went from two parking lots on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Kenan Stadium.

That shuttle system was discontinued because it cost more to operate than the town was making, Steinbacher said.

The Nationwide shuttle will return football fans to Franklin Street after the game, dropping them off in front of restaurants and other downtown shops.

The town of Chapel Hill continues to operate the Tar Heel Express, a bus route from four Park-and-Ride lots to the stadium. The service costs $5 for a round-trip ride.

Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership’s Assistant Director Meg McGurk said football games attract visitors that might not come otherwise.

She said the 2008 home football game against Notre Dame University generated $6.4 million for the area in just one day — $325,000 just in state and local taxes.

Communications Director of the Visitors Bureau Patty Griffin said the program is all about making an entire day out of Saturday football.

“The whole idea is to get people to come to Chapel Hill early, stay late and spend money,” she said.

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