By MADDY VITALE
The Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce and Revitalization and the Ocean View Resort campground saw great success with a shuttle partnership that took riders into town over the summer to enjoy dining, bars and shopping.
Chamber President Christopher Glancey told board members during the October meeting Wednesday afternoon that the goal is to expand the shuttle to other neighboring campgrounds next summer.
“It was very successful,” he said. “So, the question is, do we try to incorporate other campgrounds for next year?”
The Chamber and Ocean View Resort, which is located in neighboring Dennis Township, launched the shuttle service in partnership with the Sea Isle Jitney Association.
Shuttles were Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m. to midnight July 1 through mid-August.
The 13-passenger jitneys ran every half hour or so, picking up riders at the entrance of Ocean View Resort and dropping them off at the Sea Isle City Welcome Center or a few blocks away in the downtown district on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The fare was $2 one way, or $4 round trip.
The idea is to bring more tourists into town during the slower days of the week and also provide a service to campers to make it easy and affordable to visit the resort. Those goals were achieved, officials said.
Glancey told the Chamber that Scott Turner, co-owner of the Ocean View Resort with his father Doug, said he was pleased with how the jitney service worked, but hopes more campgrounds will join next summer to help offset the cost.
The cost was $6,000, split evenly between the campground and the Chamber.
Cape May County has more than 40 campgrounds with many of them along the Route 9 and Route 83 corridors just several miles outside Sea Isle.
Glancey and other members of the Chamber said it would be great to expand the service and have more campgrounds on board.
Dave Berry, president of the Sea Isle Jitney Association, could not attend the meeting but, like the Turners, Berry was very happy with the results of the partnership – especially the ridership, Glancey said.
“I talked to him last night to go over the numbers and Dave was very pleased with the outcome of it,” Glancey said. “We didn’t have one night without riders on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, with the highest number of about 40 jitney riders to the lowest of 10 riders.”
Glancey also explained the demographics of the shuttle riders.
They were mostly middle-aged adults coming into town to shop, eat and safely go to bars without the worry of driving home.
Mike Monichetti, who hosted the Chamber meeting at his restaurant, Mike’s Seafood & Dock Restaurant on Park Road, said he thought the jitney service and the partnership were great for the businesses.
He asked if there could be more advertising to alert more people and businesses that it is an available service.
Glancey agreed that there should be more advertising and they would discuss further what avenues to promote it more.
He added that it would be good to get individual businesses involved.
Daniel Otto, a Chamber member and owner of Sportswear Plus in Sea Isle, asked if it would work better to provide the shuttle service with a set schedule instead of riders calling the shuttle service.
The jitney route traveled south to Townsends Inlet and north to Strathmere through Sea Isle. Shuttle riders would call for pickup.
Glancey said the Chamber would like to speak with Ocean View Resort and other campgrounds to see how to expand the shuttle.
“The most encouraging thing to me was that there were adults coming into town and enjoying themselves. They didn’t have to worry about drinking and driving,” Glancey said.
Glancey added that he will ask Berry and the Turners to come to an upcoming Chamber meeting to speak about the service.
