SALEM — Salem seniors now have a convenient new resource available for trips to the grocery store or the doctor's office.

Earlier this month, the Cooperative Alliance for Regional Transportation (CART) launched a new service called the Salem Shopper Shuttle.

The free service offers rides to various sites along Route 28 and runs Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 4:05 p.m. Shuttle rides began on June 4, and CART officials plan on holding a ribbon-cutting event in the coming weeks.

Available to the general public as well as the senior population, the shuttle offers a regularly scheduled route. In addition, those who call CART in advance can arrange to be picked up or dropped off at locations within a quarter-mile radius of the designated route.

The route begins at the Millville Arms apartment complex in Salem, with regularly scheduled stops including several other apartment complexes and senior communities, Ingram Senior Center, Market Basket, Target, Kmart/Staples and the Mall at Rockingham Park, as well as medical destinations on Stiles Road and the Exit 2 Park and Ride connecting to the Boston Express bus service.

The Salem Shopper Shuttle is provided by CART and operated by the Manchester Transit Authority. Though rides are free, donations are gladly accepted.

“We are very excited to get the Salem Shopping Shuttle started,” said Lee Maloney, CART's executive director. “This is going to be a very convenient and much-needed service for seniors and others in the Salem community. Because this is a pilot route deviation service, we have the flexibility to modify the route based on rider demand and preferences, so we encourage customer feedback.”

In November, a survey of Salem senior citizens indicated a high demand for public transportation services, Maloney said.

In February, CART launched its SUN Shuttle program along the Route 102 corridor in Londonderry and Derry. The program has proven extremely popular with local residents, though because of rider feedback the schedule has since been adjusted. Starting July 1, the shuttle will take residents to local medical offices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, with rides given to area grocery stores on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“We also added Hannaford and Shaw's to the route,” Maloney said.

Plans are in the works to offer a similar shuttle service in Windham and Hampstead later this year, and a shuttle connecting Manchester to Exit 2 is another possibility being discussed.

The organization receives funding from the towns of Chester, Derry, Hampstead, Londonderry, Salem and Windham, with the towns' funds matched by federal transportation funds.

CART was founded in 2006 and since then has provided nearly 75,000 rides to area residents, particularly seniors needing rides to medical appointments, shopping and places of employment.

For more information, or to schedule a pickup, call 623-8801 or visit www.cart-rides.org. Those who don't live within the regular route are asked to call by 5 p.m. on the day before their trip to ensure availability.

AGuilmet@newstote.com