A line of minibuses labeled “Community Happy Bus” leaves Henghebei Residential Compound at 7:30 a.m. The bus stops to pick up the students who are waving hands and take them to school.

The bus line is a customized door-to-door service for residents in this area due to the cooperation between Puxieshi Sub-district and Wenzhou Transportation Group. It aims to fill the gaps in the regular bus network and build an efficient "15-minute" transportation service, solving the problem of “the last mile” for the residents’ getting around.

Henghe Community in Puxieshi Sub-district of Lucheng District, a populated neighborhood with scattered back alleys, which is not connected to the public transportation. It takes longer time for the residents to commute,  especially the elderly sending their grandchildren to school. "We try to find a better way to take the kids to school and bring the elderly back home." said Xue Ming, deputy director of the Henghe Community. To provide better services, the community has organized several polls among the residents and then focus on the widespread problem of“limited access to public transportation”.

“Solving people’s urgent needs is our target. We have made need analysis based on the intensive interview with the residents, so that the tailored project can solve the problem effectively,”said Cai Qiuling, the head of the CPC Puxieshie Sub-district branch Office. A CPC-member team has been formed to make plans, negotiate details, collect fund and adjust transportation for the project. As a result, the community transportation has become more efficient than before.

The “Community Happy Bus” covers a length of 3.2 kilometers, including popular spots. After the peak hours of sending kids to school, the “special line” will switch to “circular line”, providing door-to-door service for the residents to visit nearby markets, bus stops, pharmacies, etc…

What’s the feedback after several months’ operation? Ms. Yang, a resident who just sent her child to school, highly praised the community bus: "I used to be stuck in traffic during the morning rush hours for a long time. Now we are more at ease letting our children take the bus to school, and the pick-up time is also shortened." It’s learned from the community that each resident can get 20 free bus tickets per month, and there are additional discounts for the elderly. "According to the statistics, about 3/4 of the free tickets are used each month, showing the community bus has gained recognition from the residents. In November, we plan to conduct a survey and add more stops that are often visited by the elderly." Xue Ming said.

According to the officials from Puxieshi sub-district, the community bus system will be further optimized and extended to larger coverage, so as to satisfy more people.