CATA offers grocery shoppers access to Demoulas in Danvers

CATA will begin shuttle service on Saturday, October 29th, 2005 to a Danvers supermarket to give low-income shoppers access to lower grocery prices.

Beginning Saturday, a bus will load at 12:35 p.m. at the commuter rail station and five minutes later at the Veterans Way Community Center, then drop shoppers at DeMoulas Market Basket in Danvers at 1:05 p.m. At 2:17 p.m., a CATA bus will pick up for the return trip to the Gloucester stops.

Round-trip fares will be discounted at $2.50 for adults and $1 for children - half the cost of CATA's trips to the Northshore Mall.

The initiative was conceived by the board of Action Inc., the regional nonprofit anti-poverty agency, and adopted by the Cape Ann Transportation Authority. According to Action's recent community needs survey of the low-income population on Cape Ann, high cost of food is a major problem for many local low-income households.

76% of respondents to Action's survey said that not enough money for food was a problem in their household. Almost half (47%) of the low-income households surveyed had to choose between enough money for rent or enough money for food and basic necessities.

96% of the low-income Gloucester households surveyed (365 respondents) said that the high cost of food is a problem in Gloucester. 86% of Cape Ann respondents said that high cost of food is a major-moderate problem in the community.

Action's executive director, William Rochford, said he became interested about two months ago, when a member of his board reported spending $49 for groceries at Market Basket. Through cross-checking, the member discovered the same purchases would have cost $69 at the Shaw's on Railroad Avenue, he said.

Other links:

Read the Gloucester Daily Times article
10/25/05

Cape Ann Transit Authority website