Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) has long encouraged communities and counties in her district to find ways to share services, consolidate efforts and work together to find solutions to problems they have in common.

One shared obstacle is getting North Country residents from one county to another, whether it is for work, shopping, socializing, medical appointments or other reasons.

Franklin County's Public Transportation program has had great success since creating three bus routes to cover territory from as far north as Fort Covington, as far northeast as Chateaugay, as far west as Moira and as far southeast as Saranac Lake and into Essex County to Lake Placid.

To close another coverage gap, the senator offered her support for a fourth bus route to reach farther into the Adirondacks to join Paul Smiths and Tupper Lake to the existing routes.

At the same time the logistics of the service were being developed and finalized, the nation was coping with gasoline prices that, at first, inched up at the pumps then quickly began to soar beyond $4 a gallon.

More and more people worried about meeting expenses in the face of the rising energy crisis looked for alternatives to driving their own vehicles and were quick to turn to the county's public-transportation services.

The Adirondack route came online in June just in time to fill the growing need.

Program Coordinator Paul Duffee recently shared year-end ridership figures that show more than 21,000 additional bus rides were provided in 2008 than in 2007.

And of those rides, 18,000 of the trips were taken on the new Adirondack route.

Overall, ridership increased 35 percent last year, he said.

With fares on the northern routes at $2 a ride for typical passengers, $1 for seniors and the disabled, $3 on the Adirondack route from Lake Placid to Malone and $2 between Paul Smiths and Tupper Lake, it's no wonder the number of users skyrocketed.

Little's encouragement and the willingness of the Department of Social Services, the Office for the Aging and the Association of Senior Citizens to work together with Essex County officials helped bring this transportation option to everyone.

It is allowing people with no other means to travel to get where they need to go at a price they can afford so they can retain their jobs, stay connected to family and stretch beyond geographic limitations.

At the same time, it is saving energy and reducing — if just by a fraction — our dependence on foreign oil. Private vehicles and being spared precious miles on the odometer.

We may not be Manhattan, but even up here, the advantages of mass transit are palpable.