Beachgoers can avoid traffic with apps and buses

Memorial Day weekend is the kickoff of the state’s $3.1 billion tourism season, and the state is offering apps and buses to make beach visits easier.

Beachgoers can track traffic with the DelDOT app, available for free at Apple and Google Play stores. It allows users to view real-time traffic cameras, travel times, delays, advisories, DART’s Real-Time Transit Information and listen to WTMC 1380 AM, the state’s travel advisory radio station.

DART First State’s Beach Buses will offer a schedule on seven routes serving the new Lewes Park & Ride, Rehoboth Beach and the Boardwalk, Lewes, Long Neck, Dewey Beach, Ruddertowne, Bethany Beach, South Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, and Ocean City, Maryland.

The service operates 7 days a week from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. All buses are air-conditioned, ADA accessible and equipped with bike racks. The fare is $2 per trip; a daily pass is $4.20, and a new 7-day pass is $18.

DART’s 305 Beach Connection provides rides from Wilmington to Rehoboth Beach on Friday nights, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays tonight through September 4. The fares have been reduced to $2 per zone, so the one-way cash fare from Wilmington is $10. It’s $8 from Middletown and $6 from Dover. Riders are encouraged to buy a three-zone Anywhere pass for $12.60, which can also be used on all beach bus services, once at either of the Park & Rides.

DART continues beach bus service from the Rehoboth Park & Ride, where the $10-per-vehicle parking fee includes up to four daily passes, and DART has opened anew Park & Ride at Lewes Transit Center on DE Route 1, south of U.S. 9 near Five Points. The Lewes Park & Ride offers free parking.