Wal-Mart loop boosts KofP's free bus

Upper Merion Township's 11-year-old Rambler bus has marked a nearly 50 percent boost in traffic, to over 1,200 passengers a month, from last year's level, says manager Carissa Bobenchik. That's the most the service has attracted since at least 2001, Bobenchik tells me. Why the jump? Rambler added Wal-Mart to its loop this year, she says.

The Rambler is mostly subsidized by $200,000 in government money funneled through state and local agencies,