There is hereby established a public body corporate and politic having a distinct legal existence separate from the state and not constituting a department or agency of the state government to be known as the greater Derry-Salem cooperative alliance for regional transportation, also known as CART. Creation of this regional transit alliance is a key recommendation of the greater Derry-Salem regional transportation plan, completed in 2003 by the Rockingham planning commission, southern New Hampshire planning commission, and Nashua regional planning commission. The public purpose of CART is to acquire, own, and operate or cause to be operated a regional public transportation system serving the citizens of the CART region, which is the only urbanized area in the state of New Hampshire which lacks regular transit service. Municipal participation in this regional system will be voluntary, though provision of transit service to any individual municipality will be based on financial participation.