Millions in grant money will fund year-round, fare-free transportation services across the state of Massachusetts. The funds will cover rides provided by 13 of the state’s regional transit authorities – a plan the governor took on the road Thursday.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Franklin Regional Transit Authority has been providing free, fixed route service.
State funds and COVID-19 relief funding helped make the venture possible, supporting an RTA that may not have the largest ridership, but covers the greatest distance at 1,121 square miles, according to the transit authority.
Other RTAs across the state have been testing out free fare programs as well, and thanks to the latest state budget, most will benefit from full-state funding.
Governor Maura Healey is calling it a big deal.
“Here's what this is - $30 million to 13 regional transit authorities to provide year-round, free transit,” the Democrat said in downtown Greenfield Thursday, standing in front of an FRTA bus at the John Olver Transit Center.
According to Healey’s office, the 13 RTAs submitted a joint application to disburse the cash, based on ridership in their service areas.
That translates to over $218,000 for the FRTA, $9.5 million for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority and nearly $700,000 for the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority.
Healey says the move comes amid two years of successful pilot programs.
“One of the things that we've seen is that just by making fare free options available to people, ridership has already increased, it was increased 45% this year just with the summer fare free program and that's great - that means people who needed transit, to go to school, to go to community college, to go to the doctor's appointment, to get groceries, to go see a family member, were actually able to take advantage,” Healey told reporters. “That's a huge increase, right? Just by making fares free.”
At the same event, FRTA Administrator Tina Cote announced that in addition to the fixed routes, effective Nov. 1, free fares will extend to demand response communities, a curb-to-curb service offered to nursing home residents, seniors, and other groups.
“It is our hope that more of our seniors will take this opportunity to use public transit and to access so many of the services that our region has to offer,” Cote said. “You can get there from here. In our region, it takes a little bit more coordination, but the resources are in place, and we're here to make things all happen in transportation.”
Fiscal Year 2023 MassDOT data shows the FRTA's fixed route offerings serviced some 96,000 unlinked passenger trips, while demand response handled at least 35,000.
With a fleet of eight buses, eight mini-buses and 21 vans, the FRTA serves 41 communities in some capacity, from Rowe to Warwick to Leyden to Huntington and Southwick – regions where, if one doesn’t have a car, basic errands become a hefty challenge, says 1st Franklin Representative Natalie Blais.
“We have shown people Google Maps that say if you want to get to a class at Greenfield Community College in the afterhours, at night, after 5 p.m., if you want to get your groceries on the weekends, there's nothing, unless you have a car,” the Democrat said. “That is an extraordinary expense for people who live here, who choose to be a part of our communities … when people in the Boston area see that, their minds are blown.”
Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester Senator Jo Comerford says many in the region have transportation struggles. Keeping fares free, she says, is a step in the right direction, especially as the area deals with declines in population.
“This is a step in that direction of closing those gaps, so that workers can get to the second and third shifts, so that elders can live here and age gracefully, so that young families can move and know that their kids can get to school, and, perhaps, free community college at Greenfield Community College,” the Democratic state senator said. “So, it's a great day for so many things in terms of transportation equity, but this is also a rural equity boon.”
According to the transit authority, the FRTA advisory board previously agreed in May to suspend fares on all of its fixed bus route and ADA services through June 30, 2025.
