AMHERST — Two prime Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus routes in Amherst, operated by University of Massachusetts Transit, will have extended evening hours this spring and summer as a result of financial support from the town.
Route 30, the North Amherst/Old Belchertown Road route, and Route 31, the Sunderland/South Amherst route, will be adding about 90 minutes to what is a typically reduced summer schedule beginning after UMass commencement.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said Tuesday that, following discussions with PVTA Administrator Sandra Sheehan, he agreed to a contract with the PVTA that ensures later runs on the two routes from May 13 to Sept. 2.
The arrangement comes at a cost of $12,931, with the town using a portion of $53,000 approved last spring at the final sessions of Town Meeting.
“I think PVTA was able to navigate the schedule to be able to make this a reality,” Bockelman said.
The adjustments to the routes were accomplished by eliminating the school year extensions that run the buses into both Belchertown and Sunderland, and instead keeping the routes within Amherst.
This expanded summer service not only runs entirely within Amherst, but can be handled by a single bus and one driver for a relatively small cost.
For Route 30, which would have otherwise ended daily at 9:30 p.m. on weekdays during the summer at the UMass Studio Arts Building, the bus will continue until 10:30 p.m., with stops at Puffton Village in North Amherst, the UMass Graduate Research Center and Physical Science Building, Cowles Lane in Amherst center, Colonial Village, Old Belchertown Road, the post office on North Pleasant Street in town center before returning to the Studio Arts Building.
Then, the bus will become Route 31 at 10:45 p.m., with stops again at Puffton Village, the UMass Graduate Research Center and Physical Science Building and Cowles Lane in town center, before heading to The Boulders in South Amherst at 11:03 p.m., before returning to the downtown post office and UMass campus around 11:15 p.m.
Rob Kusner, a former Select Board member and chairman of the Public Transportation Committee, said he appreciates all the work that went into adding the routes. Kusner said without the restored service, riders trying to get to Colonial Village or Rolling Green Apartments on Route 30, would have essentially been stuck after 8:45 p.m., while those heading from Amherst center toward the South Amherst apartment complexes on Route 31 would have been stranded by 9:15 p.m.
Kusner thanked PVTA officials, Bockelman and Douglas Slaughter, who serves as the town’s liaison to the PVTA Advisory Committee, for seeing the service change to completion.
He added that it will be an important service to have this summer, especially with the North Square at the Mill District mixed-use project expected to come online in August.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
