Newcomers and longtime residents of the Pioneer Valley will have a chance to explore the region on public transit free of charge this holiday season, thanks to an offering by the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.
The PVTA is offering its “Try Transit” program, which started last Friday and continues until Dec. 31, to riders to use the service without the need to pay fares or requirement of a pass. The move comes as several other regional transit services in the state have experimented with forms of fare-free services in the past several months.
The state says the program has two main priorities. The first is to provide greater opportunities for people to try public transit, and the second is to make public transit more accessible to low-income riders who need it to get around and to go to work.
Funding for the Try Transit program comes from $2.5 million distributed among the 15 regional transit authorities in Massachusetts, according to the Rail & Transit Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The amount distributed to each transit authority is based on 2019 fare data.
“This is the result of great advocacy on the part of the RTAs,” said state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, who primarily serves communities in Hampshire and Franklin counties. “There’s been a lot of conversations about how to provide transit access, and this looks at barriers to access that are fare-related.”
According to the MassDOT, the PVTA received the most funding of any of the state’s regional transit authorities, receiving nearly 30% of the total grant funding provided by the state. The PVTA received around $744,000 for its Try Transit, with the second highest, the Worcester Regional Transit Authority, receiving around $405,000. The Franklin Regional Transit Authority received about $9,500.
All 35 of the PVTA’s bus routes, including the Northampton-Hadley-Amherst line and the Northampton-Williamsburg line, are part of the program.
Riders worried about taking public transportation in winter, when risk of infection from the flu or COVID-19 may be higher, can also take solace in knowing that the PVTA has revamped its entire bus fleet to provide better air disinfection systems.
Last June, the PVTA partnered with Texas-based CASPR Technologies to install new air units on all 189 of the transit authority’s buses. The technology works by converting water and oxygen in the air to low levels of hydrogen peroxide, dispersing them through the air and onto surfaces to disinfect them from possible contamination.
“CASPR’s technology gives our passengers more peace of mind knowing the air and surfaces inside the buses are continuously being disinfected,” Brandy Pelletier, the manager of marketing, advertising and public relations at PVTA, said in a statement. “We believe that since passengers can see CASPR Transit aboard our buses, that they will feel more confident in their choice to use public transportation.”
According to the PVTA, the transit authority provided more than 6 million rides along its bus routes during the previous fiscal year.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
