HADLEY — A reconfigured Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus route and a new bus stop, both aimed to get shoppers who depend on public transportation safely to and from the Mountain Farms and Hampshire malls, is going into effect. The changes come more than three years after the brief, but controversial, elimination of the bus stop near the Walmart store.
Paul Burns, director of operations for PVTA, told the Select Board at its Dec. 7 meeting that a new, permanent bus stop will be positioned on the back side of the Walmart store, and closer to South Maple Street.
The idea of moving this interior stop at the Mountain Farms Mall from the front of Walmart’s garden store is to allow buses traveling across South Maple, from the JC Penney stop at Hampshire Mall, to more easily cross the street to get riders, Burns said.
Walmart shoppers will thus have to trek from the front of the store to the back for their rides, along a path along the edge of the store.
“In the interim we are hoping that riders will be able to walk on that path there, or if they will need to, can walk on the road to get to the back,” Burns said.
A pad and other related improvements for the new bus stop may not come until next spring, though.
In fall 2019, PVTA temporarily suspended picking people up at Mountain Farms Mall because the stop there was no longer deemed safe, with a sidewalk and travel lane removed from next to the Orangetheory Fitness building as part of a reconfiguration of the plaza when LL Bean, Five Guys and 110 Grill opened.
Burns said mall developer W.S. Development “designed the bus stops out of the plaza,” encouraging riders to instead catch buses along Route 9, closer to Chipotle restaurant, though some riders decided instead to walk to the JC Penney stop.
Soon after, Walmart put a pad near the garden shop, allowing PVTA to resume service.
“In that particular plaza, it’s just not realistic to expect shoppers to walk from Walmart across the plaza to dodge all the cars and all the traffic to get back to Route 9,” Burns said.
Until Jan. 8, or through the holiday season, the buses will use a counterclockwise route, heading north on South Maple Street to Route 9 before entering the Mountain Farms Mall. After that date, when there will be fewer shoppers, Burns said buses will travel directly across the South Maple from Hampshire Mall to Mountain Farms.
“The ultimate goal is to make this as safe as possible,” Burns said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
