Starting today Massachusetts will offer free rides at 13 regional transit authorities, including the PVTA and the bus systems in Berkshire and Franklin counties.
Gov. Maura Healey announced the $30 million initiative during a visit to Greenfield recently.
She said after various pilot programs in the past two years the benefits of free transit are clear.
"It connects folks to school, to jobs, to groceries, to doctor's appointments, to everything they need to do to have the full positive impact we want it to have," she said.
Healey said transit not only has to be accessible, but equitable.
"Everybody needs to be able to use it, and it has to provide good service as well," she said. "Service that people can actually depend on, count on. That means students, families, seniors with lower incomes, people with disabilities, residents who aren't connected to urban centers."
Laura Sylvester works for the Food Bank of Western Mass. She said the free rides will help those struggling with food insecurity, but improvements to bus service are also needed.
" We hear again and again from the people that we serve, how difficult it is for them to get food because they don't own a car, and the bus system doesn't run frequently enough to get them to a grocery store in a reasonable amount of time," she said. "Or worse, they live in one of the many rural areas where busses don't run at all, and even if they do have access to busses, for people struggling to make ends meet, even a $3 bus fare can be too much."
The free fare initiative was announced at John W. Olver Transit Center, which is the headquarters of the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA), in Greenfield. FRTA has been providing fare free fixed route service since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and its board has voted to continue running fare free service every year since the pandemic. Officials said FRTA ridership has now exceeded pre-pandemic ridership totals.
Tina Cote, an administrator with the FRTA, said the transit authority will now extend the free services to the region's demand response services, which offers door-to-door rides to people over 60, some military veterans and people with disabilities.
"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. "And 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 happen in transportation."
As of now, the free fares are set to expire in June of 2025.
