GREENFIELD — Franklin County residents will soon have bus service to Boston after Shelburne Falls-based MAX Bus reconfigures its regional bus service to provide new, daily routes from Greenfield and Brattleboro.
The new service, which begins Oct. 1, will be provided on motor coaches equipped with extra leg room, reclining seating, Wi-Fi, power outlets, cup holders and free baggage and bike space. The service is also fully accessible to the handicapped, according to Max Bus.
The company is a homegrown service brand of Shelburne Falls-based TrueNorth Transit Group, with operating service partner Fox Bus Lines of Millbury. TrueNorth was launched in 2015 to focus on the intersection of rural, regional and intercity bus services and how they sustain rural and small urban communities.
“As a local Franklin County small business, we are thrilled to bring our emerging MAX Bus service brand to our own neighborhood,” Connie Englert, TrueNorth Transit principal and managing director said in announcing the service. “Offering a direct daily link to Boston has been a priority for us since we started. There is an extraordinary opportunity here to support our local small business, cooperatives, tourism, nonprofits and educational communities.”
Service from Greenfield will be provided from the John W. Olver Transit Center at 12 Olive St. and will also stop at the Interstate 91 Rotary Park-Ride lot at the Greenfield Registry of Motor Vehicles office. Brattleboro service will be provided from the downtown Brattleboro Transit Center on Flat Street. Reservation-only service for Bernardston and “flag stop” service for Erving will also be available.
MAX Bus will operate from Boston’s South Station, and will also serve Orange, Athol, Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, Worcester and Framingham.
According to the release, service will be scheduled to best support local residents and businesses with same-day roundtrip service. Final schedules have yet to be released, but will include a morning arrival and an afternoon return. Weekend service will include an afternoon Sunday return to Boston.
The bus service will offer reserved and unreserved service options, with no-fee advance online ticketing and walk-up sales available. One-way fares range from $5 each way for local trips to $24 for one-way trips to Boston and $42 for roundtrip service, with a number of discounts available. A $29 online promotional fare for a round trip to Boston will be offered to welcome Franklin County and Vermont customers.
A group program, called “MAX Explorer,” will also be introduced for groups of 10 to 30 people who can travel within the service’s schedule. According to the company, significant discounts will be offered through the program with a wide variety of Boston-area destinations.
Englert said, “We also look forward to partnering with local businesses to develop top notch outdoor adventure programs and destination packages for those coming here to experience all that we have to offer.”
Small business and corporate travel discount programs will be available to members of area chambers of commerce, and the service will offer discounted small package freight to area food cooperatives and collectives that may benefit from same-day expedited service to Boston-area markets.
MAX Bus currently provides service twice daily between Worcester and Northampton that will end Sept. 30 and be replaced by the daily Boston-Brattleboro route.
This new service will be paid for by partial funding from the Federal Transit Administration 5311(f) Rural Intercity Bus Program and with prior capital fleet investment of MassDOT’s BusPlus+ Regional Bus Program.
Find MAX Bus online at ridemaxbus.com.