After hearing criticisms and comments from customers over the past couple of years, FRTA plans to make some significant shifts in its public bus schedules this summer.
The fixed-route schedules that will take effect Aug. 1 will extend some evening hours, improve connections and include easier-to-remember times at some key locations.
“I think it will be an improvement for a lot of people,” said Megan Rhodes, senior transportation planner for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, who teamed up with the Franklin Regional Transit Authority on a state-mandated comprehensive service analysis.
As part of those public outreach sessions looking at the strengths and weaknesses of FRTA fixed-route bus service, planners heard calls for more weekend service as well as later runs into early evening hours, said Rhodes.
The resulting changes, she said, will be rolled out in phases, since the transit authority needs additional money to make some of them happen.
More frequent runs around Greenfield, an express bus to Northampton and Saturday trips will have to wait for now.
But riders will see improvements beginning Aug. 1 including rescheduling to enable better connections and better connections with Pioneer Valley Transit Authority and Montachusetts Area Regional Transit routes.
Greenfield community route Number 21, for example, will see two evening runs, with stops until 8:50 p.m. The Montague-Greenfield route Number 22 and West County bus Number 41 will also be extended later into the evening.
Route 23, which had run between Greenfield and the University of Massachusetts will now end at Sugarloaf Estates in Sunderland, where riders can transfer to and from free PVTA service to UMass. The cost savings will be translated into a doubling of trips, from two to four, extending service two hours later into the evening with an additional run earlier in the morning as well.
Another recommendation of riders, to make schedules easier to understand, was also heard and implemented, said Rhodes.
Pasengers on many of the stops along Routes 21, 22 and 23 will find all of the buses running on the same number of minutes after the hour at particular stops, for example, which should make the schedule easier to remember.
Over the next six months to a year, FRTA and COG planners will evaluate the schedule and may tweak it according to passenger needs. Among the schedules that may change is shuttle service to Greenfield Corporate Center, where many courthouse functions have been temporarily located, since construction on the Franklin County Courthouse is scheduled to be completed early next year.
In addition to revamping the schedules themselves, FRTA has also redesigned the printed version of the schedule, available at the John W. Olver Transit Center, to make it easier to read.
On the Web:
bit.ly/1YrTn8D
www.frta.org/getting-around/schedules-maps
You can reach Richie Davis at:
rdavis@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 269