PVTA Announces Free Fares for All Riders, New Amherst-Greenfield Line

The PVTA bus system will soon expand fare-free service — which was originally available only to students — to all riders. The change was announced alongside a new route between Amherst and Greenfield.

Beginning on Nov. 1, the PVTA will be fare-free to all riders, as part of the “Try Transit” initiative, a state-funded program that offers free fares for regional transit authorities throughout Massachusetts. This new initiative will be in place through June 30, 2025, and will include all fixed-route buses and paratransit service.

Although the PVTA was already free for students in the Five College Consortium, the initiative is intended to increase use of the bus system among full-time local residents.

PVTA is also launching a new route from Amherst to Greenfield, a weekday round-trip service. The outbound route leaves each day at 8:30 a.m. from the Bangs Community Center, with additional rides also leaving at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

The push for the new route was funded by Massachusetts’ Department of Transportation Regional Transportation Innovation Grant, which is a competitive grant program for transit improvements at regional transit authorities across the state.

The route will include stops in Leverett and Sunderland.

Prior to the change, there was no regular PVTA bus service in Leverett, a fact that a large number of town residents lamented in a recent survey.

The announcements followed other recent changes, including the announcement of a weekend-only extension of the route between Sunderland and Amherst to include a stop at Hampshire Mall, which will begin as a one-year trial program.

Dionisia Lopez, an unhoused Amherst resident and frequent PVTA rider, said that is a “relief that additional funding is being provided” so that the PVTA can increase access. “Life is already expensive when you’re low-income,” Lopez said.

Benjamin Bruso, another Amherst PVTA rider, expressed gratitude for the expansion of bus routes, but simultaneously expressed frustration at the wait times for some of the more rural bus routes. Although he acknowledged that “it’s only a few people riding at each time being offered for [each] route,” he felt that “it can be difficult when the bus only comes to rural stops a few times a day.”