Franklin Regional Transit Authority

Last updated
Franklin Regional Transit Authority
Franklin Regional Transit Authority logo.png
FRTA buses at the agency's headquarters
Founded1978 (1978)
Headquarters John W. Olver Transit Center, 12 Olive Street, Suite 1, Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
Service area Franklin County, Hampshire County, Worcester County
Service type fixed-route bus service, demand response service, and paratransit service
Routes7 fixed routes [1]
Hubs John W. Olver Transit Center
Fleet8 buses, 32 vans [2]
Annual ridership155,000 (annual; 2010) [3]
OperatorFranklin Transit Management
AdministratorTina M. Cote
Website www.frta.org
System map

Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA) Bus System Map.jpg

The Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA) is a regional transit authority which provides public transportation principally to Franklin County and the North Quabbin region, both in Massachusetts. The FRTA is based in the county seat of Greenfield, Massachusetts. It operates fixed-route bus service, on demand shuttles (microtransit) and paratransit service.

Contents

With a district of 1,121 square miles (2,900 km2), FRTA has the largest and most rural service area of the state's regional transit authorities. [4]

Service

The FRTA operates fixed-route bus service, microtransit (branded as FRTA ACCESS and Demand Response), and paratransit. FRTA service operates weekdays only. Fares on fixed route buses and paratransit are free. As of August 2025, there are eight active fixed routes: [1]

The John W. Olver Transit Center houses the FRTA offices and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments. It is served by all FRTA routes as well as Amtrak and Greyhound intercity service.

History

Early-20th-century postcard of a Connecticut Valley Street Railway streetcar in Greenfield Postcard of Main Street in Greenfield with streetcar.jpg
Early-20th-century postcard of a Connecticut Valley Street Railway streetcar in Greenfield

The FRTA was established in 1978 with then implementation of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 161B, which gave rise to several regional transit authorities throughout Massachusetts. FRTA is the largest public transit authority in Massachusetts by territory.

Prior to the FRTA, Greenfield and its surrounding areas were served by Greenfield and Montague Transportation Area (GMTA), an authority created with the purchase of assets of the defunct Connecticut Valley Street Railway in 1924 which operated an intermunicipal tram service in Greenfield and Turners Falls until it was abandoned and replaced with bus service during the Depression. [5] [6]

In 1999, the FRTA and the Fitchburg-based Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) cooperated to form a route to Athol and Orange, Massachusetts, linking Greenfield to the MART terminal in Gardner.

Although not in the FRTA service area, public bus service operated by the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority between Greenfield and Northampton began in 2000.

In 2006, the FRTA assumed the responsibility of providing transportation services for the towns of Greenfield and Montague, when the former Greenfield & Montague Transportation Area (GMTA) transit authority became unfunded by the state Department of Transportation. [7]

In 2013, Athol voted to withdraw from the FRTA service district, and instead voted to join MART, necessitating that the former Greenfield/Athol route be truncated to Orange.

Fixed-route and paratransit service were made free effective November 1, 2024. Initially a pilot until mid-2025, it was later made permanent. [8] [9] [10]

References

  1. 1 2 "Schedules & Maps". Franklin Regional Transit Authority. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  2. ↑ "About Us". frta.org. Franklin Regional Transit Authority. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "RTA Profile: Franklin Regional Transit Authority". MassDOT. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  4. ↑ "Beyond Boston: A Transit Study for the Commonwealth, 2 RTA PROFILES". MassDOT, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2018-03-02. pp. 18–21. Archived from the original on 2025-03-16. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  5. ↑ Environmental Impact Station and Section 4(f) Evaluation; Route 2- Greenfield, Gill, Erving, Wendell, Orange, Massachusetts. U.S. Department of Transportation. May 10, 1982. p. 30.
  6. ↑ Cummings, O. R. (1959). Greenfield & Montague Transportation Area: A Municipal Operated Streetcar — Transportation Bulletin No. 60 (Out of Print). National Railway Historical Society, Connecticut Valley Chapter. ASIN   B0007I5WD0. OCLC   49218038.
  7. ↑ Vallette, David A. (July 21, 2006). "Transit agencies to merge". Springfield Republican. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  8. ↑ "Press Release: Healey-Driscoll Administration Announces Fare Free Regional Transit Across State". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2024-10-24. Archived from the original on 2025-07-14. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  9. ↑ Román, Elizabeth; Williams, Nirvani (November 1, 2024). "Free bus fare in western Massachusetts available now, through the summer of 2025". New England Public Media.
  10. ↑ "Fares & Transfers". Franklin Regional Transit Authority. Archived from the original on September 20, 2025.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Franklin Regional Transit Authority at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.