In the News

SPRINGFIELD — Dependent on state aid for about half its $58 million annual budget and on even more unreliable fare revenue and advertising proceeds for the rest, the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority on Friday welcomed $36 million in federal coronavirus response money.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, announced the funding at a news conference at Union Station with Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and PVTA Administrator Sandra Sheehan.

The money comes, Sheehan said, as PVTA begins to ramp up bus service as the economy reopens from the coronavirus pandemic and workers with no other means of transportation increasingly need to get where they are going.

Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he always — even when lockdown rules were at their most stringent — saw commuting essential workers waiting at PVTA bus stops.

"That shows you the level of dependency that people have on this service," Neal said. "The ease at which we get from one place to another is a big part of efficiency and recovery."

Neal said he expects more transit funding in the next coronavirus recovery bill, legislation still pending in Washington, but that he expects it to pass the Republican-led U.S. Senate.

Neal also cited the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s ongoing CTrail Hartford Line service and Amtrak’s Valley Flyer train from Springfield north to Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield.

He said he endorses U.S. Sen Ed Markey’s plan — announced Friday as well — to invest $5 billion annually in high-performance intercity passenger rail service. Markey’s plan would boost the chances of enhanced Springfield-to-Boston passenger rail service.

For the PVTA, the money announced Friday will enable transit service during the public health emergency while also allowing the PVTA to respond to new transit operations needs post COVID-19. The grant is 100% federal funds, with no local match required.

Sheehan said the PVTA is still running on what she called “modified Saturday service,” that is, with fewer bus trips than it would normally run.

The buses carry 7,000 to 10,000 passengers a day, an average of about 60,000 a week. That’s about 25% of normal ridership. But it sometimes fills buses because people spread out and stay to the back, away from the driver.

She asks all passengers to wear masks. Drivers wear masks as well.

Ridership is growing, Sheehan said.

"The stores are opening. Workplaces are reopening," she said. "Our customers are our customers because they rely on us."

PVTA monitors ridership and is adding service on busy routes. It's also installing barriers and sanitizing buses each night.

All that costs money, she said. So does the added payroll cost of filling in for staffers out of work because they tested positive for the virus.

“We don’t know what is going to happen with our state revenue,” she said, adding that advertising revenue has dried up.

She said she expects the fiscal impacts to last through next year and into 2022.