On Aug. 28, the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) announced a trial extension for route 31 on weekends, beginning in September.
The extension includes stops at the Hampshire Mall and Mountain Farms Plaza and was initially proposed by the Graduate Student Government (GSG) to offer more convenient options for shopping on weekends, especially for students who live in South Amherst.
Going to stores for groceries and household necessities on the weekend would take several hours, according to John Arigbede, the GSG president and a chemical engineering PhD candidate.
Students and community members have to take the route 31 bus downtown and wait for another bus to take them to Stop and Shop in Hadley.
The GSG pitched the idea of a route extension, offering a more accessible route to grocery stores, to the UMass administration. The pilot program was approved after the GSG presented data to support the route change, including “overwhelming support” from a survey sent to all graduate students, which collected more than 300 signatures according to Agribede.
“This service extension offers fast and dependable transportation, significantly improving access to shopping and recreational destinations, making it more convenient and accessible for many area residents,” said Brandy Pelletier, PVTA’s manager of marketing, advertising and public relations in a UMass press release.
The extension is currently on a one-year trial period, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst administration is currently funding the extension with $8,000. Turnout and use of the extension is important to the longevity of the pilot program, as the number of students who use the bus determines its usefulness in the community and its potential for permanence
“Sustainability is about usability,” Arigbede said. “We’re trying on our end to promote the program as much as we can.”
The extension is used fairly frequently, according to UMass bus driver Sebastian Harder, who worked for transit since 2019 and drove the new extension several times. Harder said that he was “pleasantly surprised” by the 31 extensions despite some previous reservations.
“There was a lot of discourse amongst drivers that it would be chaotic … and inefficient,” Harder said. “But I think when I drove it I was surprised at how utilized it was, how many passengers were using the extension just, like, two weeks after it started.”
The first time Harder drove the extension it was a busy day and he had a packed bus going to South Amherst. He remembers thinking that only a couple of stragglers would stay on until Hampshire Mall.
“When we got to the normal endpoint at the Boulders in South Amherst, basically … 30 percent of the bus passengers got off … and 70 percent of them stayed on until the Hampshire Mall. And I was just stunned, I was like, this is a Hampshire Mall bus now.”
He says that other drivers and staff agree that it is well-used, and opinions on the extension range from neutral to positive. In fact, he says that the 31 has become the highest traffic route with an additional bus running the extension on Saturday and Sunday.
“So overall, I think there’s … a little bit [of] net gain in passengers’ convenience, because [the buses] are slightly more frequent on Sundays,” said Harder. “It’s a little harder for UMass transit to cover the shifts, because there are just more shifts on weekends, which are classically when less people want to work. But we’ve still … been able to cover it well enough.”
“I think it’s better for riders and better for drivers,” Harder concluded.
The loops are also longer, increasing from 70 to 75 minutes to 100 to 105 minutes long, and they include a ten-minute break at the Hampshire Mall.
The biggest challenge that Agribede and Harder both brought up was safety.
Near Hampshire Mall, drivers have to make a sharp turn from Middle Valley Road onto South Maple Street at a four-stop intersection. This turn is difficult for bus drivers to make because the corners of the intersection are sharp and there is a telephone pole about six inches away from the pavement on the corner.
“There were a lot of … bulletins and directives from our bosses to take it extremely carefully,” Harder said. “So as a purely driving perspective, it is pretty difficult to make certain turns all the way there … But yeah, we’re trained for that, so it’s fine. It’s just [that] people need to take it carefully.”
According to Agribede, the GSG is currently looking into how to extend route 33.
“We think that route 33 could be a bit more accessible and accommodating for students who use route B43,” Agribede said.
Route 33 currently goes to Stop and Shop from Big Y on University Drive and stays there for 20 minutes. Agribede says that the adjusted route would extend the loop to Walmart at Mountain Farms Mall and return to Stop and Shop, reducing the wait time for students anticipating the B43 at Walmart.
The GSG is working on this proposal and looking to go through the same process as extending route 31 to ensure time is saved for riders.
“Time is money for graduate students and undergraduate students,” Agribede said.
He has seen students waiting in clumps after buying groceries and household necessities the Monday before classes start, particularly during the busy move-in period, and believes that the extension coild alleviate some of the stress surrounding move-in and settling into campus life.
Grace Chai can be reached at [email protected]
