MART asking for ridership feedback to add in the 2024 regional transit plan
GARDNER ― In an effort to increase ridership, Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) has created a tool to make the 2024 regional transportation planning process go more smoothly through direct feedback from the public.
The regional transportation 20-year plan provides guidance to local and state officials on how to spend state and federal transportation money and outline the region's transportation needs.
According to a fact sheet on the commission's website, the plan is a long-range document for maintaining and improving the region's highways, bridges, and public transit. Between Nov. 14 and 17, MART held five outreach workshops where riders voiced their concerns and supplied the organization with additional comments on what to include in the 2024 regional plan.
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The plan must examine all modes of transportation in the region through an inventory of current conditions and then identify various needs and recommendations that can range from specific projects to general goals or policies, according to the fact sheet. That information is necessary in order for projects to be eligible for federal funding through the Transportation Improvement Program.
Every five years, the U.S. Department of Transportation requires an update of the regional transportation plan. At the five outreach workshops, the updated plan was introduced to the public who were then asked to fill out a survey with several questions.
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At each meeting, three to seven residents joined the discussion and offered their thoughts, said MRPC Project Director Brad Harris. The survey is available until the end of January 2023. To fill out the survey, go to Regional Transportation Plan Survey (surveymonkey.com).
"What we want to do is identify what are the priorities through the surveys and communities in terms of project funding," he said. "Transit options came out as top priority. We'd look to see how we can address transportation programs, the funding of actual projects and how we develop some of our planning scenario."
After collecting the public feedback, the commission plans to organize the survey comments to create a draft of the 2024 Regional Transportation plan by May 2023. The final draft is due mid-June 2023, and the organization plans to hold future public workshops to gather more feedback from the public if needed, said Harris.
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Creating a more reliable, affordable, and accessible public transit system for all north central Massachusetts residents is the organizations' goal to increase ridership.
A free bus fare program began Nov. 21 and ends Dec. 31, is another attempt from MART to attract more ridership. The group of 15 state regional transportation organizations worked together to apply for a $2.5 million grant to do the free fare program, MART Director Bruno Fisher said.
"What we really like to do is hope that there's additional ridership and maybe people who don't normally ride it use transit because they can see that it's a great form of transportation, great form of getting around and getting the places you need to go without using a car," he said.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: To increase ridership MART made a survey for riders to share concerns
