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| Franklin Area Bus |
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| Franklin Area Bus |
The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority, meanwhile, has bus routes that serve Franklin, Bellingham and Medway. Ridership on those three routes grew from about 27,400 in 2011 to 29,700 in 2012.
Mary Basilone, the mobility manager for the authority, said local leaders and her agency saw a need to transport commuters, seniors, college students and others and started routes to meet that demand.
She said her agency would like to improve connections with other regional transit authorities and enhance night and weekend service, but it needs funding to do so.
She acknowledged there are competing interests for transportation money as state leaders work to improve bridges and roads in addition to public transit.
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| In Aug 2009, the Franklin Area Bus was wrapped in Dean College colors |
The study, paid for with a $40,000 grant from the Metropolitan Planning Organization, involves taking stock of the various public transportation options in Bellingham, Franklin, Milford, Medway, Millis, Hopkinton, Sherborn, Dover, Norfolk and Wrentham.
The SouthWest Advisory Planning Committee represents those towns and will work with the MAPC to finalize the scope of the study. The committee met on Wednesday.
"These types of studies are important," said Eric Halvorsen, a transportation planner, "because we are trying to identify how towns can work … to connect people to the larger transportation networks and create more mobility."
Franklin may lose its bus service if more people don't start riding the bus, officials warned in a roundtable discussion with the public at the Senior Center yesterday.
"It's been tough. I don't want to say it's going to end, but I do want to say there's some urgency," said George Colajezzi, a marketing consultant for the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority.
GATRA, which provides bus service via the Franklin Area Bus, just finished its 52nd week of service and has fallen short of projected ridership, Colajezzi said.
An average of 149 people ride the bus every week, he said, which is about 100 fewer than what GATRA wants.
Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here
Needs YOUR input to help us determine the future of the Franklin Area Bus
Wednesday, March 18th - 4:00 p.m.
Franklin Senior Center - 10 Daniel McCahill Street
Needs YOUR input to help us determine the future of the Franklin Area Bus
Wednesday, March 18th - 4:00 p.m.
Franklin Senior Center - 10 Daniel McCahill Street
The proposed fiscal year 2010 budget released by Governor Deval Patrick has severely cut back on the Administration’s commitment to provide for local public transportation services. This proposed budget only provides for 49 million dollars of the 64 million dollars needed to fund the 15 regional transit authorities operating regular bus and demand response service throughout the Commonwealth. The Regional Transit Authorities are the only remaining reimbursable line item left in the state budget and this proposed budget is actually paying for services that are operating now. “Due to the fact that we are already eight months into our fiscal year drastic cuts in service will need to be made in order to make up for this reduction in funding,” noted GATRA Administrator Francis Gay.You can chose to do one of two things:
GATRA’s Advisory Board will be meeting in late February to discuss the current budget implications and to devise a plan moving forward. In the meantime the GATRA Administrator is asking residents throughout the GATRA region to contact their local Representatives and Senators to ask them to adequately fund public transportation services in the region when devising the House and Senate versions of the budget. If the proposed budget number stays anywhere near what the Governor has recommended there will be significant deficits for all the Regional Transit Authorities statewide.
GATRA is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of 15 Regional Transit Authorities in the state with an operating budget of more than $22 million. GATRA’s management companies operate more than 90 vehicles providing over 775,000 customer rides in 26 communities.
Replies.This Friday’s (November 7, 2008) edition of The Country Gazette will have a 2” x 2” orange coupon also known as an “Ad Note” affixed to the front page of 10,000 copies of the paper. The “Ad Note” is a “peel off” good for a FREE RIDE. The “coupon” is good immediately up to and including Saturday, December 20, 2008.
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Beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, GATRA will begin its new, expanded bus service, bringing riders to the movies and shops at the Bellingham Shopping Center and Barnes & Noble plaza off Rte. 495. The new route also includes a few stops to pick up high school and middle school students (who walk to the high school) at Franklin High School, 218 Oak St., before and after school. The bus will stop at Franklin High at 7:09 a.m., 2:10 p.m., and 3:08 p.m.
For more information about the new GATRA service, please see the Sunday edition of the Daily News on Sept. 7.
The Franklin Music Boosters is holding a car wash, $5/car, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with a raindate of Sunday at the Pizzeria Uno's in Bellingham, through Franklin public schools' "Dough Rai$ers" fundraising program. Pizzera Uno is sponsoring the car wash and dining coupon program - giving proceeds directly to the Franklin Music Boosters.
Pizzeria Uno Chicago Grill is located at 205 Hartford Ave, Bellingham. Click here for coupons http://franklinmusic.org/floridatrip2009/Uno%20Tickets.pdf
Also on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Franklin High School Boys Ice Hockey team will hold its can/bottle fundraiser at the Franklin High School parking lot at 218 Oak St. The fundraiser benefits the FHS Boys Ice Hockey Team.
For the past few months, Franklin resident Janaina Santos has been "out-and-about" - shopping, taking trips to the library or to Boston - more than she has in a while, thanks to the new public bus, she said.
The Franklin Area Bus, operated by the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority and funded part by a grant program, has only been in town three months, but Santos is already a regular, she said.
"I think it's awesome. It's good - I'm satisfied with it," said Santos, smiling and taking a seat on the bus beside her daughter after picking up a few groceries at the Stop & Shop on Rte. 140.
Instead of walking or getting a ride with a friend, Santos rides the bus nearly every day now to go to work at the Franklin Senior Center, when she needs to run errands, shop, or get to the train station to head to the city, she said. Her children take the bus to the library, Santos said.
"It's very good. I think it's going to be helpful in the wintertime, for everybody. They should continue to have it," Santos said.
Santos is one of about 25 Franklin residents who now regularly benefits from the town's lengthy battle to bring the public bus to town, and who took advantage of GATRA's one-day, nationwide campaign, "Dump the Pump," and got a free ride yesterday.
Read the full story in the Franklin Gazette here
Have you ridden the bus yet? The schedule is available on the Town website.
