FRTA ridership reaches near-record levels as agency pursues cautious expansion
The authority serves 42 communities across 1,200 square miles but faces constraints that limit expansion into underserved towns and hilltown areas.
Ridership on the Franklin Regional Transit Authority has rebounded to near historic highs, reaching nearly 193,000 trips in 2025, but officials say expanding service across the region's vast rural territory remains constrained by funding and staffing limits.
The FRTA serves 42 communities across more than 1,200 square miles, stretching into Worcester, Hampshire, and Hampden counties alongside its core Franklin County territory. Unlike larger transit systems in western Massachusetts, the FRTA operates as a rural authority and received $4.7 million in operating funds in 2023, compared with $57 million for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority and $32.5 million for the Worcester Regional Transit Authority, according to the Federal Transit Administration.
Fare-free service has been central to the FRTA's ridership recovery. The authority suspended fares on fixed-route buses in April 2021 as a pandemic safety measure, then determined that collecting fares cost more than the revenue generated. The FRTA Advisory Board voted to make fares permanent in 2025. State funding through the "Try Transit" initiative allowed the FRTA to expand fare-free service to its Demand Response program, which provides curb-to-curb transportation by request to eligible riders, through June 2027.
Annual trips had plummeted from 158,000 riders in fiscal year 2019 to roughly 48,000 in 2021 during the pandemic. Following the introduction of free fixed-route fares, ridership steadily climbed. In fiscal year 2025, fixed-route buses accounted for the majority of trips, though the FRTA's two on-demand services made up nearly 18 percent of total ridership.
Aeryk Engelbrecht, a Greenfield resident who commutes to his job at a local co-op on Route 31, which connects Greenfield and Northampton, said the service allows him to use transit time productively. "I don't have to spend any mental energy or pay attention to the road," Engelbrecht said. "It gives me that time to think."
FRTA Administrator Tina Cote described the organization's challenge bluntly. "We're a very small organization, but at the same time we've got the largest geographic area out of all the transit authorities in the state," Cote said. Riders have identified gaps in evening, weekend, and geographic service, particularly in smaller towns and hilltown communities.
The FRTA is now focused on hiring additional staff, increasing outreach and marketing, and improving connections through projects such as the new G47 route, developed with the PVTA to connect Northampton, Westfield, and Southwick, and an upcoming pilot program connecting Bernardston and Northfield. Cote said fixed-route service has expanded from six towns when she started to about 11 currently, but further growth depends on securing additional staffing and funding.