Changes Come to Bus Routes for Fall River, New Bedford, Fairhaven

The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority bus schedule is making some summer changes that could affect your travel between Fairhaven, New Bedford and Fall River.

Starting Monday, June 27, a couple of routes are affected.

If you relied on express service from New Bedford to Fall River via the route called New Bedford 9X, or Intercity Express, then you may be out of luck. This route, funded by a grant from the state Department of Transportation, has ceased operations.

A public virtual hearing will take place on Wednesday, July 6, 2 p.m., for comments and to discuss possible future funding to get this service back.

SRTA Director of Transit Planning Shayne Trimbell said: "This schedule change is a routine change. We are planning to change schedules for the fall on Monday, August 29, 2022, and that will return to our school-year schedule with service to schools in New Bedford and Fall River."

Service after 6 p.m. on the NB11 route from New Bedford to Fairhaven will also discontinue due to the end of a grant.

"SRTA received a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation that funded an expansion of service past 6 p.m. on the NB11," Trimbell said.

While many forms of public transportation are taking hits in funding and staffing these days, we are lucky this has been the only route reduction affecting the SouthCoast and that much of these services will be restored come the fall.

See a full list of updated schedules here.

Getting from place to place isn't the authority's only concern these days. SRTA last week met with riders to learn about what improvements they'd like to see at their bus stops.

Bus riders in Fairhaven recently got an upgrade at their well-trafficked stop, a big improvement over the overturned shopping carts that used to mark the spot.