Bus power

Apr. 13—METHUEN — Sen. Edward Markey hopped aboard a public bus Tuesday and the mood soon turned festive among the unsuspecting riders returning home from work or shopping.

Markey's 20-minute trip on a leg of the 01 Route, from Target in Methuen to the Buckley Transportation Center in Lawrence, celebrated the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority's two-year, ride-for-free program.

Free fares are good through March 1, 2024, the funding coming from $950,000 in federal pandemic relief money.

Markey addressed the 25 riders, asking them to raise their hands based on where they lived.

"How many of you are from Lawrence?" he asked.

Hands shot upward and the bus cheered, largely in unison.

He got a smaller response when he asked for a show of hands for Haverhill and Methuen riders.

He then asked a woman where she was from.

"The Dominican Republic," she said. The bus erupted in laughter.

All MVRTA buses are free except for the Boston shuttle.

Previously, a bus fare was $1.25, but most of each fare — all but about .24-cents on the dollar — was eaten up by items including money counting, fare box maintenance and repair, and armored car services.

Boarding will now be faster without people having to stop, dig out the fare and drop money in the fare box, said MVRTA administrator Noah Berger.

System-wide ridership is up 42 percent since the free fare program began on March 1.

In February, 73,415 people rode the buses. In March, 104,620 riders took buses, according to preliminary numbers.

MVRTA riders include workers, students and shoppers shuttling to and from work, school and stores.

Many older folks rely on buses for travel to senior centers, medical appointments and to visit friends and family.

At the very back of the bus was Antonio Morales, returning home to Lawrence from his manufacturing job in Methuen at the Metalcraft company.

He said he saves about $30 a week by using free public transportation, money that comes in handy seeing as he has three children 19, 16 and 14.

His oldest son uses public transportation to get to and from Northern Essex Community College.

Markey told the passengers that as a young man he used the bus to get from Lowell to Boston College, and that his father, who grew up in Lawrence, rode public transportation as a young man during hard economic times to find and get to work in Malden.

Markey said the pandemic brought to light inequities in society but free public transportation is an opportunity for people of limited means to better their lives.

"This is one giant step forward," he said.

"Do you think buses should be free forever?" Markey hollered.

The crowd yelled "Yay," and one man in the crowd responded that transportation is a basic human right and should be available to everyone.

"I want to see this done throughout the country," Markey said of free public transportation.

Lawrence previously piloted free rides on three lines starting in September of 2019: Route 34 (Prospect Hill); Route 37 (Beacon Street); and Route 85 (Lawrence Downtown Shuttle).

Before COVID-19 restrictions went into effect in March 2020, ridership on the three free routes increased by 40%, Berger said.

The MVRTA carried almost 2 million riders in fiscal 2019, which ended June 30 of that year, making it the last pre-pandemic fiscal year.

The transit authority's routes ferried 994,873 riders in fiscal 2021.

The MVRTA serves 16 cities and towns in northeast Massachusetts.

They include Lawrence, Haverhill, Methuen, Andover, North Andover, Boxford, Rowley, Newburyport and Salisbury.