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The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority is racing to expand service after the MBTA moved up South Coast Rail’s start date by two months.

Local transit officials plan to add “microtransit” vans to serve the new stations at early and late hours when regular buses aren’t running.

“We’re trying really hard to have the service up and running close to the start of the South Coast Rail,” said Shayne Trimbell, SRTA’s planning director. “But there’s a lot of details we have to work through.”

Trimbell said SRTA officials hope to introduce the vans within the first few weeks of train service, but they might not be ready by South Coast Rail’s new launch date on March 24. For most of the past year, the long-delayed commuter rail project was slated to finish in May. The MBTA moved up the date in a surprise announcement last month.

Here’s how the microtransit service will work.

Riders in zones that cover a few square miles around the stations will be able to call a van using an app. A marked van will pick them up and drop them off at the station, and vice versa. It will work kind of like an Uber Pool, Trimbell said.

But unlike Uber, microtransit will have a flat fare, and it will only cover that specific geographic area. The exact fare and area maps are still being refined, Trimbell said.

Existing SRTA routes in New Bedford already serve the train stations. The 211, the 204, and the 202 all stop near New Bedford Station or near the pedestrian bridge to it on Purchase Street. The 221 stops near Church Street Station.

Vans will only be available on weekdays during hours when MBTA trains are running but SRTA buses are not. The MBTA plans to run trains in New Bedford as early as 4:30 a.m., and as late as 1:30 a.m. Weekday service on SRTA’s fixed routes only runs from 5:20 a.m. until 10:10 p.m., and many routes start later or end earlier.

The microtransit service is funded by a state grant, Trimbell said. SRTA plans to operate it as a pilot, making changes to respond to patterns in use and demand.

Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org

2 replies on “SRTA rushing to prep for South Coast Rail”

  2. I thought the SRTA buses were still free but these vans that are being paid for by a state grant are not?

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