Alliance Five Colleges | ||
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Parent University of Massachusetts Amherst
Five College Consortium
Pioneer Valley Transit Authority Headquarters 255 Governors Drive
Amherst, MA 01003-9266 Locale Five Colleges of the Pioneer Valley Service area Five Colleges campuses plus Amherst, Belchertown, Granby, Hadley, Northampton, South Deerfield, South Hadley, and Sunderland Service type Local bus transit, campus shuttle, field trip charter | ||
University of Massachusetts Transportation Services, abbreviated to UMass Transit Services or UMass Transit, is a department within the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) that provides mass transit services to the UMass Amherst campus and other members of the Five Colleges Consortium in eastern Hampshire County, as well as outlying towns. Similar to other large campus transportation systems, such as UGA Campus Transit in Georgia and Unitrans in California, UMass Transit buses are driven by students attending UMass Amherst.
Contents
Fixed-route services
UMass Transit operates as a contractor for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA), headquartered in Springfield, the largest municipality in the region. This setup exists because PVTA, as a regional transit authority established under Chapter 161B of the Massachusetts General Statutes, is forbidden under Section 25 of the same statute from operating routes directly. PVTA thus contracts with the school to operate certain routes (other routes in the system are operated by First Transit employees). UMass Transit buses in fixed route service are owned by the PVTA and are painted in their standard livery. These buses are numbered in the 3000 series, and are between 35 and 60 feet in length. The 60-feet buses were acquired in 2013 to accommodate student crowds on the North Pleasant Street through routes Gold 30 and Pink 31.
Field trip services
In addition to operating tendered services for the PVTA, UMass Transit also maintains an activity fleet of buses of various types for charter by student groups within the UMass Amherst community. In keeping with the school colors of white and maroon, these buses are generally painted white with a maroon stripe.
Fixed routes
The following routes are operated by UMass Transit Services on behalf of the PVTA. Most buses only display the destination.
UMass Outreach routes
These routes, operated by UMass Transit, are targeted not toward the UMass student body, but towards the year-round local population in the area.
Notes:
Fares
UMass Transit buses are not equipped with fareboxes or fare registers.
Students attending any colleges in the Five Colleges Consortium have a fee included in their tuition bills (service fee for UMass Amherst students and student activity fees for the other colleges) for each semester that prepays their bus fares for the semester and funds the Five Colleges bus system, along with fares on the M40 (Minuteman Express) between UMass and Smith College, and the B43 local route between Amherst College and Smith College via UMass. UMass Transit buses operate via a proof-of-payment system, in which there are random checks of student identification cards and bus passes and transfers.
Riders not affiliated with the Five Colleges must be prepared to show a transfer, ticket, or pass valid at the time upon random checks.
Holiday and school break service levels
While the population of Amherst is nominally 37,819 as per the 2010 census, that figure includes the student population of the Five Colleges, many of whom are only part-time residents and who account for approximately 60 percent of that figure. As such, when classes are not in session, service is greatly reduced and often suspended on many routes, and other routes will have service ending early.
All UMass Transit service is suspended on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. On other days when classes are not in session, UMass Transit routes operate on a reduced service schedule.