The Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority not only rolled out two revamped buses yesterday, but also a new look for the 50-year-old quasi-public entity.
Authority Director of Communications Niorka Mendez-Almonte said in an email the agency will continue wrapping buses until all sport the new brightly colored, almost all orange design. Newly rebranded buses will also sport a shortened name, “MEVA,” for Merrimack Valley. As WHAV reported in early August, Administrator Noah S. Berger’s goal is to improve the visibility of the public bus company and make it easier for potential riders to try the service.
“MeVa Transit is spiffier, easier to say and we believe more inviting,” Berger told WHAV.
The new look will eventually be spread to bus stop signs.
Transit Authority board members voted unanimously last December to support a two-year pilot program of free buses on all local fixed route and EZ Trans paratransit services. Lost fares were replaced with federal money from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and American Rescue Plan Act.
Last July, Groveland also began receiving hourly bus service for the first time. Bus Route 18, which begins in Washington Square in Haverhill, now proceeds over the Groveland Bridge, officially known as the Congressman William H. Bates Veterans Memorial Bridge, into Groveland’s Elm Square after leaving Rivers Edge Plaza. The bus travels left on Main Street/Route 113 to River Pines Drive, serving town offices, Council on Aging and Langley-Adams Library, and ends at the Groveland Housing Authority.
A ceremony during July 2022, launching Groveland bus service. (Courtesy photograph.)