At the WRTA Board meeting on July 21, Dr. Heather-Lyn Haley took her seat as the riders' representative. By statute, this is a position that must be filled every twelve months by a bus rider from a different municipality than the one before. That's not long enough, but we'll talk about that another day. Dr Haley is a life-long rider of the Worcester buses She was introduced to bus riding by her grandmother, who worked at City Hall, and was the first female paralegal in Massachusetts.   When she was a little older, she rode the bus to and from [...]

Why Zero Fare? By Adam Thielker Massachusetts is a state with one intense urban core, cocooned in suburbs, inside a rural landscape dotted with patches of rust, framed by various vacationlands. This letter will show how the Cities, State, and Federal governments can take steps to provide effective public transportation across all the areas served by its Regional Transportation Authorities. I will be focusing on the Worcester RTA, which is charged with providing bus service to Southern Worcester County. Worcester is a microcosm of the challenges faced across the state: An up-and-coming urban core, pleasant suburbs, rural fields and [...]