Mar. 2—HAVERHILL — Students attending Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill and Lawrence can hop on a MeVA bus for free as one method of traveling between the two campuses.
Or they can really speed things up by taking the NECC shuttle, which college officials say is significantly faster and more efficient as it doesn't need to make additional stops along the way.
With its new, custom graphics, the NECC Inter-Campus Shuttle is hard to miss, and oh-so-easy to catch. College officials say the demand for the service has been so high that several times a day, the college has added a second shuttle (a van) into service.
"We're so pleased to see students are using it and using it a lot," NECC CFO Mike McCarthy said at a recent staff meeting. "It was always our hope that we would need to add several work-study (driving) positions."
Shuttle service started at the beginning of the fall '23 semester. It operates on the hour starting at 7 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays on the Haverhill campus and on the hour starting at 7:30 a.m. on the Lawrence campus, transporting riders between the two campuses throughout the day. There is no Friday shuttle service.
If you live in Lawrence and want to visit the NECC bookstore on the Haverhill campus, take the shuttle; or if you're on the Haverhill campus and need to get to a class or school activity in Lawrence, taking the NECC shuttle saves time, officials said.
Former NECC Student Trustee Sarah Pachano '23 was instrumental in lobbying for the service. She surveyed students, collected data, and then worked with McCarthy to develop a plan to bring the shuttle back into full service. The plan is working.
McCarthy said that on Mondays and Wednesdays, as many as 105 people ride the shuttle throughout the day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the shuttle transports between 70 and 85 riders.
The busiest routes — where NECC has added additional service — are those leaving Haverhill at 12:45 p.m. and leaving Lawrence at 8:30 a.m.
The shuttle, which can accommodate wheelchairs, stops at the bus stop on the Haverhill campus near the Elliot Street entrance and in front of the El Hefni building at 414 Common St. in Lawrence. A full schedule can be found online at tinyurl.com/27h3utz9.
Prior to the pandemic, shuttle service was provided between the campuses as part of a partnership between NECC and the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority, which is now known as MeVA.
It was put on hold in March 2020 as classes moved online and brought back in the fall of 2021 as in-person class offerings increased.
However, ridership never returned to pre-pandemic levels, with fewer than 10 students riding daily. The shuttle was discontinued in October of 2021.
To compensate, the MVRTA (now MeVa) agreed to let NECC students, faculty, and staff ride free on the existing bus schedule. The option is still available, though the new shuttle service offers a more direct trip without the need to make additional stops.
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