MA: MeVa makes history with new route to Salem, NH

The driver of the pilot route to Salem, New Hampshire, pulled the 35-foot candy-striped MeVa bus from McGovern Transportation Center onto Merrimack Street Monday morning at 11:45 with a brief announcement.

Robert Nowicki told the six passengers on the first day of service for Route 28 — aptly named given it travels mainly on Broadway ( Route 28) — that the line was off and running.

His bass voice recalled the race announcer’s at the old Rockingham Park, the Salem horse track that closed a decade ago and was located where the Route 28 ends in Salem at Tuscan Village and Mass General Brigham Health Care Center.

Among the bus riders were a Lawrence mom whose car was out of commission, a Lawrence student whose disabilities preclude her from driving a car and several curiosity seekers eager to test out the new route.

MeVa, which each year carries 3.5 million riders fare-free on 28 routes in 17 towns and cities from Lowell to Newburyport, now goes to Salem, New Hampshire, from Lawrence every hour and 45 minutes on weekdays from 6:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

On weekends it travels from Lawrence five times, every hour and 45 minutes, from 9:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

The stop at the Veterans’ Plaza at Tuscan Village connects riders to the Manchester Transit Authority with connections to Manchester, Nashua and Concord.

Customers have been clamoring for the intra-state run for years, MeVa Administrator Noah Berger said.

A $1.2 million connectivity grant from the commonwealth of Massachusetts funds the route through April 2027, he said.

Berger is hopeful the route's funding will continue as there seems to be a need for it based on MeVa outreach to riders and Salem officials as well as the number of passengers who rode the 28 on the first day.

Usually, a new route will only draw a few riders until people become more aware of it and find that it meets their needs — for employment, shopping, medical appointments, Nowicki and Berger said.

The 11:45 a.m. ride had from six to 12 passengers at different points on the line.

“So that just tells you there is a pent-up demand for this,” Berger said.

The bus offers transportation both ways, serving riders boarding in Salem and bound for Methuen or Lawrence stopping along busy Route 28.

At the back of the bus was Daniel Lopez of Lawrence, 28, checking out the route, as was a man sitting mid-bus who identified himself as Eddie from Lowell.

Eddie said his grandfather would go to Rockingham Park in the 1960s. He remembers his grandfather giving him a silver dollar from the track. It must have been some sort of token, he said.

The travel along Broadway in Lawrence and Methuen was stop-and-go along the narrow roadway, with cars double-parked curbside and pedestrians walking at will across the street.

MeVa still operates under the “flagging” system whereby streetside riders hail the bus to stop at and passengers signal for stops near their destinations.

The riders are glad for the transportation, many of them hollering a thank you to the driver before stepping off the bus.

Pricida Castillo of Lawrence has been unable to drive her car since someone crashed into the Honda. Her daughter told her about the Salem route and she rode it to Aldi’s for food shopping.

She regularly rides MeVa to the Essex Street Market Basket for her groceries.

Castillo, originally from the Dominican Republic, said the MeVa rides “are good transport, 100% good, No. 1, No. 1.”

Not all the riders were bound for Salem or Lawrence.

As the bus’ automated voice announced it was approaching Broadway and Cross Street, a young woman holding an armful of bags discovered she was on the wrong route.

The bus driver told her she wanted the 24 not the 28 and pulled over at a stop where she could connect with the correct bus.

The new bus route to Salem has an interesting connection to the history of public transportation in the region.

Canobie Lake Park was founded in 1902 as a destination on Sundays to boost ridership for street cars, according to the amusement park.

Canobie Lake trolley park, which featured a botanical garden, was at the end of the streetcar line, arriving from distant locations in northeast Massachusetts.

Meanwhile on the 28, rider Nelly Martinez was returning to Lawrence from a trip to the Rockingham Mall. She got off at Mass General and walked to the mall.

The Greater Lawrence Technical School graduate, Class of 2022, rides MeVa daily to attend classes at Northern Essex Community College.

She wants to become a middle school teacher or a teacher’s assistant. After graduating from NECCO this spring, Martinez will be attending UMass Lowell and riding the MeVa bus to and from the college.

She said MeVa serves her needs well.

She has autism and the condition makes it difficult to process all the information needed to safely drive a vehicle.

Martinez was asked if she has any recommendations to improve the new bus route?

“The only thing I would change is to have more availability,” she said, saying it would be better for riders if the bus ran more frequently than once every hour and 45 minutes.

Berger said in an interview, later, that he would love to increase the frequency of the route, but he and the MeVa team opted to start with a conservative approach.

“We deliberately erred on the side of having more time at the station just so the buses do not get behind (on schedule),” he said.

Berger said managers will evaluate the schedule for possible changes in the coming months.

Meanwhile, MeVa will be ferrying riders to and from Salem, a new destination on the regional transit authority’s scheduled stops.

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