MA: Multi-lingual drivers power MeVa successes

It’s mid-October, a Thursday shortly before 1 p.m., and tropical-colored buses glide into McGovern Transportation Center and park curbside at platforms where passengers soon gather.

MeVa transit, recognized earlier this month at a Latinos in Transit summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a national leader in efficiency, innovation and engaging with the communities it serves, is on schedule to carry more than 3 million riders in 2025, a majority of whom speak Spanish, according MeVa stats.

The national award is a source of pride for MeVa employees including its 109 drivers, some 75% of whom speak multiple languages.

The language skills of drivers and managers position them well to serve the riders who rely on public transportation to shop for food, get to work and medical appointments and visit family and friends.

About 51% of all riders board in Lawrence, a largely Spanish speaking city.

Jessenia Fernandes, a former driver who is now MeVa chief safety officer and one of two MeVa employees who presented at the national conference, has the award with her this day at McGovern.

She is bringing the red-flame, glass-art trophy to all the MeVa stations to show to employees.

It’s a Red Sox World Series trophy tour, only for public transportation.

Out of 10 communities nominated for a national Agency of the Year Award, MeVa Transit, serving the Merrimack Valley, won in the East and Foothills Transit, which serves Southern California, won in the West.

The trophy’s red flame is symbolic of the passion MeVa employees have for their work serving diverse communities in which many of them live.

More than 80% of the regional transit authority’s 187 employees, 151 of them, live in the communities they serve — 56 employees live in Lawrence.

Latinos in Transit recognized MeVa in part for the leadership opportunities it has offered its employees.

“For us, being part of Latinos in Transit is so important,” said Noah Berger, head of MeVa Transit. “The community we serve is largely Latino and we draw our workforce from the community.”

A vast majority of MeVa’s multi-lingual drivers speak Spanish, in addition to English, which all drivers must speak.

This afternoon at McGovern Eric Bellebranche is at the wheel of a Route 8 bus at Platform C, bound for the North Andover Mall.

Bellebranche is one of about seven drivers who speak four languages. He speaks English, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole.

There is one driver, John Terzoni, who speaks some Irish Gaelic, a Celtic language.

Terzoni, whose father was of Italian heritage, grew up in Ireland and has been driving for MeVa the last seven years.

“I don’t have much use for Irish around here,” he said.

In presenting the national award, LIT Executive Director Christina Villarreal said MeVa has set the standard for transit operators across the country.

She singled out the agency for its commitment to workforce development, inclusive leadership and its efforts to uplift underrepresented people in the transit sector.

Angel Lopez of Lawrence has been driving for MeVa for three years. He is originally from the Dominican Republic and understood that knowing English and Spanish was going to be an asset when he arrived here.

“It matters a lot, right here,” he said. “We try to give the best service that we can to the people, and I think that is paying off, right now.”

In September, ridership on MeVa’s 25 routes serving 16 communities from Lowell to Newburyport was 277,133.

The number is 8.5% higher than in September 2024 and 61.5% above pre-pandemic ridership in September 2019.

A lot of elderly riders who come from the Dominican Republic or other Spanish-speaking countries often ask drivers for directions, the right bus route and the right schedule.

“It’s really helpful for them because sometimes they don’t know where they’re going,” Lopez said.

He also translates for English speakers who want to understand what Spanish-speaking riders are talking about.

Jeremia Rosario, of Lawrence and originally from the Dominican Republic, is sitting on a bench awaiting a bus.

He travels daily to UMass Lowell where he is studying mechanical engineering.

He said he regularly sees passengers asking drivers how to get somewhere.

“The other day I was talking with someone on the bus, and she could only speak Spanish,” he said.

At the national conference in Albuquerque, Fernandes’ was part of a group that reported on transit safety after having completed a year-long, online leadership program.

MeVa’s Comptroller Jasmin Ortega was part of a group that looked at case studies of fare-free service across the country.

Fernandes said Ortega’s group used MeVa as an example of a transit organization that has successfully incorporated fare-free transit.

MeVa has an annual budget of $32 million funded by federal, state and local sources.

State dollars provide the majority of the funding, with free fares sustained, at least in part, by fair share (so-called millionaire tax) dollars.

About 30%, or $9.4 million, of MeVa’s operating budget comes from federal grants.

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