WRTA is committed to going The Extra Mile for our riders through an initiative designed to help them better connect with the places they need to go. Projects completed as part of The Extra Mile will help to improve bus service and bus stops, and will help WRTA provide service that is more responsive to passengers’ needs.
Connecting Communities: A Comprehensive Transportation Vision for Shrewsbury, Westborough and Northborough
Connecting Communities is a project to develop a comprehensive public transportation vision for the communities of Shrewsbury, Westborough, and Northborough. This project will help each community prioritize their goals for public transportation and will develop a service plan that meets those goals while maintaining financial sustainability into the future.
Public engagement and outreach is a key component to this project. The engagement and outreach process allows project staff to use public input for understanding both the existing transportation system and developing future recommendations for improvements. The engagement and outreach process also allows project staff to communicate potential service changes and explore trade-off scenarios to the public.
Throughout this project, there were a series of eight stakeholder meetings focused on gathering feedback;
- Shrewsbury Community Workshop
- Westborough Community Workshop
- Northborough Community Workshop
- ‘Regional’ meeting of all three community Disability Commissions/advocates
- ‘Regional’ meeting of all three community COAs/Senior Centers
- ‘Regional’ meeting of all three community Economic/Business Development groups
- ‘Regional’ meeting of all three community Planning and Public Health staff
- MBTA users virtual meeting
The final report has been released and is available to view below. The recommendations developed by the project team are based on technical analysis, public engagement and outreach, and have been reviewed by the WRTA, and each of the three project communities.
Connecting Communities Documents
A interactive map to the Connecting Communities Service Recommendations can be found here.