The bus service to the Amherst Survival Center will last until May.
AMHERST – From now until May 9, the University of Massachusetts bus system has revised its Route 32 bus and is now stopping at the Amherst Survival Center location on Sunderland Road.
The center moved to new space last December and was about a third of a mile from the bus stop. Center staff had been working with town and UMass to come up with a way to extend service. The center had been offering weekly taxi service to help those who were unable to walk.
The bus service, which started Nov. 1, has 10 stops at the center including four on the express route. The runs are available while the center is open including late on Thursday. The center provides meals, a food pantry, health clinics and a free store among its services and is open Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Thursdays until 7 p.m.
“With winter coming, we needed to consider a variety of transportation options beyond the weekly taxi service we’ve offered participants for the past eight months. The revised number 32 bus is reliable, convenient, and safe for our participants and volunteers,” said Mindy Domb, executive director, in a statement.
“A seasonal remedy is not ideal but it is important. Over the next several months, we will assess use of the bus service to the Amherst Survival Center. We’re really looking forward to seeing what we learn from this experience,” Domb said. Hundreds visit the center weekly from all over the Pioneer Valley.
The service until May 9 costs $12,000, Domb said, with the town contributing $3,250 toward the run and the center picking up the rest. She said they will be looking for ways to cover the additional cost. But she said the center’s board felt this was something they needed to provide.
“So far it’s terrific,” she said. The only downside is that for the next week or two, only the four express runs are stopping at the center because of roadwork on Pine Street.
A schedule is available at www.umass.edu/transit/schedules.html. Stops on the express runs on the route include the Amherst Survival Center, UMass Studio Arts building, the Pleasant Street Post Office and Amherst College.