SRTA Comprehensive Regional Transit Plan
2021 Comprehensive Regional Transit Plan
This 5-year Comprehensive Regional Transit Plan (CRTP) Update builds on the work of the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SRTA) 2014 Comprehensive Service Assessment (CSA). This update was recommended by the Task Force on Regional Transit Authority Performance and Funding in its final report issued in April 2019. The Task Force Report included 24 recommendations in 5 categories:
- Investment and Performance
- Accountability
- Service Decisions
- Quality of Service
- Environmental Sustainability
The CRTP update recommendation (No. 7) was included in the service decisions grouping. Specifically, recommendation 7 advised that, “RTAs will continue to succeed by understanding their markets and by aiming to have their service networks meet the current and future mobility needs of their region as well as support connectivity to other regions where possible. This effort will be guided by (1) the completion or updating of Comprehensive Regional Transit Plans (CRTPs) every five years…”
Following publication of the Task Force Report, a commitment to complete the CRTP update was included in SRTA’s 2-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) executed on August 14, 2019.
The primary goals of this CRTP are to (1) provide an agency and service overview, including fare structure; (2) identify essential markets, gaps in service, and ridership growth opportunities given demographic, socioeconomic, and employment data and the impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; (3) evaluate the results of performance indicators and assess performance monitoring systems; and (4) provide recommendations for a strategic 5-year vision that will prioritize the development and implementation of a decision-making framework driven by data analysis and focused on performance.
2014 Comprehensive Service Assessment
The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) completed the CSA under an existing contract for technical planning services with the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SRTA) and began work in summer of 2013. The draft report was issued to SRTA on September 4, 2014.
The elements of the CSA mandated under the law required:
- A comprehensive assessment of transit services;
- A thorough examination of ridership trends for each line and service provided;
- A performance analysis of services; The development and evaluation of alternative service scenarios;
- The development of a recommendation to better align services with local and regional demand;
- The Commonwealth’s environmental policies; Fare rates and collection methods;
- The region’s job creation goals and employment needs; and
- A determination whether the regional transit authority’s service is deployed in the most effective way possible to accommodate the transit needs of the region’s workforce.
2014 FINAL SRTA Comprehensive Service Assessment – PDF
2014 FINAL SRTA Comprehensive Service Assessment – WORD (accessible)