BRTA Extends Senior Rural Fare-Free Rides, Gives Employees Bonus

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:55PM / Sunday, November 30, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority will make rides free through next June and give its employees a thank-you bonus.

The vote was taken last week by the BRTA Advisory Board during its discussion of its fiscal year 2025 supplemental grant of $724,000 from the state Department of Transportation.

Some $14,000 of the grant will go toward making non-ADA rides fare free starting in December and going through June.

This will give seniors in rural areas transportation, which is currently not fare free.

"I was speaking with someone in Peru, and it would cost them $30 each time they would have to go to the doctor's office for transportation, so this is a blessing for them," said Sarah Fontaine, the Adams representative.

BRTA's non-ADA service is for communities outside fixed-route bus line for people with disabilities. The Senior Rural Transportation Program is for people age 60 and older who live in the following communities: Alford, Becket, Clarksburg, Florida, Hancock, Hinsdale, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Ashford, New Marlborough, Otis, Peru, Richmond, Savoy, Washington, West Stockbridge, and Windsor traveling Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

There is an application to be completed prior to receiving this service and rides need to be scheduled 24 hours in advance.

Less than $40,000 of the grant will go toward the BRTA employees. Administrator Robert Malnati says it's a thank-you bonus for all of the hard work the employees do. They will also be given a note from Malnati stating:

"As my heartfelt thank you for your past, current, and anticipated continued service to our customers, please accept this one-time check as a token of my appreciation for the work you do."

The balance of the grant funds, $671,000, will go toward the collective bargaining agreement.

In other news, the BRTA also received $8 million in grants from the Federal Transit Administration. More than $5 million of the grant will go toward new hybrid buses to replace older vehicles, and $3 million will go toward rehabilitating the maintenance facility and its operations.

Malnati said going fare-free has gained more riders, with each month showing about a 30 percent increase from last year. He said he expects ridership to hit more than 700,000, whereas last year it was around 620,000 riders.

"People are riding our system. People need our system," he said.

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Fenton: Governor's Council Must Deliver for the Berkshires

Community submissionGuest Column
10:22AM / Friday, August 28, 2026

I am a Springfield lawyer running for Governor's Council and I am asking for Berkshire County residents to support me over an incumbent from North Adams.

Here's why: Last year I learned about staffing issues in our regional courts that I could not ignore. In 2025, it was reported that four of Western Massachusetts' 11 Superior Court judgeships were vacant, all at the same time. A few weeks later, that grew to five vacancies. This meant there were only six Superior Court judges serving all of Western Mass at a time when Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties had more than 100 pending homicide cases.

Those numbers were alarming to me, so I started to engage with leaders in the community who work most closely with the court system and I came to learn that these vacancies were only the tip of the iceberg here in Berkshire County.

I learned that no Superior Court or District Court judge had been appointed from the Berkshires since the current incumbent took office. As a result, there is not a single Superior Court judge who lives in the Berkshires today, and several of the District Court judges drive in from other counties to support Berkshire courts in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and North Adams. Court staff also informed me about severe staffing shortages at the Berkshire Clerk of Courts office resulting in other counties needing to loan staff to the Berkshires just so hardworking employees can take a brief and planned summer vacation. This is not normal. These issues are a reflection of genuine problems with the Berkshire County court system and show a lack of proactive attention from our Governor's Councilor.

Instead of focusing on regional equity, I watched as the current incumbent celebrated that she has voted against the governor's nominees more than any other councilor, without much explanation as to why. Most recently, she voted against two extremely qualified former prosecutors for the Parole Board. This was despite an in-person plea from the governor and a letter of support from all the three of the district attorney's from Western Mass. Those votes do not show independence or standing up for principles, they demonstrate naivete, and an unwillingness to work with the key stakeholders.

I had seen and heard enough. I decided to jump in the race and challenge the incumbent to address these problems head-on.

I am a partner of a regional law firm. I understand our courts and the importance of having qualified, fair and hardworking judges. And I know how important it is to have judges from the Berkshires serving the Berkshires. To achieve that, you need strong relationships with the legal community and local stakeholders. You need to know how to use the power of the Governor's Council to fight forcefully for our region. And you need to be laser focused on identifying vacancies before they occur so that they can be filled quickly with local candidates.

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