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Northborough official outlines WRTA 'Via' on-demand expansion and how Sudbury might learn from it
Summary
Northborough Select Board Chair Mitch Cohen described efforts to expand WRTA-managed on‑demand service (Via) into more of Northborough, including coverage goals, hours and funding basics; Sudbury committee members asked about accessibility, costs and cross‑jurisdictional connections.
Mitch Cohen, chair of the Northborough Select Board, told the Sudbury Transportation Committee on March 7 that Northborough is working with the Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) to extend the authority’s app-driven “Via” on-demand service into more of his town.
Cohen said the WRTA engaged consultants (Nelson ygaard Consulting Associates) and is reconfiguring Via into at least two service zones so that Westborough and Northborough will broadly operate as one zone and adjacent portions of Shrewsbury and Worcester will be another. “They included the Westborough MBTA station within that, which was critical to us,” Cohen said.
The nut of Cohen’s presentation was practical: Via is an app-based, on‑demand service that currently charges riders a fixed fare inside the coverage area — Cohen said it is “a fixed cost of $2 limited hours, 7AM to 7PM, Monday through Friday” — and WRTA is bidding out an expanded geography designed around population centers. Cohen estimated the new Northborough coverage would include roughly “50 to 60% of [the] population,” and he said the WRTA expects to keep the 7 a.m.–7 p.m. schedule initially while studying phased expansion of hours and range.
Why it matters: Sudbury committee members said Northborough’s approach could inform Sudbury’s own plans to preserve and expand mobility options without large new local tax costs. Cohen told the committee that, at least initially, Northborough expects no direct new cost to its taxpayers beyond existing MBTA assessment funding on the Cherry Sheet; the WRTA would handle contracting, bidding and much of the financial administration.
Committee members pressed Cohen on riders with disabilities. Cohen said Via’s fleet today is largely regular passenger vehicles operated by contracted drivers; he said there was discussion of requiring at least one wheelchair‑accessible vehicle in the Via fleet going forward but that the initial meetings had reported none were in service yet. “There’s talk of requiring at least one in the fleet to be handicap accessible going forward,” Cohen said.
Committee members also noted the value of cross‑authority connections. Cohen pointed out WRTA’s plan deliberately includes connections to the Solomon Pond Mall (a regional transfer point) and the Westborough MBTA commuter-rail stop so riders could transfer to other regional services.
Cohen described the WRTA process as consultant-driven and public‑facing: public meetings, a broad survey and technical analysis by Nelson ygaard. He said earlier relationships between local administrators and the WRTA helped Northborough advance the change quickly.
Cohen invited follow-up questions and said he would share additional details with Sudbury staff. “Feel free to just put together a list of questions and send me an email or give me a call either way,” he said.
The committee noted it would follow up on several topics Cohen raised — coverage maps, the inclusion of accessible vehicles, and whether MBTA assessment funds would be redirected to support Via coverage — at a later meeting.
Ending: Committee members thanked Cohen for the walkthrough and said they would use Northborough’s experience as a reference while finalizing Sudbury’s own plans for post‑June service decisions.
