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Northampton council refers citywide bus-stop ordinance after accessibility, signage and safety questions
Summary
The Northampton City Council referred Ordinance 25.32 — a plan to codify and sign city bus stops — to the Transportation and Parking Commission and the Legislative Matters Committee after discussion about wheelchair access, signage, PVTA coordination and specific safety concerns on Main Street and in Florence Center.
The Northampton City Council voted unanimously on Oct. 6 to refer Ordinance 25.32, a proposal to locate and codify about 80–84 PVTA stops into city ordinance, to the Transportation and Parking Commission and the Legislative Matters Committee for more detailed review.
Councilor Elkins moved the referral and Councilor Maiori seconded; the motion passed on a unanimous roll-call vote. The ordinance would add city-designated stop locations and allow the city to post no-parking areas at stops so wheelchair ramps can deploy and riders have a safe boarding area.
The measure aims to reconcile discrepancies between PVTA’s mapped stop locations and where drivers actually stop, add consistent signage and identify sites that may need parking removal so ramps can deploy. "For the vast majority of these, there are no changes proposed," Council President Jared Jarrett said, adding that staff measured stop positions and worked with PVTA on the draft list of locations.
Residents and councilors flagged specific concerns during the meeting. Heather Craig, whose statement was read on Zoom, told the council the King and Barrett southbound stop currently allows a wheelchair ramp at a bank driveway and said moving the stop "to a curb and grass and difficult to drop a ramp" would make it inaccessible for many riders. Ace Thalo of Ward 3 asked the council to be cautious about a proposed stop on Fruit Street in front of Cahill Apartments because the ordinance would remove parking where space is already limited.
City staff member Keith Benoit described the on-the-ground work: site visits, tape measurements and verifying whether a physical sign exists at each mapped stop. "With the signs, that was a very easy thing to note," Benoit said, noting PVTA may be able to provide signage and that adding PVTA stop numbers to the ordinance will help responders and staff identify exact locations. He cautioned that full accessibility upgrades — adding pads, grading or other infrastructure — require separate capital funding and more staff time.
Councilors also raised safety questions about several curbside locations. Councilor LaBarge said a Main Street stop by the Academy of Music creates limited sight lines because of bus height and adjacent parking and urged the city to check whether small adjustments could reduce near-miss incidents.
Jarrett said the ordinance is primarily a codification step to get stop locations on the books and posted; detailed accessibility improvements and capital work would follow as funded projects. Councilor Rothenberg pressed staff to explore adding a stop near the survival center; Benoit said the PVTA must evaluate route and ridership implications but offered to follow up offline.
Because the council referred the ordinance, further hearings and technical review are expected in the Transportation and Parking Commission and Legislative Matters Committee before the council votes on any final ordinance language. The referral preserves the concerns raised at the meeting — signage, the documented "stealth" stops where drivers already deviate to accommodate riders, and the need to identify funding for physical accessibility upgrades — for deeper work in committee.
