Next month, the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (MeVa) will start running buses every 20 minutes every weekday on its two highest-ridership bus routes that connect Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill.
Beginning Monday, July 7th, MeVa will operate buses three times an hour on its Route 1, which connects downtown Lawrence and Haverhill, and Route 24, which connects Lawrence to Lowell.
The service change represents a 50 percent increase in service over the current weekday schedule's 30-minute headways.
MeVa is paying for the service improvements with a $1.2 million grant from the Commonwealth's new Transit Connectivity discretionary grant program, which the Legislature created in the 2025 state budget with revenues from the new Fair Share income tax surcharge on high-income households.
“High-frequency transit is transformational,” said Noah Berger, Administrator of MeVa Transit, in a press release announcing the new schedule. “With service every 20 minutes, passengers can catch a bus knowing that there will be another bus along the route in no more than 19 minutes, but usually 5 or 10. This isn’t just about convenience—it’s about whether someone can get to work, school, or a doctor’s appointment without stress or delay."
Route 1 is MeVa's highest-ridership bus route, and Route 24 is its second-busiest route.
The two routes are "interlined," which means that as Route 1 buses arrive from Haverhill at the McGovern Transportation Center in downtown Lawrence, they switch signs to become Route 24 buses, and when Route 24 buses arrive at the McGovern from the south, they become Route 1 buses.
That means that riders can catch a Route 24 bus in Lowell and ride in the same seat all the way into downtown Haverhill.
Both bus routes also offer direct connections to two MBTA regional rail lines – the Lowell Line and the Haverhill Line – and to the Amtrak Downeaster route in Haverhill.
