Worcester
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Early Voting Is Underway For Preliminary Municipal Elections
Preliminary elections will be held on September 12, 2023, and the voter registration deadline is September 2.
August 29, 2023
MassDOT Seeking Funds to Add More Frequent, Faster Worcester-Springfield Passenger Rail Service
MassDOT estimates that its proposed track improvements could enable Amtrak trains to run up to 80 mph, and reduce the time for passenger rail trips between Boston and Springfield to 2 hours and 10 minutes – roughly the same amount of time it takes to drive.
July 24, 2023
Worcester Film Screening to Discuss the Realities of ‘Biking While Black’
"When there's a disenfranchised community with unsafe streets – how can you tell a kid to go out and ride a bike when they could be killed?" asks filmmaker Yolanda Davis-Overstreet. "The wellness and the joy that bicycling brings, it’s missing for so many households."
April 24, 2023
Worcester’s Buses Will Remain Fare-Free Through 2024
Worcester's transit system will be the longest-running fare-free transit network in the United States.
April 20, 2023
Running Low On Pandemic Relief Funds, Fare-Free Buses Need Gov. Healey’s Help
The WRTA has been one of the few agencies that's maintained a continuous fare-free policy since March 2020, and its ridership last year was over 20 percent higher than it was in 2019, before the pandemic began, according to federal data.
April 11, 2023
Worcester City Hall Poaches Longtime Brookline Planner for New Transportation Department
Worcester is in the midst of several big-picture planning initiatives, like the implementation of the 2020 Green Worcester Plan – which calls on the city to "shift more trips from cars to transit, biking, and walking" – and the upcoming Worcester Next long-range plan.
December 20, 2022
RTAs Are Giving Their Riders A Holiday Bonus
All 15 of the commonwealth's Regional Transit Authorities (every non-MBTA bus route in the state, in other words) will suspend fare collection for the holiday season, from the day after Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve.
November 21, 2022
MassDOT Plans Two New Roundabouts for Dangerous Worcester Intersection
Last week, MassDOT shared their plans to convert a dangerous pair of intersections on Worcester’s west side to two roundabouts in an effort to improve safety and provide better pedestrian and bicycle accommodations next to the Worcester State University campus.
June 21, 2022
Mass. Clean Energy Center Awards $3 Million to New E-Bike Subsidy Programs
The funding will help lower-income families buy e-bikes in Worcester, Cape Cod, and the Pioneer Valley, and will also fund an 18-month cargo bike delivery pilot program that will serve the Allston neighborhood of Boston.
March 9, 2022
Board Votes for One More Year of Zero-Fare Buses in Worcester
The WRTA will be free to ride until the end of 2022; meanwhile, the agency will undertake a public process to design a new fare policy to implement when federal relief funding runs out.
November 18, 2021