UMass Lowell Students, Employees to Ride Area Buses for Free

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UMass Lowell is launching a new program that allows students and employees to ride Lowell and Merrimack Valley regional transit authority buses for free.

01/19/2017

Media contacts: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

* M E D I A A D V I S O R Y *

Friday, Jan. 20

10 a.m.

WHAT: UMass Lowell will roll out a new program that provides free, regional transportation services to students and employees at an event with the Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA).

The program expands UMass Lowell’s transportation options for the more than 19,000 students, faculty and staff and employees that make up the campus community. This new partnership also supports UMass Lowell’s drive to promote sustainability and is the latest addition to its transportation options, which include a network of campus shuttles and a free bicycle-sharing program.

Through the partnership, UMass Lowell will pay the fares for students and employees, who simply need to show their UMass Lowell ID when boarding a bus on any route in the LRTA system, which serves 14 communities throughout the Merrimack Valley and as far as Maynard. Four of the routes have stops at UMass Lowell and all begin and end at the Charles A. Gallagher Transit Terminal in Lowell, where riders can connect to the MBTA commuter rail and Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority buses.

The MVRTA is also participating in the program, which allows UMass Lowell students and employees to ride for free on the route that connects Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill. The new route includes a stop in downtown Haverhill that is just steps from Harbor Place, the site of the new UMass Lowell satellite campus. A new stop at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center allows riders to easily transfer to the university’s River Hawk Roadster shuttles, which serve all points of the campus.

Speakers are scheduled to include UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney and LRTA Administrator James Scanlan, along with other university representatives.

WHERE: Bus turnaround loop, 240 Salem St., Lowell. Contact UMass Lowell media relations for directions and parking information.