AMHERST — For many residents who don’t drive or have difficulty walking, public transportation is the only way for them to get to the nearest grocery stores, including Big Y Supermarket on University Drive and Super Stop & Shop on Route 9.
But a recent change in how PVTA buses drop off and pick up passengers on Route 33, also known as the Puffer’s Pond/ Shopper Shuttle, is forcing Big Y customers to walk several hundred feet through the 175 University Drive parking lot to get to and from the store.
“A dangerous situation is being created as a result of that,” says Mary Wentworth, of Lessey Street, who is among those who have ridden the shuttle bus for several years.
“A lot of people do it because they can’t drive for various reasons,” Wentworth added. She observes that those on the bus appear to be equally divided between those shopping at Big Y and those who go to Stop & Shop.
John Magarian, a member of Amherst’s Council on Aging, said it is unfortunate that those using the shuttle are now faced with the choice of a long walk, or changing their preferred shopping destination. “This is affecting dozens of people,” Magarian said.
The change in how the shuttle operates at what is known as the Amherst Shopping Center went into effect Sept. 17, when University of Massachusetts Transit, which oversees the shuttle, reduced the frequency of trips due to a shortage in drivers.
Instead of turning from University Drive into the parking lot for Big Y, then pulling alongside the store, the bus remains on the street and only drops off and picks up people at the CVS Pharmacy stop on the west side of University Drive and the Center for Extended Care on the east side. The bus, though, continues to go inside the Campus Shopping Plaza lot on Route 9 and pulls up to the Stop & Shop.
Bobby Stone, vice president for property owner Amherst Shopping Center Associates/ Quest Development of Lynnfield, said the company made the requested change strictly based on reducing the dangers posed by the large buses.
“We had a major safety issue,” Stone said.
Unlike the Campus Plaza, which features a sizable parking lot, buses had more difficulty entering the Amherst site, and then were faced with challenges to navigate through narrow parking rows.
The other concern, Stone said, was people loitering near where passengers are picked up, and some of these individuals acting inappropriately, including littering, vomiting and urinating. Stone said this has caused issues for renting the space next to Big Y, previously used as a Plato’s Closet and Game Stop.
UMass Transit General Manager Glenn Barrington said it has always been more difficult for drivers to get the 40-foot bus into the Big Y plaza than at Stop & Shiop, but that the change would not have been made if the property owner hadn’t requested it.
“We complied with what the property owners recommended,” Barrington said.
He agrees that some who can’t walk will be affected. “I feel for them,” Barrington said.
Brandy Pelletier, a spokeswoman for PVTA, confirmed that the change was out of the agency’s hands. “It was completely beyond PVTA’s control,” Pelletier said.
PVTA, though, did take responsibility to let passengers know about the change. Pelletier estimates that Big Y customers will have about a 400-foot walk, both ways.
Wentworth said the change will be even more problematic when winter comes and people have to make their ways through ice and snow, as well as having to cross University Drive for the return trip.
Another problem, Magarian said, is that unlike Big Y, where people could wait beneath a cover and have benches to sit on, the bus stops on University Drive lack any covering.
With the possibility that it will lose some customers, officials at Big Y Supermarket, which didn’t immediately return calls, may ask to return to the previous way of having buses pass through, Stone said.
“Big Y is a little upset, but I haven’t heard back from them,” Stone said.
Understanding that handicapped individuals and people with mobility issues are most affected, Stone said he is looking at whether his company could provide a small amount of money to cover costs of van service for those who need it, or perhaps making some other adjustment.
“We’re open to making this work,” Stone said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
