Rep. Richard Neal, Mayor Domenic Sarno, PVTA welcome $36M in CARES Act coronavirus relief funding

MASSLIVE (June 2, 2020) — Dependent on state aid for about half its $58 million annual budget and on even more unreliable fare revenue and advertising proceeds for the rest, the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority on Friday welcomed $36 million in federal coronavirus response money.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, announced the funding at a news conference at Union Station with Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and PVTA Administrator Sandra Sheehan.

The money comes, Sheehan said, as PVTA begins to ramp up bus service as the economy reopens from the coronavirus pandemic and workers with no other means of transportation increasingly need to get where they are going.

Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he always — even when lockdown rules were at their most stringent — saw commuting essential workers waiting at PVTA bus stops.

“That shows you the level of dependency that people have on this service,” Neal said. “The ease at which we get from one place to another is a big part of efficiency and recovery.”

Neal said he expects more transit funding in the next coronavirus recovery bill, legislation still pending in Washington, but that he expects it to pass the Republican-led U.S. Senate.

MORE: https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/05/rep-richard-neal-mayor-domenic-sarno-pvta-welcome-36m-in-cares-act-coronavirus-relief-funding.html