NRTA Pilot Program Will Offer On-Demand Buses During Offseason

The Select Board on Wednesday approved a new pilot program that will allow public transit riders in certain parts of the island to call for buses on demand during the off-season.

The pilot program, which ends in mid-May, will allow riders to book NRTA buses for rides to and from designated zones on-island that are not served by fixed-route buses at a cost of $3 per ride. Until January 5th, the program will be free.

During the off-season, NRTA pares back the routes it offers, ending service to Madaket, Polpis, Surfside, and Jetties due to low demand. But NRTA administrator Gary Roberts said that they still receive requests for those routes during the winter, especially around major events like Christmas Stroll.

“We constantly have received phone calls about the lack of services to these areas,” Roberts said. “It's ideal for Nantucket's variable demand.”

To accommodate that demand without consistently running underutilized buses, NRTA is launching the on-demand service, which can respond flexibly to the needs of riders. It will service the zones typically served by fixed-route buses that don’t run in the off-season, as well as additional zones in Tom Nevers and near Cisco.

“Implementing micro-transit on demand services on Nantucket would expand mobility equity, fill service voids in low-density and off-peak periods, reduce total operating costs over running fixed-route services, and support diverse needs,” Roberts said. “Micro-transit can dynamically serve neighborhoods that fixed routes just struggle to reach.”

The on-demand service is funded by a $327,000 connectivity grant from the state. It is not covered by a new state program that makes buses run by regional transit authorities in Massachusetts free, except in Boston, but the cost will be dramatically lower than the rates offered by any comparable private service. NRTA expects to charge $3 a ride once the service is established.

Riders will be able to book on-demand rides by calling NRTA, using the web portal, or downloading a designated app.

Whether the program is renewed, and what it might look like if it is, will depend on the success of the initial pilot.

“We may look at, after the pilot service, to say that Sconset may be served better with an on-demand service instead of a fixed-route service. We may identify other areas of the island that need service year-round,” Roberts said. “The success of the on-demand will determine the future needs and adjustments that we need to make.”

It’s a program that the town has been considering for a long time.

“It’s been nine years,” Select Board vice chair Matt Fee said. “We’ve been talking about this.”

In addition to the new program, NRTA also reported another significant increase in ridership through the early part of the 2026 fiscal year. After a 55 percent ridership jump in the 2025 fiscal year, the first full fare-free year, NRTA has seen an additional 12.7 percent jump in ridership through the first four months of the new fiscal year.

The fare-free program is funded through the end of the 2026 calendar year, but even if it isn’t renewed, Roberts doesn’t think NRTA will resume collecting fares from riders.

“If it does go away, I do not envision going back to collecting fares,” Roberts said.