Wave Bus Ridership Soars Amid First Fare Free Summer

The Nantucket Regional Transit Authority’s “Wave” buses are free to ride all summer long, and the island’s residents and tourists are taking full advantage of the offering.

As the island approaches the midway point of the summer, ridership for the NRTA buses has increased approximately 79 percent compared to last year – and could accommodate up to 100,000 passengers in July alone.

"If we hit 100,000 people in July, which we're trending towards, that's a lot of people that have used the service," NRTA administrator Gary Roberts said. "It gets a lot of people off the road - we hope. If they're not on the bus, they're either riding a bike, in an Uber or some other form that just puts more traffic on the road. It has been a surprise. I knew the numbers were going to go up, but we didn't feel that the numbers were going to go up this high. It has been really good.”

The fare-free service, which was made possible after Roberts and the NRTA secured a $410,000 state grant over the winter to make the free rides possible, began on April 1. The service has been so successful, and enough funds still remain, that the town announced that free bus rides will be available through December of this year. Roberts said there was a 53 percent increase in ridership through April – with construction workers making up the bulk of the 4,000 passenger increase.

In May, the ridership jumped up 81 percent from 15,000 rides in May of 2023 to 27,000 rides this May. In June, the bus service had an 83.4 percent increase from 35,000 to 65,000 passengers, and in July thus far through 10 days, there has been a 60 percent increase – projecting to about 90,000 rides this month. Roberts said the NRTA’s peak generally comes in the back half of July which makes him believe they could hit the 100,000-passenger mark.

"It's been a big benefit to the local workers," Roberts said. "We saw the uptick start early with them. I think it makes it easier for them to figure out payment, and if they're not familiar with the bus. It's easier just to get on the bus and they can go where they need to go. For the tourists, it has been very well received. Some of the comments were that we should be charging the tourists to do it. But the whole purpose of doing this is to get people off the roads. If we didn't carry 65,000 people in July, there would be even more traffic than we are seeing now.”

The island’s summer traffic, which the NRTA is attempting to decrease, also remains one of its biggest obstacles when it comes to providing dependable, timely service.

"The problem that the island is seeing right now and that we're struggling with is gridlock,” he said. “At Old South Road, we're having a real hard time trying to keep the buses anywhere close to schedule because it's just a parking lot in the morning. Trying to get up Nobadeer Farm Road is terrible.”

Roberts said eliminating the step where people need to pay in order to ride the bus has sped up operations and made it easier on his bus drivers. He said the drivers have a clicker to count the number of passengers as they enter the bus, which is being reported to the state. He said overall, the state is very interested in the high usage of the buses on the island and is hopeful this offering will continue for years to come.

Roberts said his staff of approximately 40 drivers has done a great job managing the uptick in passenger demand.

"We're happy to see the buses full but I have to say for the drivers, it's a stressful job," Roberts said. "You're in traffic all day long and you're dealing with people that are parked in the wrong spots or they stop wherever they want to stop. It's stressful for them. It's not a fun thing to be in traffic for 10 to 12 hours a day while you're driving. We operate from early in the morning till after midnight. Not that they drive the entire time, but it's long days for them in the heat, in traffic, and it's tough. I'm proud that they're doing good. We're doing better every day and there's always room for improvement, but things are going better.”

The two most popular routes have been the mid-island route and the Miacomet route according to Roberts. The NRTA has three wave buses operating that route every day.

"Mid-island and Miacomet are the highest ridership routes that we have," he said. "That covers the middle of the island. It covers everything. We had one day where one of the routes carried over 1,000 people just on one route, so we increased the frequency of the buses.”

The NRTA is currently running five electric buses and 15 buses overall every day. There are currently nine routes including Surfside Beach, Madaket, Sconset (via Old South Road), the airport, Miacomet Loop, Sconset (via Milestone), Jetties Beach, Mid-Island, and Sconset via Polpis Road.

Free rides will be offered through September 30 and due to high demand, the airport route will now be provided into October.

“We will continue it longer if we have to do it,” Roberts said of the airport route. “We are having about 2,400-2,500 passengers per day. We carried 5,000 passengers on the Fourth of July. It is a valuable option for people. You don't need to get anything. You don't have to show anything. You just get on the bus and get off.”

To view each route and the schedules, click here. To view the NRTA map, click here.