NEW BEDFORD The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority canceled 24 New Bedford bus trips for Thursday afternoon, Oct. 29, the most trips on any single service disruption notice it has posted this month.
The notice, posted at 12:34 p.m., lists trips on seven routes from 1:45 p.m. to 5:05 p.m.:
- Route 210 Dartmouth Mall: 1:45 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. outbound, 2:02 p.m. and 5:02 p.m. inbound.
- Route 202 Lund's Corner: 1:55 p.m. and 3:35 p.m. outbound, 2:22 p.m. and 4:02 p.m. inbound.
- Route 211 Fairhaven: 2:05 p.m. and 3:20 p.m. outbound, 2:45 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. inbound.
- Route 203 Dartmouth Street: 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. outbound, 3 p.m. and 3:27 p.m. inbound.
- Route 201 Fort Rodman: 2:50 p.m. outbound and 3:14 p.m. inbound.
- Route 206 Shawmut Avenue: 3:15 p.m. outbound and 3:32 p.m. inbound.
- Route 9 Intercity: 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 4:35 p.m. and 5:05 p.m.
Thursday's notice, like Wednesday's, lists the trips without giving a reason. The eight notices SRTA posted earlier in October each opened with the line "Due to staff shortages, several trips will be cancelled today." The list does not give a direction for the four Route 9 trips.
Ten notices in October
Thursday's notice is SRTA's 10th service disruption notice of October and its fourth in four days, starting Monday, Oct. 26. The eight that cite staff shortages list 51 trips. Wednesday's and Thursday's notices, which give no reason, list 40 more, bringing the trips listed this month to 91.
Until Thursday, the largest single notice this month came Friday, Oct. 9, when SRTA listed 20 New Bedford trips. Three of the October notices, on Oct. 2, 8 and 15, covered Fall River routes, and the other seven were for New Bedford.
Route 9 Intercity has been on every notice this week. With Thursday's four trips, October's notices name 20 Route 9 trips on six days, more than any other route. Route 202 Lund's Corner is next, with 12 trips across four notices. Routes 203 and 210 each had two trips listed Wednesday and four more Thursday.
What riders can do
SRTA posts its disruption notices on srtabus.com under Service Notice, on the day the trips are canceled. The authority's office number is 508-999-5211, and its email is info@srtabus.com.
Questions for SRTA
South Coast 360 asked SRTA on Monday, Oct. 26, which positions are behind the shortages its notices cite and when it expects cancellations to ease, and on Wednesday filed a public records request for its missed trip and staffing records. Any answer will be added here.
South Coast 360 reported Wednesday's 16 trips in its third report, Tuesday's six in its second and counted the notices from August on in its first.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority's own website: its Oct. 29 notice, every service disruption notice it posted in October and its New Bedford route list. We read them on Oct. 29. Trip counts are of the trips each notice lists, and the Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 notices, which give no reason, are counted apart from the eight staff shortage notices. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Not heard yet: SRTA. We sent the authority questions on Monday, Oct. 26, filed a records request Wednesday, and will add any answer.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (3)
- SRTA, "Service Disruption Notice for Today, Thursday, October 29, 2026"The 24 New Bedford trips by route, direction and time. Posted Oct. 29, 2026, 12:34 p.m. Read Oct. 29, 2026, 1:30 p.m.
- SRTA service notices, October 2026Every October disruption notice (Oct. 2, 5, 8, 9, 13, 15, 26, 27, 28 and 29), with the trips each one lists and the staff shortage line on eight of them. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- SRTA, New Bedford route schedulesRoute numbers and names: 9 Intercity, 201 Fort Rodman, 202 Lund's Corner, 203 Dartmouth St, 206 Shawmut Ave, 210 Dartmouth Mall, 211 Fairhaven. Read Oct. 29, 2026.