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Reported by us | South Coast

SRTA cancels four Route 9 trips for staff shortages, its seventh such notice in October

October's notices list 45 cancelled trips in New Bedford and Fall River so far, against 25 in all of September.

By the SC360 Investigations Desk | Published Oct. 26, 2026 | Last verified Oct. 26, 2026, 8:00 p.m. ET

SOUTH COAST The Southeastern Regional Transit Authority cancelled four Route 9 Intercity trips between New Bedford and Fall River on Monday, Oct. 26, because of staff shortages, the seventh time this month the authority has posted a notice pulling trips for that reason.

The notice, posted at 11:39 a.m., listed the 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. outbound trips and the 2:35 p.m. and 3:35 p.m. inbound trips. On Route 9's fall schedule, 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. are departures from New Bedford toward Fall River, and 2:35 and 3:35 p.m. are departures from Fall River toward New Bedford.

Seven notices in 26 days

SRTA's service notices for October list 45 cancelled trips over seven days, Oct. 2, 5, 8, 9, 13, 15 and 26, each blamed on staff shortages. Four of the notices covered New Bedford routes and three covered Fall River routes. In all of September, SRTA posted eight staff shortage notices listing 25 cancelled trips. It posted three in August, on Aug. 12, 18 and 21.

The largest came on Friday, Oct. 9, when the authority cancelled 20 New Bedford trips: six on Route 9, and the rest on the 201 Fort Rodman, 202 Lund's Corner, 206 Shawmut Avenue, 208 Mount Pleasant Street and 211 Fairhaven routes and the North End Shuttle. SRTA's New Bedford routes also serve Fairhaven.

Fall River riders lost trips on Oct. 2, 8 and 15, on the 101 South Main, 103 Laurel Street, 104 Robeson Street, 105 Stafford Road, 108 BCC and 109 Bedford Street routes. Each of those three notices cut four to six trips, most of them in the afternoon.

The intercity route

Route 9 is the one route on both cities' schedule lists, and it has been named more often than any other this fall. October's notices cut 12 Route 9 trips on three days, Oct. 5, 9 and 26. In September, Route 9 lost 10 trips on five days: Sept. 1, 9, 11, 18 and 23.

The same pair of trips, the 12:30 p.m. outbound and the 1:35 p.m. inbound, was cancelled on Aug. 18, on Sept. 1, 18 and 23, and again on Oct. 5 and 9.

Some notices went up after a listed trip was due to leave. The Oct. 9 notice was posted at 1:18 p.m. and included the 12:30 p.m. Route 9 departure, and the Oct. 13 notice, posted at 1:53 p.m., included a 1:24 p.m. outbound trip on Route 208.

Hiring

The notices give staff shortages as the only reason. SRTA has had an opening for bus operators on its careers page since Sept. 3. The posting says the job is "providing safe, reliable and efficient public transportation," and that applications are taken Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the New Bedford maintenance garage, 65 Potomska St., or the Fall River maintenance garage, 601 Brayton Ave.

On Monday morning, minutes before the Route 9 notice, the authority posted five more openings, for a technician, a demand response agent, a ticket agent, a buyer and a junior buyer.

What riders can do

SRTA posts each day's cancellations as a service notice on srtabus.com. Riders can follow buses in real time on SRTA's Bustracker, at bustime.srtabus.com or in the SRTA Bustracker app for iPhone and Android, and can call the authority at 508-999-5211 or email info@srtabus.com.

The New Bedford Bus Terminal at 134 Elm St. and the Louis D. Pettine Transportation Center at 118 Fourth St. in Fall River are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

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. 26 notice, every post the authority published from Aug. 1 to Oct. 26, its Route 9 schedule, its route lists, and its careers, Bus Time and contact pages. We read them on Oct. 26. Trip counts are of the trips each notice lists. A Sept. 14 detour post opened with the same staff shortage sentence but listed only detour directions, so it is not counted. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. Not heard yet: SRTA. Our questions about its staffing are queued to go to the authority, and any answer will be added.

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 (10)

  1. SRTA, "Service Disruption Notice for Today, Monday, October 26, 2026"The four Route 9 Intercity trips and the staff shortage reason. Posted Oct. 26, 2026, 11:39 a.m. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  2. SRTA service notices, August to October 2026Every staff shortage notice from Aug. 12 to Oct. 26, 2026, with the trips each one lists and the time each was posted. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  3. SRTA, Route 9 Fall River to New Bedford Intercity schedule, fall 2026Weekday departure times in each direction. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  4. SRTA, New Bedford route schedules effective Aug. 30, 2026New Bedford route numbers and names, Route 9 included. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  5. SRTA, Fall River route schedules effective Aug. 30, 2026Fall River route numbers and names, Route 9 included. Posted Aug. 24, 2026. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  6. SRTA, "Now Hiring for Operator"The bus operator opening and where to apply. Posted Sept. 3, 2026. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  7. SRTA careers pageThe five openings posted Oct. 26, 2026, between 11:21 and 11:28 a.m. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  8. SRTA Bus Time pageThe Bustracker and its apps. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  9. SRTA Route Schedules pageNew Bedford routes also serve Fairhaven. Read Oct. 26, 2026.
  10. SRTA Contact Us pagePhone, email, terminal addresses and hours. Read Oct. 26, 2026.

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