Service changes planned for Fall River/New Bedford line this weekend, extending fare-free weekend service to next month

The MBTA and Keolis Commuter Services are planning to temporarily replace select train trips with shuttle bus service on April 19 and 20 to maintain reliability for riders and ensure adequate staffing levels. Riders should anticipate using shuttle buses for select trips. If additional staff becomes available, the trips will return to train service and riders will be notified. 

The MBTA will be extending fare-free weekend service on the Fall River/New Bedford Line through the end of May as a show of gratitude to riders who have been utilizing this new service.

Under the posted schedule, the Fall River/New Bedford Line offers 13 inbound trains from East Taunton on the weekends – seven from New Bedford and six from Fall River. It offers 13 outbound trips from South Station. On Saturday and Sunday, 10 trips (five inbound, five outbound) will be replaced by shuttle buses.  
The trips highlighted in orange are anticipated to be replaced with buses. 

See this weekend’s Fall River/New Bedford Line schedule here.

Riders will be able to board buses at each of the stations along the Fall River/New Bedford Line. 

“We understand how these changes impact our riders who deserve an appropriate level of service and we want to express our appreciation for their continued support of transit by extending the fare-free weekend travel on this new line through the end of May,” said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng. “We are in constant communication with Keolis as they work to address this matter for the long term.”

With the launch of service to Fall River and New Bedford, Keolis is regularly training and increasing additional qualified crews to support the service on this new line. Crew members, including conductors and engineers, must be qualified in order to operate trains on specific lines. If a crew member calls out sick or misses their shift, it can cause trains to be cancelled if a qualified person cannot be found to replace them.

In addition to conductors that were trained and qualified prior to the launch of South Coast Rail, Keolis is actively increasing the number of qualified conductors on South Coast Rail territory, with a plan to reach 65 qualified conductors by early June 2025 to increase operational resiliency and reliability.