Comprehensive Regional Transit Plan Update 2020

This 5-year Comprehensive Regional Transit Plan (CRTP) Update builds on the work of the Lowell Regional Transit Authority (LRTA) 2015 Regional Transit Plan (RTP). This update was recommended by the Task Force on Regional Transit Authority Performance and Funding in its final report issued in April 2019. The report included 24 recommendations in 5 categories:

1. Investment and Performance
2. Accountability
3. Service Decisions
4. Quality of Service
5. Environmental Sustainability

The CRTP update recommendation (No. 7) was included in the service decisions grouping. Specifically, recommendation 7 advised that RTAs will continue to succeed by understanding their markets and by aiming to have their service networks meet the current and future mobility needs of their region as well as support connectivity to other regions where possible. This effort will be guided by (1) the completion or updating of Comprehensive Regional Transit Plans (CRTPs) every five years…”

Following publication of the Task Force Report, a commitment to complete the CRTP was included in LRTA’s 2-Year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) executed on August 14, 2019.

The primary goals of this CRTP are to (1) provide an agency and service overview including fare structure; (2) identify essential markets, gaps in service, and ridership growth opportunities given demographic, socioeconomic, and employment data and the impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; (3) evaluate the results of performance indicators and assess performance monitoring systems; and (4) provide recommendations for a strategic 5-year vision that will prioritize the development and implementation of a decision-making framework driven by data analysis and focused on performance.

View the CRTP Here