We are writing this petition to urge our local town leaders (and our neighbors) to support and restore the vital South County Connector micro-transit service. Since the route between Pittsfield and Lee and Great Barrington has been cut off, it has resulted in hardship for many.

Since its founding, for many, the South County Connector bus service (Massachusetts) has become the ONLY mode of reliable and affordable transport available to them.

Especially for the disabled, seniors, teens, and young people who don’t have a license or don’t have access to a car. These folks still need to get to school, work, shopping, and doctor’s appointments. It’s also an essential service for single-car families, where all adults work. It also provides traffic relief by providing transportation for tourists who come by bus or train from New York and Boston and abroad, and who are accustomed to getting around without the need of a car. 

My Mom is one of the people who depend on this service.

Last year, my Mom had a stroke,  and now relies upon a wheelchair. Getting into or out of a car is a challenge for her because she cannot stand. The SCC has been a lifesaver because she could get to appointments to see her doctor in Lee, and to specialist doctors in Pittsfield, for a very reasonable fare. The SCC has wonderful, reliable, caring drivers and responsive scheduling staff to get my parents there and back, and they are able to schedule a set pickup time. Now, since the routes have been cut off and service reduced, if we need to get her to an appointment with her doctors, it costs between $175 and $240 to book a ride with a Cabulance to get her to these appointments safely, and return trips can not be scheduled in advance, so sometimes the wait to return is an hour+. 

These cuts in service also directly affect the local businesses in each town, since there are workers who rely on the service for getting to work. One of my friends who resides in Great Barrington and has a job in Pittsfield relied on the service to get her to work, but she can no longer use it. Businesses may also lose out on customers and clients who need a reliable way to get to them.

Goals:

Our hope is that this petition helps make it clear to town leaders and decision-makers there is a lot of support for keeping the South County Connector, and that there is a great need in our community for reliable, affordable, and accessible micro-transit service.

There must be some compromise that can be made, so that the SCC can continue to reliably provide this essential service to our towns. 

With the drastic shortage of drivers and staff*, even in light of upcoming restructuring, it seems the logical conclusion would be to: 
A. Post the jobs for positions that have/will become vacant.
B. Raise salaries for drivers and SCC staff, so that the current drivers will stay, and the higher salary will attract more drivers and admin staff to want to work for the SCC. 
C. If there are not enough funds for supporting the system, see if additional funding can be allotted, or consider raising the cost of rides to farther locations.
D. Convince the town of Lee and the City of Pittsfield to continue to pay into the program so that service does not have to discontinue (at least until their own service[s] are up and running).
E. Convince more towns to join the service (please comment below with the name of your town if it's near the current towns that are part of the SCC).

If this results in an increase in the cost for riders, it is still a better alternative to discontinuing the service entirely. A $20–$40 ride from Egremont to Pittsfield would still be a better option than a $240 cab/cabulance ride!  

News reports:

Residents concerned about South County Connector service cutbacks, by Shaw Israel Izikson, The Berkshire Edge, August 11, 2026 (includes mention of this Petition).
https://theberkshireedge.com/residents-concerned-about-south-county-connector-service-cutbacks/

Seniors say transit cuts are leaving them stuck at home, By Talia Lissauer, The Berkshire Eagle, Aug 6, 2026
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/southern_berkshires/south-county-connector-changes/article_d8075fca-2d25-4e64-b173-e6934399049b.html

Thank you for your consideration — please think of the greater good and the future of our beautiful towns in your plans for the South County Connector.

Also - a big thank you to Tate Coleman and Leigh Davis, our local leaders and the SCC staff and drivers who have been working tirelessly to create and preserve this service!

The petition will be sent to:
Town Leadership of Egremont, Great Barrington, Monterey, Stockbridge, West Stockbridge, New Marlborough, Lee, and Pittsfield (possibly more towns).

Please note we are not accepting funds, if you get a notice to donate it is the Change.org platform not this specific petition. Thank you to those who did donate to boost the petition's viewership.

Please share this petition to anyone you know who relies on the South County Connector service or benefits from it! 

........

*Why is Service on the South County Connector being cut?

You can read in detail about the service cuts and statistics in the July 2 Director’s Report from Tate Coleman, the Director of Public Transportation for the town of Great Barrington (read full report here:):

........

Where does the funding for the South County Connector come from?

According to the SCC website, as of Friday July 31, 2026:

The South County Connector transit program is made possible by funding from the Community Transit Grant Program (CTGP) through the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), MassDOT Fair Share Amendment Funding, earmark funding from state Rep. Leigh Davis (3rd Berkshire), and the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, in addition to local matches from the Towns of Great Barrington, Egremont, Stockbridge, West Stockbridge, Monterey, Sheffield and New Marlborough. (And previously Lee and Pittsfield).