Dialysis patients will no longer have to depend on volunteers to drive them out of town for treatments thanks to a $140,000 grant that will provide transportation for Middleboro residents to the Raynham and Taunton area. Francis Gaye, regional administrator for the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority, said the New Freed Funding grant was issued by the Federal Transit Administration and targets programs that help the disabled and senior citizens. This will be the authority’s first out-of-town service. Currently, GATRA only provides transportation service within Middleboro.

Middleboro’s first out-of-town bus service will begin November 29, 2010 and provide transportation to the Raynham and Taunton area for residents, including dialysis patients who have depended on volunteers to take them to out-of-town treatments.

Council On Aging Director Andrea M. Priest announced that, thanks to a $140,000 grant, service will be provided on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and will depart from the Council On Aging, 558 Plymouth St., at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. with a stop at Town Hall, 10 Nickerson Ave.

People with a registered disability will be picked up and dropped off by an accessible dial-a-ride vehicle or shuttle vehicle.

The bus will stop at Wal-Mart, Route 44, Raynham, where passengers can transfer to GATRA’s Route 8 to East Taunton or the Silver City Galleria. The bus will also stop at Compass Medical and the Social Security office in Taunton. The bus will depart the Taunton GATRA terminal at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. When the Middleboro schools are closed, there will be no transportation services. The COA will close if the Town Hall is closed due to inclement weather.

The bus will require a reservation made by 1 p.m. the day before. The fee is $2 one-way from Middleboro to Wal-Mart and $3 one-way from Middleboro to Taunton. The COA and GATRA encourage riders to provide feedback on the service by either calling the COA at 508-946-2490 or GATRA at 800-483-2500 or go to www.GATRA.org.

In August 2011, Middleboro renewed its annual contract for bus service with the Greater Attleboro-Taunton Regional Transit Authority.The new contract is for $295,000 and will run through June 2012, providing transportation around Middleboro and to the Taunton area. The contract includes three bus services: dial-a-ride for a cost of $212,000; the downtown shuttle, $65,000; and the Taunton-Middleboro connection service, $18,000.

GATRA provided more than 19,000 rides in Middleboro last year, with the most popular being the downtown shuttle that provided 11,200 rides, followed by dial-a-ride with 8,386 rides and the Taunton-Middleboro connection, 171 rides. The program is provided at no cost to the town as GATRA receives both federal and state funds for the service.

Sources: Taunton Gazette, November 17, 2010; Enterprise News, November 17, 2010 and Enterprise News, August 16, 2011.