PIONEER VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY
(A Component Unit of the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation)
Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information
June 30, 2024 and 2023
Table of Contents
Page
Independent Auditors’ Report 2-4
Management’s Discussion and Analysis 5
Financial Statements
Statements of Net Position 6
Statements of Revenues, Expenses and Changes in Fund Net Position 7-8
Statements of Cash Flows 9
Notes to Financial Statements 10 - 41
Required Supplementary Information
Schedule of Changes in Net Pension Liabilities and Related Ratios, and Pension Contributions 42 - 45
Schedule of Changes in Net Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) Liabilities and Related
Ratios and OPEB Contributions 46 - 49
Supplementary Information
Statements of Net Cost of Service 50
Independent Auditors’ Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
and on Compliance and Other Matters Based on an Audit of Financial Statements
Performed in Accordance with Government Auditing Standards 51 - 52
 INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
To the Advisory Board
PIONEER VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY
2808 Main Street
Springfield, MA 01107
Report on the Audit of the Financial Statements
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of the business-type activities of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, as of
and for the years ended June 30, 2024 and 2023, and the related notes to the financial statements, which collectively
comprise the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s basic financial statements as listed in the table of contents.
In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial
position of the business-type activities of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, as of June 30, 2024 and 2023, and the
respective changes in financial position and, cash flows thereof for the years then ended in accordance with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Basis for Opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America
(GAAS) and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the
Comptroller General of the United States. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the
Auditors' Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements section of our report. We are required to be
independent of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority and to meet our other ethical responsibilities, in accordance with
the relevant ethical requirements relating to our audit. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient
and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.
Responsibilities of Management for the Financial Statements
Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and for the design, implementation, and
maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free
from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, management is required to evaluate whether there are conditions or events,
considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s ability to continue
as a going concern for twelve months beyond the financial statement date, including any currently known information
that may raise substantial doubt shortly thereafter.
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Auditors' Responsibilities for the Audit of the Financial Statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from
material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditors' report that includes our opinion.
Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not absolute assurance and therefore is not a guarantee that an
audit conducted in accordance with GAAS and Government Auditing Standards will always detect a material
misstatement when it exists. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for
one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the
override of internal control. Misstatements are considered material if there is a substantial likelihood that, individually
or in the aggregate, they would influence the judgment made by a reasonable user based on the financial statements.
In performing an audit in accordance with GAAS and Government Auditing Standards, we:
 Exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit.
 Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error,
and design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks. Such procedures include examining, on a
test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.
 Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are
appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the
Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s internal control. Accordingly, no such opinion is expressed.
 Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of significant accounting
estimates made by management, as well as evaluate the overall presentation of the financial statements.
 Conclude whether, in our judgment, there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise
substantial doubt about the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s ability to continue as a going concern for a
reasonable period of time.
We are required to communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope
and timing of the audit, significant audit findings, and certain internal control related matters that we identified during
the audit.
Required Supplementary Information
Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America require that the Management's Discussion
and Analysis on page 5, and the Schedule of Changes in Net Pension Liabilities and Related Ratios, the Schedule of
Pension Contributions, and Schedule of Changes in Net Other Postemployment Benefit (OPEB) Liabilities and Related
Ratios, and Schedule of OPEB Contributions on pages 42 to 49 be presented to supplement the basic financial
statements. Such information is the responsibility of management and, although not a part of the basic financial
statements, is required by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board who considers it to be an essential part of
financial reporting for placing the basic financial statements in an appropriate operational, economic, or historical
context. We have applied certain limited procedures to the required supplementary information in accordance with
GAAS, which consisted of inquiries of management about the methods of preparing the information and comparing the
information for consistency with management’s responses to our inquiries, the basic financial statements, and other
knowledge we obtained during our audit of the basic financial statements. We do not express an opinion or provide any
assurance on the information because the limited procedures do not provide us with sufficient evidence to express an
opinion or provide any assurance.
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Supplementary Information
Our audit was conducted for the purpose of forming an opinion on the financial statements that collectively comprise
the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s basic financial statements. The accompanying supplementary information on
page 50 is presented for purposes of additional analysis and is not a required part of the basic financial statements. Such
information is the responsibility of management and was derived from and relates directly to the underlying accounting
and other records used to prepare the basic financial statements. Such information has been subjected to the auditing
procedures applied in the audit of the basic financial statements and certain additional procedures, including comparing
and reconciling such information directly to the underlying accounting and other records used to prepare the basic
financial statements or to the basic financial statements themselves, and other additional procedures in accordance with
GAAS. In our opinion, the supplementary information is fairly stated, in all material respects, in relation to the basic
financial statements as a whole.
Other Reporting Required by Government Auditing Standards
In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, we have also issued our report dated September 26, 2024 on our
consideration of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s internal control over financial reporting and on our tests of its
compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements and other matters. The purpose
of that report is solely to describe the scope of our testing of internal control over financial reporting and compliance
and the results of that testing, and not to provide an opinion on the effectiveness of internal control over financial
reporting or on compliance. That report is an integral part of an audit performed in accordance with Government
Auditing Standards in considering the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s internal control over financial reporting and
compliance.
ADELSON & COMPANY PC
September 26, 2024
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 PIONEER VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY
(A Component Unit of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation)
Management’s Discussion and Analysis
For the Year Ended June 30, 2024
As the Administrator of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (the Authority), I offer readers of the Authority’s
financial statements this overview and analysis of the financial activities for the fiscal year ended June 30,
2024.
Reporting Entity
The Authority provides public transportation and operates under Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter
161B as a body politic and a corporate and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The
Authority is a component unit of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Massachusetts provides
funding to the Authority. See Note 1 to the financial statements for additional information on the reporting
entity.
The Authority owns, manages, and has direct capital responsibilities for rolling stock, facilities and equipment.
Currently, the Authority has a total of 370+ revenue vehicles in its inventory that fall into categories such as
articulated buses, transit buses, cutaway buses and minivans. The Authority uses nine facilities in the provision
of its transit services, of which it has direct capital responsibility for seven. Equipment includes non-revenue
support vehicles, passenger waiting shelters and other equipment which is divided into two categories: facilities
critical equipment and support equipment. Through the Authority’s Transit Asset Management Plan (TAM
Plan), the Authority has established and maintains an investment strategy to ensure its capital assets are kept in
a state of good repair. State of good repair is defined as the condition in which a capital asset is able to operate
at its intended level of performance throughout its useful life
Impact of COVID-19 on the Authority’s Fiscal Year 2024 Operations
The Authority continued operating reduced weekday service in some routes but was able to increase service
frequency on certain routes in response to the availability of the workforce.
Ridership in fiscal year 2024 totaled 7,830,329 on the fixed route and 186,742 on the paratransit system. Fixed
route ridership for the year was 77.1% of 2019’s ridership, an increase of 927,549 riders and 13.4% over 2023.
For the final quarter of fiscal year 2024, ridership recovery was significantly higher, recovering 86.6% of pre-
covid ridership.
Paratransit ridership was 71.66% of 2019’s ridership, an increase of 9,766 riders and 5.5% over 2023.
Paratransit ridership recovery for the final quarter of fiscal year 2024 was also significantly higher, recovering
74.8% of pre-covid ridership.
With the increase in funding in this year’s budget, the Authority continued its commitment to improve service
where possible in both the short and long term. With the improving staffing situation, while we continue to
take an incremental approach to adjusting service on routes, the Authority was able to add service on some
routes. Ultimately, the goal is to restore service that was reduced in response to staffing shortages, expand
weekend service throughout the region, and increase frequency on all routes to 30 minutes or less across the
system.
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 PIONEER VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY
(A Component Unit of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation)
Management’s Discussion and Analysis
For the Year Ended June 30, 2024
In December 2023, the Authority implemented route enhancements on the following routes: G1, B7, R10, B17,
P21E, G73E, Ware and, Palmer, that improved transit service by adjusting area coverage, frequency of service,
hours of service, and adding weekend service. In addition, at the end of March 2024, the Authority
implemented the following service enhancements:
B7: Frequency change from 20 min to 15 min M-F between 9 am and 4 pm
X90A: G19, Holyoke-Chicopee (Memorial Drive/South Hadley Falls)
X90B: R22, Holyoke -Chicopee (Grattan/Cabbot St).
P21E: Frequency change from 45 min to 30 min
G73E: Frequency change from 45 min to 30 min
X92: Frequency change from 60 min to 45 min M-F.
R10: Extended hours. Departing Union Station at 6am and Departing WSU at 9:50pm.
B6: Sunday is the same as weekday and Saturday service
G1: Saturday and Sunday service is the same as weekday service
34: Restore service frequency between 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM
30/31: Added supplemental weekday "trippers" between 2PM and 6PM
In addition, the Authority secured board approval for the implementation of the Northampton Micro-Transit
Pilot. This service uses existing assets that are often underutilized. The service reassigns vehicle assets in
Northampton and provides an effective first mile, last mile, transit solution within the city, potentially
providing a model for other communities in our service area. Northampton Micro-Transit Pilot began
providing service on May 1, 2024. The NOHO Shuttle provides door to door service in Northampton (Florence
and Leeds), available to all Northampton residents regardless of age or disability status. It operates Monday
through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and fares will be the same as other fixed routes.
To continue to ensure the safety of our drivers and passengers, the Authority’s operators continue to include
cleaning technologies, increased time spent on cleaning and disinfection of vehicles and optional nose and
mouth coverings. The Authority’s new vehicles come equipped with permanent driver barriers, which are now
standard, as is plastic passenger seating and modified securement systems for mobility devices. In addition, the
Authority continues to operate air purifiers on all transit buses as well as in common areas at all Authority
facilities.
The Authority implemented the contactless mobile fare payment app, MassDOT BusPlus, on July 19, 2020.
Year over year, BusPlus activations have increased by nearly 9% to 76,564. Much of that increase is due to
Day Passes (47% increase) and One-Ride Tickets with Transfer (263% increase). The Authority installed a
mobile payment onboard validators to facilitate the use of the BusPlus platform and to allow the Authority to
analyze ridership trends data. The platform has become the preferred method of payment by Holyoke
Community College students, as well as Springfield Technical Community College students.
The Authority’s operating costs are expected to continue to increase as the economy recovers and ridership
slowly increases. The biggest impact of the pandemic continues to be the workforce. Staffing continues to be a
problem for many transit systems, and the Authority is no exception. Each of the Authority’s operators is
experiencing labor challenges to some degree. The Authority continued the broad-based media campaign to
support hiring efforts for each operator, including radio, social media, email, and other advertising media, to
raise awareness of our staffing needs. In the meantime, to attract more operators, the Authority has continued
the newly instituted in-house CDL Operator Trainee program utilizing a CDL course leased from MassDOT.
This program has proven to be extremely successful.
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 PIONEER VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY
(A Component Unit of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation)
Management’s Discussion and Analysis