BSU Launches Half-Price Commuter Rail Pass Program for SouthCoast Students

Bridgewater State University (BSU) has launched a pilot program offering half-price MBTA commuter rail passes to eligible SouthCoast students traveling to campus on the South Coast Rail line.

According to a Herald News report, the initiative targets BSU students who live in municipalities along the Fall River-New Bedford line. It would extend to surrounding communities through the BSU Office of Off-Campus and Commuter Student Services.

The program would cut one-way fares (typically around $7) and monthly passes (approximately $120) for qualifying BSU students, addressing transportation costs amid tuition and other expenses. Given that the Bridgewater commuter rail station sits in the heart of the BSU campus and that 70% of students commute, access to affordable fares was a concern worth addressing, according to student trustee Emily Rose. 

Rose worked with the office of state Sen. Mark Montigny to secure $50,000 in state funding to pay for it.

“To lighten the burden was really the goal,” Rose said in a statement to the Herald News. “Students at Bridgewater are really the type of people to work two jobs, come home, take care of their families, attend to their classes, and it's a lot.”

BSU's Office of Off-Campus and Commuter Student Services offers reduced-fare passes.

According to Montigny's 2026 budget amendment that includes the earmark, the funding is available for BSU students living in “the cities of New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, and the towns of Acushnet, Berkley, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleborough, Rochester, Somerset, and Westport,” but not limited to those communities.

The Herald News noted that the amendment also requires BSU to report to the House and Senate Ways and Means committees on how many reduced-fare student passes were sold, along with each student's community of residence and the costs to implement the program.