In today’s daily 5 Things You Need to Know feature, ThisWeekinWorcester.com explores five important items and stories that Worcester and Central Massachusetts residents should keep a close eye on.
These five things can cover a whole range of subjects and issues that we feel are pertinent to understanding what’s going on in the city and the cities and towns surrounding Worcester.
In today’s edition – Friday, March 18 – WRTA resumes full Friday services, Massport sets Net Zero goal by 2031, the “Donna Summer Musical” comes to Hanover Theatre, a remodeled Planet Fitness reopens on Stafford Street and Big Brother Big Sister Foundation has a truck scheduled for pickups in the Worcester area next week.
WRTA Resumes Friday Services
The WRTA announced on Thursday that it will resume full Friday services on Friday, March 25. WRTA temporarily suspended services due to driver shortage.
Full services along the following routes resumes on Friday, March 25:
- Route 8-Route will now resume service on Friday
- Route 11-All Outbound trips from the Hub will resume service. All Inbound trips from the Fair Plaza will resume service.
- Route 12-Route will now resume service on Friday.
- Route 19-All Outbound trips from the Hub will resume service. All Inbound trips from Goddard & Coppage Drive will resume service.
- Route 24-All Outbound trips from the Hub will resume service. All Inbound trips from UMass Medical Center will resume service.
- Route 25-Route will now resume service on Friday.
- Route 26-All Outbound trips from the Hub will resume service. All Inbound trips from Great Brook Valley will resume service.
- Route 30-All Outbound trips from the Hub at will resume service. All Inbound trips from West Boylston Walmart will resume service.
For any questions, please contact WRTA Customer Service at 508-791-WRTA (9782), or visit the WRTA on Bustracker.
Massport Sets Goal for Net Zero by 2031
The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) announced its Roadmap to Net Zero plan on Thursday. The plan focusses eliminating 100% of greenhouse gas emissions directly controlled by Massport-owned facilities, equipment, and purchased electricity.
Massport also said it would seek to influence in areas it does not control and purchase carbon offsets in any areas it cannot reach zero emissions. It expects to be Net Zero without offsets by 2040.
The key areas Massport outlined as its focus:
- Improving energy efficiency in buildings through design standards and operational controls;
- Transitioning to clean fuel sources such as renewable electricity, renewable natural gas, etc.;
- Generating as much renewable energy as possible on-site, and make off-site renewable energy purchases;
- Acquiring renewable energy credits, renewable identification numbers, and carbon offsets as a transition strategy, for the fossil fuel sources that cannot be reduced, electrified or switched to renewable energy in the near-term;
- Implementing all remaining facility-specific initiatives identified to ultimately reach net zero.
Components of the phased plan controlled by Massport include items like upgrading lighting systems across all facilities to LEDs, which has already been started, to rehabilitating Logan Airport’s Central Heating Plant, upgrading the Logan Express and shuttle bus fleet to electric vehicles, and installing more solar panels and renewable energy sources.
‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’ at Hanover Theatre
“Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” featuring 20 of the disco diva’s classic hits, comes to Hanover Theatre from March 31 to April 3.
An icon of the disco era, Summer came from the gospel choir to the dance floor to sell 100 million records and accumulate five Grammy Awards and 12 top-ten hits between 1976 and 1982.
For more information on “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical” or tickets, visit the Hanover Theatre website.
Planet Fitness Reopens on Stafford Street
Planet Fitness at 68 Stafford Street in Worcester announced the reopening of its remodeled and expanded facility on Thursday, which now provides 50 percent more workout space.
To celebrate the reopening, new members can join for $1 down and $10 a month and cancel anytime. The $1 down offer will also be available at the Worcester-Lincoln Plaza, Webster and Shrewsbury Planet Fitness location.
New members can sign up online or at a participating club.
Big Brother Big Sister Picking Up Donations in Worcester
The Big Brother Big Sister Foundation has a truck scheduled for pickups in the Worcester area on Friday, March 25.
Founded in 1904, Big Brother Big Sisters is the nation’s largest donor- and volunteer-supported mentoring network, Big Brother Big Sister makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 5 through young adulthood in communities across the country.
Foundation pickups accept a range of items, including clothing, certain household items, books and other items. See the full list of acceptable items here.
Schedule a home pickup here.
