The bus stops here, MeVa administrator gets maximum compensation for performance

By Terry Date | The Eagle-Tribune (TNS)

HAVERHILL, MASS. — The Merrimack Valley Transit board awarded MeVa administrator Noah Berger the maximum compensation package for his progress developing the transit authority’s new bus stop initiative as well as for boosting ridership and the number of drivers.

The advisory board, whose members represent each of the 16 communities in the MeVa service area, voted unanimously in its June meeting to increase Berger’s salary to $179,404.

That includes a 2.87% cost-of-living increase, and a 5% merit bonus.

Berger, 60, signed a five-year contract in 2024, good through 2029. He started with MeVa as administrator in 2021.

MeVa is one of 15 regional transit authorities in the commonwealth and serves 3.6 million riders a year in 17 Merrimack Valley communities with free regular bus and appointment paratransit service.

The MeVa board’s compensation committee noted that Berger excelled in meeting two of its strategic objectives for fiscal 2026, which runs July 1, 2025 to June 20.

Find out what Noah Berger likes to do when he's off duty

These were the bus stop plan and implementation coupled with driver recruitment and retention.

The comprehensive strategy included plans for installing 18 new bus shelters with public art.

It also called for installing educational signs and demonstration stops, working with municipal departments.

The change from riders flagging buses to boarding them at designated bus stops has been difficult for MeVa to implement.

MeVa first introduced the change four years ago, in 2022, but met resistance from some businesses and municipalities when trying to identify acceptable stops.

The region’s traditional way of flagging or catching a bus — hailing it with a hand wave — remains the prime way people board buses, a practice that is difficult on drivers, who must decide where and when to stop in traffic.

At last count, MeVa had 117 bus drivers on its fixed routes, operating full-size buses up to 35 feet traveling from Lawrence to Newburyport, and now north to Salem, New Hampshire, and with regular transportation to and from Lowell.

MeVa has grown its pool of drivers despite a national driver shortage, partnered with a truck and tractor-trailer driving school to create a pipeline of CDL drivers and expanded in-house training, according to the compensation committee.

Fixed route ridership is up 6.9% over last year and 52% more than pre pandemic levels.

In addition, paratransit ridership grew more than 17%, year over year.

Kathleen Bradley-Colwell, chair of the compensation committee, noted in her recommendation to the full advisory board that MeVa ranks fourth in statewide ridership, but Berger’s salary ranked 12th.

The committee, however, noted that the salary increases Berger has received in the last two years are not sustainable from year to year.

This year’s increase puts Berger’s salary in the top five of regional transit authority administrator salaries, excluding Boston.

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