BELCHERTOWN -- The town shuttle bus operated by the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority has passed its six-month test and will continue to operate for now.

The PVTA Advisory Board voted Monday to keep the shuttle operating - with no new deadline for having the service increase ridership, said David Small, the town's representative to the board.

Early in 2009, the board voted to discontinue the shuttle due to low ridership, but after pleas from the Board of Selectmen and residents, the shuttle's schedule and route were changed instead.

In August, Small said, the number of days of operation per week were dropped from five to three and the route changed to include stops at the Eastern Hampshire District Court, apartment complexes, stores and a reduced number of trips to the Ware Wal-Mart. The changes, said Jill Holliday, director of marketing and public relations for the PVTA, reduced the shuttle's annual cost from about $80,000 a year to about $42,000 a year.

The number of riders, Small said "is sufficient to keep the shuttle running. We have a smaller van and we're doing some outreach. Lo and behold, it's picking up."

Instituted in 2001, ridership on the shuttle averaged about 500 per month from 2002 to 2007, but dropped in 2008 to 281 per month, a trend that held in the first three months of 2009.

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School biomass project

The town could still get a grant to construct a biomass district heating system for three schools.

A recent suspension of applications for biomass plants applies to the state's Renewable Portfolio Standards, through which biomass plants that generate electricity can qualify to sell renewable energy credits, Lisa Capone, press secretary for the state's Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs stated in an email.

The suspension "does not affect the recent proposal submitted by the Belchertown school system" for a High Performing Buildings grant, Capone stated. Notification of the grant award will occur early next year, she wrote.

The School Committee voted in October to apply for the grant, which could fully fund the construction of a heating system for Belchertown High School, Swift River Elementary School and Chestnut Hill Community School. The heating system would use wood chips as a fuel source.

A feasibility study estimated the cost of constructing the heating system at $2.3 million but would save the schools about $190,000 a year in fuel oil costs while reducing carbon emissions about 90 percent.

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Town eyes library grant time line

A six-month extension of the deadline to use a $3.3 million state grant to expand and renovate the Clapp Memorial Library is welcome news, said Stephen Lanphear, president of the library's Board of Trustees. But six months may not be enough time for the economy to improve and for town voters to feel comfortable spending about $4.4 million in town funds for the $9.3 million project.

"We believe the result of the Special Town Meeting was heavily influenced by the present distressed economic situation, and we don't intend to bring the project back for another vote until that situation has improved," said Lanphear.

Town Meeting voted down the project at a Nov. 10 special Town Meeting.

The grant extension lasts until June 15, and Lanphear said he does not believe the economy will have improved sufficiently by then. The state Board of Library Commissioners, which administers the grant, has indicated further extensions might be granted.