AMHERST – With the new academic year under way, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst plans to pay the town an additional $80,000 for the next two semesters to staff two additional ambulances during busy periods, mostly on weekends.

Last March, university officials agreed to provide $40,000 to pay the costs of having five ambulances available Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. That was in addition to the $363,718 the university paid to the town for ambulance service per a town-university agreement in fiscal 2012.

Having the extra ambulances was a way to address the town’s vulnerability during busy times when it was transporting students to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.

It can take about 30 minutes to transport students from Amherst to Northampton, tying up an ambulance for at least an hour.

“This new agreement builds on a previous arrangement announced last March where campus and town officials agreed on a set of public safety measures including funding to staff two additional ambulances, said Nancy Buffone, executive director of external relations and university events,” in a prepared statement.

"We've expanded the increased ambulance coverage to include all of the warm weather months when UMass is in session to the entire year," Buffone said.â¨â¨ The agreement increases the number of town ambulances in service from three to five, giving the Amherst Fire Department money to increase staffing on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

â¨â¨The new funding again is a supplement to the $363,718 paid to the town each fiscal year.

University programming meanwhile is offering a number of events to keep students on campus including movies, concerts and parties this weekend.

Additional police will be out patrolling, especially in neighborhoods near campus.