While Orange Line slow zones continue to frustrate riders who expected to see more improvements after the shutdown, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak is defending the speed restrictions as “prioritizing safety.”
Some speed restrictions on the Orange Line that have befuddled riders and slowed trips will stay in place into December, more than two months after the MBTA completed a 30-day end-to-end shutdown aimed at fixing those issues, the agency disclosed Tuesday.
Ridership during the shutdown smashed prior Bluebikes records, and more cities in the Boston area are joining the bike rental network.
A big bump in commuter rail ridership shows what’s possible with a better-resourced MBTA and a regional rail system ready to support more transit-oriented housing construction.
The MBTA defied some riders’ pessimism to reopen its Orange Line subway line on schedule this morning, with service provided by a fleet of all-new trains.
As the MBTA approaches the end of the monthlong shutdown of the Orange Line and prepares to reactivate the line, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said Tuesday that the alternate service that’s been in place has gone “so well” but said she’s still concerned about the T moving ahead.
The announcement comes slightly ahead of the halfway point in the unprecedented closure and just as the system of commuter rail trains and shuttle buses faces its acid test as commuters, college students and schoolchildren all return from summer breaks at the same time.
The absence of the Orange Line and reduced service levels on other lines and modes should make the heart grow fonder and produce a renewed commitment to supporting high-quality mass transit.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said there are no plans to close the Red Line from end to end for another repair blitz, like this month’s Orange Line closure, but partial closures of the line remain on the table.
The month-long closure of the MBTA’s Orange Line is not putting off potential biotech tenants in transit-dependent locations despite the “headaches” it’s causing.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joined transit activists on Monday to call for additional federal intervention to help reverse service cuts at the MBTA as the region waits to see what other changes safety investigators will mandate.
Nine days into an unprecedented 30-day shutdown of one of its major subway lines, the MBTA says it’s already completed 37 percent of the work it set out to complete.
Beleaguered commuters in the Greater Boston area were dealt another setback Wednesday when transit officials announced that service cuts on three of the four major subway lines in the city that were set to end this summer will instead extend into the fall.
Workers so far have replaced about 2,400 feet of rail, including a critical piece of degraded track between the line’s Downtown Crossing and State Street stations.
The MBTA will add a “circulator” shuttle bus and expand Silver Line service downtown, and Boston officials have announced street closures to accommodate shuttle buses as the Orange Line shutdown is poised to get underway.
A constellation of elected officials from Congress down to the local level have gained little traction so far with their calls for the MBTA to halt charging fares across the entire system when the Orange Line shuts down for a month this weekend.
Roadway traffic will be “severe” for the duration of a 30-day Orange Line shutdown and effects could begin to pop up as soon as Monday, state officials said this morning.
It’s crunch time for the T, and pain time for Orange Line riders.
Tens of thousands of Boston-area commuters who will have their trips upended for a month by an imminent MBTA shutdown could get a clearer look at available travel alternatives on Friday.
