High-frequency bus routes and Central terminal are in MBTA plans, but redesign may have flaws
The MBTA plans a revamp of its regional bus network, including in Cambridge. (Photo: Marc Levy)
A revamp of the region’s bus network proposed by the MBTA this month would dramatically alter Cambridge’s transportation routes, and city leaders are unsure of the consequences.
The proposed map of new routes aims to provide more extensive and faster service throughout Greater Boston, and in particular to communities with insufficient coverage.
In Cambridge, the map would provide 10 routes with service every 15 minutes or less, up from five such routes in the current system. Proposed “high-frequency” routes would connect Central Square to the Longwood Medical Area; Kendall Square to Somerville and the Lechmere green line T stop; Kendall to Medford and Malden; Harvard Square to Somerville’s Union Square and Everett; and Porter Square to Medford and Malden, according to a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority presentation.
In total, the plan would provide a 35 percent increase in the total distance traveled by buses in Cambridge. Implementation won’t be complete until 2028, and won’t begin until spring or summer 2023 at the earliest. Before what’s considered the first major redesign of the network in 100 years comes six months of public feedback.
“It’s a very exciting process,” city councillor Burhan Azeem said.
On Monday, the City Council approved a measure asking that the city manager report back on the impacts the new MBTA bus network would have on the city.
According to Azeem, the proposal would sustain a high frequency of bus travel in part by adding a bus terminal in Central Square to add to the current one in Harvard Square. There are also areas that could be harmed; Azeem pointed to the removal of routes in Somerville as a potential weakness.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan agreed, identifying also the reduction in frequency of the 68 line that runs between Kendall and Harvard squares. The line runs buses every 60 minutes or less; the new plan would reduce the route to peak hours only.
“It’s not all beneficial,” Zondervan said after the meeting.
The new map and some of its drawbacks also reflect the way the goals of the city and the MBTA diverge, Zondervan said.
“The MBTA is a regional transit network. They plan on moving people through our city,” he said. “One of our goals is to reduce car dependence and have more people use public transit. But in order to do that, we have to make it easier for people to move around within our city … The MBTA is not going to do that.”
“At some point, we really need to grapple with that reality,” he said. “We cannot get to where we want to go if we keep relying on the MBTA, unfortunately.”
Zondervan said he has been exploring possibilities of “hyper-local transit” along the lines of Uber and Lyft but government-sponsored, and pointed to similar pilot programs in Salem and Newton.
It needs to be noted that these changes are 1 to 6 years in the future and that this a first draft, subject to change.
I’ve taken the 68 bus a few times during the day. Once it was real crowded – there were 4 other riders. How about a self-driving minibus for this route?
MBTA bus service to the Alewife quadrangle/Cambridge Highlands area is terrible. The new plan would cut the 74 bus entirely without increasing frequency to the 78. Currently one can wait over an hour for a bus on weekends and non-rush hour times. The new plan would make things much worse at a time when many new businesses apartments have been added in this area. Workers at the Neville assisted living and rehab facilities and Santa Maria Hospital will also be impacted.
Yes, the plan is to make drastic cuts in the West Cambridge area. If you count all 3 routes that serve the Concord Ave.-Huron Ave. corridor, midday weekday service would drop to half of what it is now. Just looking at the section of Concord Ave. between Walden St. and the Belmont line, the new service would be only a quarter of what it is now, a 75% drop.
Where are our city officials on this major service cut? This is not “a very exciting process” — it’s a disaster for transit riders in my neighborhood.
In order to stop this, we’ll need a coordinated response from both elected and appointed city officials, and from neighborhood groups.
My wife and I have lived for several years without owning a car, and these cuts — along with other trends in Cambridge — would force us to buy one. But I truly get the sense that current city officials don’t really care about this, and won’t take any action about it.
[Amendment to KLwatkins’ comment above: “The new plan would cut the 74 bus entirely AND WOULD DECREASE frequency to the 78.” And there would be no increase in frequency to the 75, either.]
And one other major problem with the revamped Concord Avenue bus lines: besides cutting one bus and making the other less frequent, the new plan also ends service at 7pm every day, compared to the current 10pm end. That means that residents at the newly built Finch apartments, Cambridge’s newest 100% affordable development, will have one-quarter the number of buses available during the day, and no public transportation available at all in the evening. So much for Transit-Oriented Development. Sigh.
The T regularly drops runs on buses now, sometimes because they don’t have enough buses or drivers. Multiply that by the new not-at-all-convenient ways to get from here to there, like two- or three-seat rides instead of one, and cars start looking a lot more attractive, no matter how hard the City makes it to park once you get where you’re going. They’re certainly sending a very clear message to the residents of East Cambridge like me that we need to find another way of getting around because the MBTA doesn’t find us worthy of even the pretty lousy service we have too much of the time now.
So, no, I heartily disagree with the Councillor’s gushing about how exciting a process this is. I know he doesn’t own a car, but does he ever take a bus? If he did, he’d know that schedules rarely have much to do with reality.
this is NOT an “exciting process” touted enthusiastically by our youngster councilor. He who is a champion of affordable housing despite all the other considerations like grocery stores, and public trans. The change in stops force seniors to walk further, wait longer, and if there is new housing projects as of right- I highly doubt these details are part of the consideration. density without the services. All these issues dovetail for the bigger picture and not as compartmentalized goals.