Shuttle buses run in February to make up for MBTA subway closings hurt as much as they helped, and when Cambridge faces the problem again in July, nearly twice as many daily riders are affected.
The shuttle buses doubled the time it took to get from Alewife to Harvard during rush hour compared with the subway, according to a Monday memo from assistant city manager for community development Iram Farooq and transportation commissioner Brooke McKenna.
“The most-repeated piece of feedback we heard was that shuttles were very slow and impacted the flow of traffic throughout Cambridge and Somerville,” they said.
A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority track improvement program – meant to get the trains back to full speed after months of slowdowns – closed the red line throughout Cambridge and Somerville Feb. 5-14 from Alewife to Harvard and Feb. 24-25 in Cambridge, from Harvard to Broadway. After extensive traffic delays from shuttle buses, city officials are partnering with the MBTA to plan alternative transportation for the July closing from Alewife to Kendall scheduled for July 8-23.
One hundred and 16 shuttle buses helped bring riders between Alewife and Harvard in February, and the MBTA made the Fitchburg commuter rail line between Porter Square and North Station free for all riders. Even with these alternatives, ridership on buses running parallel to the red line increased with the shutdown.
“We all saw, as a city, the impact on our traffic,” councillor Patty Nolan said at the City Council meeting on Monday.
The MBTA estimates that about 43,000 riders use the Alewife-to-Kendall section of the red line daily, as opposed to the 22,000 riders affected in February. “The July disruptions are going to be a lot more substantial than the February ones,” councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler said. With about 200 shuttle buses predicted to be on the roads during the July closing, the city of Cambridge is brainstorming alternative ways to transport commuters.
The city is relying on commuter rail and green line services to help ease transit crunches during the red line subway closings and, since the weather will be warmer, officials hope commuters will walk and use bikes to provide further relief to the transit system. The Monday council meeting mentioned discussions about free Bluebikes during the shutdown of July, but nothing has been confirmed.
Improving the system
In February, ridership on the 83 and 77 buses increased, revealing another way Cantabrigians supplement the shuttle bus routes. “If there is additional service on the 83, people in North Cambridge and in buildings along Rindge Avenue can go and take the 83 instead of having to walk all the way over to Alewife and get a shuttle,” James Williamson said during public comment. “It’s really important to push this with the T to add service on the 83.” In addition to MBTA busing, Farooq reminded the council about Harvard shuttles, which can be used by residents throughout the year.
To account for the increase in shuttles and subsequent traffic, councillors pushed for a discussion about adding designated bus lanes for the July closing as well. McKenna agreed that “pop-up bus lanes” might help. “We’re trying to find the sweet spot where we will have as many people as possible traveling on the shuttles, with as few shuttles as we can,” she said, “the more shuttles that we have, the more impact there will be both on the length of the shuttle trips and on other users of the roadway.”
Dedicated bus lanes can be a more permanent solution to Cambridge traffic, Farooq said, as the MBTA’s track improvement program has only exacerbated existing issues with road flow.
Beyond the red line’s July closing from Alewife to Kendall, the MBTA is scheduling closings for October and December, each for about six days. The dates are unconfirmed and may change according to the progress of the program.
A stronger
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Even in 2024 the only thing the council and this article cares about is traffic. Forget about the transit riders that this city depends on, have to focus exclusively on the minority of car drivers.
Implement bus lanes, preferably center running, down the whole of Mass ave. Do it as a quick build during the shut down and make it permanent after like Boston has done on several routes. Even without the shuttles the busses on this corridor have enough ridership to justify getting them out of traffic, also enabling higher frequencies and more reliable service.