Here’s the MBTA’s Bus Lane Wishlist for Its New ‘High Frequency’ Bus Routes
10:47 PM EDT on October 23, 2023
A map of the MBTA’s ‘Transit Priority Vision corridors’ map, where the agency hopes to secure bus lanes and signal prioritization for its proposed high-frequency bus network (blue lines). Courtesy of the MBTA.
MBTA staff have begun pitching local municipalities with what it hopes will be a major expansion of dedicated bus lanes across the region to support faster, more frequent bus service under the agency's proposed bus network redesign.
The T has recently begun sharing the map above with some of its municipal partners to win municipal support for its Bus Network Redesign initiative, which envisions a 25 percent increase in total bus service hours.
The centerpiece of the redesigned bus network would be around 30 "high-frequency" bus routes, which would offer a bus arriving every 15 minutes or better between from 5 a.m. until 1 a.m., 7 days a week.
MBTA officials have said that the proposed new bus network won't work unless municipalities set aside more dedicated bus lanes on local streets to help prevent buses from getting stuck in traffic.
In the City of Cambridge, where a citizens' advisory committee has been working on plans for reconfiguring Massachusetts Avenue north of Harvard Square, MBTA staff shared the map at the top of this article at a project meeting last month.
A caption on the map explained that "MBTA's Transit Priority Vision corridors are identified based on service offering (bus network redesign frequency), social benefit (existing bus and passenger delay), and passenger experience (speed and runtime variability)."
A new dedicated bus lane and protected bike lane on Massachusetts Avenue in North Cambridge, pictured in May 2022.
According to the meeting minutes, Becca Wolfson, a project manager for the T's Transit Priority planning group, told City of Cambridge officials and residents that "the MBTA has identified Mass. Ave. as a key corridor that would warrant transit priority" (editor's note: Wolfson is also the former Executive Director of the Boston Cyclist's Union, and a former member of the StreetsblogMASS Board of Directors).
Dozens of local streets targeted for new bus priority infrastructure
Under the T's proposed bus network redesign, both the Route 1 (from Harvard Square to Nubian Square) and the 77 (from Harvard to Arlington Heights) would be part of the high-frequency bus network, and would generally retain their current route configuration along Massachusetts Avenue.
There are already dedicated bus lanes in place on several segments of Massachusetts Avenue, including parts of the Harvard Bridge across the Charles River and in North Cambridge. The T's map suggests that the agency would like to fill in some of the gaps, particularly through the Back Bay and South End of Boston, and north of Harvard Square.
It's important to note that "bus priority" need not necessarily mean dedicated bus lanes. It could also involve reprogramming traffic signals to give a green-light preference to approaching buses, or redesigning bus stops so that drivers don't need to weave in and out of traffic to pick up passengers.
Second Street between Chelsea and Everett, a critical link for the new, frequent-service Route 104, which would run from Logan Airport through Chelsea and Everett to downtown Malden;
“The specific route changes associated with bus network redesign are on pause,” said Kat Benesh, the MBTA’s Acting Deputy Chief Operating Officer, at June’s MBTA board meeting.
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