The MBTA has started routing its Route 66 buses – one of its key bus routes – through the Harvard Bus Tunnel instead of using the surface streets through Harvard Square.
The new routing offers a more direct, weather-protected transfer between the 66 and the Red Line, and bypasses several traffic signals that slow down buses on the existing surface route, which runs along John F. Kennedy Street and Massachusetts Avenue.
The route change eliminates the existing bus stop at JFK and Eliot Streets. Instead, northbound 66 buses will stop across the street at 16 Eliot Street on their way towards the bus tunnel.
Route 66 buses will also no longer use the stop on Mass. Ave. at Johnston Gate next to Havard Yard, but the 68 and 69 routes will continue to use that stop.
“This bus stop move is a big improvement for the Route 66, which is one of the busiest routes in the bus network serving thousands of riders,” said MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng in a press release about the changes. “Route 66 riders heading to Harvard Square will now disembark directly in the Harvard Bus Tunnel instead of at the street level, allowing better access to the Red Line and other Harvard bus routes as well as sheltering riders from challenging weather. I thank the MBTA's Service Planning team for implementing this meaningful change for our riders and the City of Cambridge for partnering with us on this improvement.”
According to MBTA officials, the changes to the 66 complement the broader Bus Network Redesign effort. The T says that the new Route 66 will offer better connections to the upgraded Route 109, which will be extended past Sullivan Square to Harvard Square as part of the first wave of Bus Network Redesign service improvements later this year.
