The EZRide bus route in Cambridge, a fare-free, privately-funded shuttle route that's open to everyone, has considerably increased its hours of operation this spring with new mid-day and weekend service.
EZRide operates buses every 8 to 12 minutes on weekdays, and every 20 minutes on weekends, on a fixed route between Kendall Square, Lechmere, and North Station.
On weekdays, the first bus departs North Station at 5:50 a.m., and the last bus is at 8:26 p.m. On weekends, the service runs from 9 a.m. until 8:40 p.m.
Real-time arrival information for EZRide buses is also available on the Transit app.
EZRide has operated since 2002, but until this spring, its buses only operated during the peak commuting hours, Monday through Friday.
The new schedule, which took effect on Monday, April 14th, "is a key opportunity for Kendall Square to better serve its workforce with more flexible hours and improve transit access for Cambridge residents and visitors outside of (typical) commuting hours, " said Tom Evans, Executive Director of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, in a press release announcing the changes.
Privately funded, but open to the public
A nonprofit organization called the Charles River Transportation Management Association operates the EZRide with funding from the Kendall Square Transit Enhancement Program, a private-public agreement that sets aside a share of the additional property value from Kendall Square's development projects for transit capacity improvements.
Several other transportation management associations (TMAs) in the Boston region also operate their own bus routes, but many of them are only open to employees of member businesses.
The EZRide, by contrast, is open to everyone.
Jim Gascoigne, the Executive Director of the Charles River TMA, told StreetsblogMASS that EZRIde averaged about 500,000 passengers a year before the Covid-19 pandemic – about 1,960 riders a day.
He said that the organization doesn't yet have any ridership data under the new schedule.
Although Kendall Square is a major employment center and one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the region, the MBTA doesn't currently offer any comparable bus routes that connect the Kendall/MIT station area to Lechmere and North Station in Boston.
The MBTA bus network redesign project has proposed to extend an upgraded Route 101 from its current southern terminal at Sullivan Square to Lechmere and Kendall, but uncertainty over state funding has delayed its implementation.
The Charles River TMA will host a public celebration for the expanded bus service on Tuesday, June 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Lechmere station, followed by a reception at CambridgeSide mall.
