The MBTA is closing the core of the Green Line network for most of the holiday season to install more components of the line's new train protection system and to replace a 19th-century wooden structure that houses the line's overhead power systems.
From December 8 through December 22, the MBTA will suspend all Green Line service between North Station and Kenmore Square.
The closure will extend to Babcock Street on the B Branch and to Heath Street on the E Branch (see map above).
The closure is expected to affect the vast majority of trips on the Green Line, which currently serves more than 50,000 daily riders. The closure will also severely reduce transit access to some of the region's busiest shopping districts in Back Bay and downtown Boston.
In a statement released earlier this week, Caitlin Allen-Connelly, Executive Director of TransitMatters, said that “the 15-day closure of the Green Line trunk comes at one of the busiest times of the year, and tens of thousands of riders are now facing significant stress and uncertainty about how they will get around the city."
TransitMatters is urging the T to increase service on parallel routes, including more commuter rail shuttles between Boston Landing, Forest Hills, Back Bay, and South Station, and increased bus service on the 39, 57, and 66.
"These steps would relieve pressure at Back Bay Station, reduce severe delays for riders, and help lessen the economic impact on workers and businesses during the holiday season,” said Allen-Connelly.
The MBTA has already announced that bus service on the 39 and 57 routes will be fare-free for the duration of the closure. The 39 runs along the same streets as the E branch from Forest Hills to Copley Square, and the 57, from Watertown Square to Kenmore, runs alongside the B Branch tracks on Commonwealth Avenue from Kenmore to Packard's Corner.
However, many of those buses already operate near their capacity. The 57, for instance, regularly serves over 8,500 riders a day on about 110 daily bus trips – an average of 70 to 80 passengers per trip.
The T will also offer free Worcester Line trips between Lansdowne, Back Bay, and South Station.
Accessible shuttles will operated between Babcock Street station on the B branch, Kenmore Square, and Back Bay station, serving all B branch stops in between except Copley.
StreetsblogMASS has reached out to the MBTA to ask whether the agency plans to add additional regional rail shuttles or bus service to accommodate Green Line riders during the closure. This story will be updated when we get a response from them.
