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.
However, an MBTA spokesperson noted that the closure was also timed to overlap with the winter break for many of the region's colleges and universities.
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.
An agency spokesperson told StreetsblogMASS that the agency plans to dispatch more buses to Route 39, such that buses on that route will arrive 5 to 7 minutes. The 39 runs from from Forest Hills to Copley Square on a route that overlaps with the E branch on Huntington and South Huntington Avenues.
The Orange Line, which is already operating near its peak capacity with trains arriving roughly every 4 minutes during peak hours, will also get additional trips at the beginning and end of each day to accommodate smoother connections with Green Line bus shuttles.
Bus service on the 39 and 57 routes will be fare-free for the duration of the closure. The 57, from Watertown Square to Kenmore, runs alongside the B Branch tracks on Commonwealth Avenue from Kenmore to Packard's Corner.
The T will also offer free Worcester Line trips between Lansdowne, Back Bay, and South Station.
Accessible shuttles will operate between Babcock Street station on the B branch, Kenmore Square, and Back Bay station, serving all B branch stops in between except Copley.
Rides will also be free on the branches of the Green Line that will remain open while the central tunnel is closed. The T plans to leave its fare gates open at Riverside and Kenmore.
