Continuing with an ambitious program to address service reliability for T customers, Transportation Secretary James Aloisi and Acting General Manager William Mitchell have announced significant service improvements to various bus routes throughout the T service area.  

The MBTA, through the introduction of Global Positioning Technology (GPS), and customer feedback has adopted a new course of action to improve on time performance for customers.  With GPS technology, the T’s 1,040 buses are tracked in real time allowing bus dispatchers to know the exact location of each bus, and the ability to immediately detect delays in service.  

“Using data from new technologies deployed on our vehicles, combined with feedback from customers who ride our system every day, we have identified several significant ways to improve the performance of some of our most popular routes,” said Secretary James Aloisi.  “The MBTA is focused on continuing to expand our use of new technology investments to directly improve transit service delivery and customer experience.”   

The following service improvements have been made:  

[Boston ( South Bay, Roxbury, Longwood Medical Area), Brookline, Cambridge]

• Bus Route 47 – (Central Square to Broadway Station)
  • In response to high ridership volume observed during the late afternoon, a 4:25 p.m. outbound trip has been added.

[Arlington, Cambridge]

• Bus Route 62 – (Alewife Station to Arlington Heights)
  • To reduce crowding on the 5:48 p.m. outbound departure, the existing 5:37 p.m. trip that previously ended at Arlington Heights will continue to Lexington Center.

[Lexington, Arlington, Cambridge]

• Bus Route 76 – (Lincoln Lab/Hanscom – Alewife Station)
  Beginning Tuesday, September 8, 3 inbound trip times will be adjusted to meet passenger demand and improve schedule reliability.  
  • The 1:14 p.m. inbound trip will depart at 1:19 p.m.
  • The 2:14 p.m. inbound trip will depart at 2:22 p.m.
  • The 3:14 p.m. inbound trip will depart at 3:19 p.m.

[Malden, Everett, Boston (Charlestown)]

• Bus Route 104 – (Malden Ctr. Station to Sullivan Station)
  Route 109 (Linden Square to Sullivan Station)
  To improve schedule reliability on these routes, an additional vehicle has been added during the weekday.  In addition, two evening trips have been added to Route 104.
  • A new outbound trip from Sullivan Station departs at 6:55 p.m.
  • A new inbound trip from Malden Station at 7:20 p.m. 

[Everett, Chelsea, Boston (East Boston]

• Bus Route 112 – (Wellington Station to Wood Island Station)
  To improve reliability, adjustments have been made to the Saturday and Sunday schedules.
  • On Saturdays – midday service will operate every 40 minutes. 

[Malden]

• Bus Route 411 – (Granada Highlands to Malden Center Station)
  To accommodate heavy ridership inbound from Granada Highlands during the morning commute, a new weekday morning trip has been added. The trip will depart Granada Highlands at 7:30 a.m. and arrive at Malden Station at 7:53 a.m.

[Lynn, Revere]

• Bus Route 424W – (Eastern Avenue/Essex Street – Wonderland Station)
  To better serve the large number of customers along Western Avenue, the 6:01 a.m. trip on route 424 will depart 10 minutes earlier at 5:51 a.m. 

[Weymouth, Quincy, Braintree]

• Bus Route 225 – (Quincy Ctr. to Weymouth Landing)
  To improve coordination between the Quincy Avenue/Shaw Street trips and the East Howard/Desmoines trips, schedule adjustments have been made.
  • The 8:30 a.m. trip from Weymouth Landing will travel via Quincy Avenue and Shaw Street.
  • The 8:30 a.m. trip from Columbian Square will travel via E. Howard Street and Desmoines Rd.

In addition to service improvements to various bus routes, the E branch of the Green Line which serves the Longwood Medical area and several colleges will operate more frequently throughout the day. 

[Boston (West End, North End, Downtown, Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood Medical Area, Mission Hill), Cambridge]

• E Branch (Green Line) – (Heath Street to Lechmere Station)
  To accommodate the transportation needs of students and medical employees in the area, a weekday train has been added to improve trip frequencies throughout the day. 
  • Between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., trip frequencies will improve from every 10 minutes to every 8 minutes.  
  • Between 2:15 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. trip frequencies will improve from every 9 minutes to every 7 minutes. 

Bus service customers are urged to pick up a new fall schedule available at major transit stations.  For more schedule information, call 617-222-3200, or TTY 617-222-5146.