POR 2022-136
City Council support of additional MBTA bus service in Alewife and East Cambridge
POR 2022 # 136 by adding: “Whereas these proposed changes that cause concern will have an adverse impact on residents who rely on public transit and who cannot afford vehicles, including many senior citizens and other residents of limited mobility and many public housing residents along the routes proposed to be reduced who will be further isolated if public transit options are reduced, instead of increased,”The clerk's words, from the minutes of Aug 1, 2022, p. 16.
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Voted yes (9), unanimous
Burhan Azeem
Dennis Carlone
Alanna Mallon
Marc McGovern
Patty Nolan
E. Denise Simmons
Paul F. Toner
Quinton Zondervan
Sumbul Siddiqui
O-5
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) proposed the first iteration
of their plans for a bus network redesign on account of shifting demographics, emerging employment districts, increasing traffic congestion, and changing travel patterns within the Greater Boston Area in recent years; and
The MBTA cites the following projected systemwide benefits from the redesign: 25% more bus service 70% more weekend service 275,000 more residents would be near high-frequency service (buses running every 15 minutes or better, 5 AM – 1 AM, seven days a week) 115,000 residents of color and 40,000 low-income households would gain access to high-frequency service; and
These changes will impact routes that operate within the City of Cambridge, as was discussed during a recent Transportation and Public Utilities Committee hearing; and
Cambridge will see several positive changes with the redesign, including five new high-frequency routes, among them:
Kendall to Lechmere, Charlestown, East Somerville, Medford
Central to Longwood Medical Area, Jamaica Plain
Kendall and Central to Watertown and Waltham
The redesign also adds more service in Central Square while reducing the need for buses to wait (layover) in the neighborhood; and
The changes outlined in the redesign also brought on a lot of concern from community members and city staff:
Reduced service on Concord Avenue in the Alewife Quadrangle
o Where a significant amount of affordable residential development has recently been constructed o We expect more residential and commercial development in the near term Reduction of service on Broadway, proposed to be peak only Elimination of all routes from East Cambridge to Somerville (80, 87, 88) Change of Route 83 from Central to Kendall; now therefore be it
ORDERED: That the City Council go on record in support of more bus service in the Alewife region as well as in East Cambridge; and be it further
ORDERED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to forward a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution to representatives at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on behalf of the entire City Council.