Key MBTA Bus Routes to Be Improved This Summer

The 1 Bus route which runs through Back Bay will be part of an MBTA plan to make the busiest bus routes faster.

The MBTA’s Key Bus Routes Improvement Plan began Monday and will include the 15 busiest routes, according to a statement from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Here is a list of the routes impacted and their start/end dates (provided by MassDOT): 

Projected Work Dates for Key Bus Routes

Route 1 – July 1 – July 25

Route 15 – June 24 – July 12

Route 22 – June 17 – July 17

Route 23 – June 17 – July

Route 28 – June 17 – Aug. 30

Route 32 – June 24 – Aug. 8

Route 39 – July – August

Route 57 – July 15 – Aug. 30

Route 66 – June 24 – Aug. 1

Routes 71-73 – Aug. 1 – Aug. 30

Route 77 – July 25 – Aug. 26

Route 111 – Aug. 9 – Aug. 30

Routes 116/117 – July 19 – Aug. 30

Work along the routes will include consolidating stops to eliminate redundancies by 25 percent, stops will be made to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other amenities such as benches and shelters will be included.

Four inbound stops along the 39 bus route will be altered in the process. The work was originally reported to begin along this route in June; MassDOT has listed that the work will begin in July and end in August.

MassDOT spokeswoman Kelly Smith said the work will have minimal interference with the routes:

“The buses will follow the same routes throughout the project though there may be some bus stops that are temporarily relocated, and as bus stops are created and removed there will be some adjustment,” she said in an email to Patch. “As such, traffic should not be impacted."