This reporter attended a September 12, 2022 virtual media roundtable for the immigrant-serving community during which MOIA (The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement), BPHC (Boston Public Health Commission), the Streets Cabinet and the MBTA made themselves available for questions.
As public transit commuters know, the entire Orange line and parts of the Green and Blue lines are currently not operating because of long needed emergency repairs to address structural issues, track issues and signaling issues. This shutdown has been impacting many Boston residents, especially those with lower incomes and recent immigrants who depend upon public transportation. The impression given at this media roundtable was that everything was on track (pun intended) and the Orange line should be back and running on Monday, September 19th.
According to the Chief of Streets for Boston, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, this challenge is being met in several ways. Shuttle buses are running in place of the Orange line to help people reach their destinations while the repairs are being made. Another way the city of Boston is combating the challenges of the MBTA system is exploring ways to reduce costs or provide free bus fare to its residents.
Currently there is a pilot program giving free bus fare for the 23, 28, 29 buses which is extended to an additional 2 years. The program is under study to see if it has a positive effect on the city’s residents’ lives, which will help make the case for expanding reduced cost/free transit for all buses, or free transit for all transportation in the MBTA system. While it is too early to say for sure that free transit will be provided throughout the MBTA, Mayor Michelle Wu has shown great passion in her commitment to eventually make free transit in the MBTA system a reality.
Other concerns over accessibility and navigation for non-English speaking residents are being addressed. When the Orange line went offline for reconstruction, the city and the MBTA had made flyers in 12 different languages to help residents who rely on the Orange line to understand how to get to their destinations. When asked how the MBTA plans to make more accommodations to non-English speaking residents, the Chief of Streets was unable to confirm or comment on any specific plans. However, he did say that in the past the MBTA has made attempts to be more inclusive of non-English speaking residents when long term programs are in play or emergency shutdowns occur and that the MBTA is in the process of doing more work to help non-English speaking residents navigate the MBTA system. The maintenance issues on the Orange and other lines were known by the MBTA for some time now and it wasn’t until after the Federal Transit Administration did an extensive safety review of the entire MBTA subway system that it was deemed to need extensive care and repairs. The Federal Transit Administration issued a number of special directives to the MBTA and in order to meet those directives the MBTA needed to shut down the Orange line and its neighboring tracks for a 30-day period to replace some tracks and make any necessary repairs to the infrastructure and signaling systems. Reportedly, the repairs are running smoothly and the Orange line will be back in service by the 19th. Whether this report is too hopeful and another derailment of the best laid plans of the city’s notoriously troubled infrastructure is inevitable remains to be seen. Stay tuned.
