Bus Service Vision Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic and the MBTA’s Bus Network Redesign present an opportunity to create a more livable, equitable, climate-ready Boston by rethinking how buses work in Boston and imagining a better system. Our vision for transit is a comprehensive, integrated network that is useful and welcoming to everyone, reduces the need for car trips, and can be a point of pride for Boston. This vision is based on established best practices from cities in the US and around the world, not complex new approaches.


Bus service should be: 

  1. Frequent: Service should operate every 15 min or less on most corridors, with service 5am to 1am, to reduce waiting and travel time and add flexibility. Extended hours of operation and more frequent early morning and late night service would more safely and effectively serve essential workers.

  2. Fast - Routes should be direct with transit priority infrastructure such as bus lanes to keep buses moving, and operational practices such as all-door boarding and off-board payment systems to speed up boarding.

  3. Reliable: The MBTA should employ modern operations and dispatching practices to improve on-time performance, ensure consistent spacing and predictable travel times, and reduce crowding and bunching. Cities and towns should help resolve choke points to keep buses moving. Only with reliable service can the network be truly useful. 

  4. Equitable: Service design must address the needs of all riders including environmental justice communities and essential workers and reverse decades of racism in transportation planning.

  5. Integrated: Bus and rail services should complement each other, with convenient connections, integrated low fares and coordinated schedules for faster, easier, safer, more comfortable travel with minimal waiting time. At many hubs, the T should schedule all routes to arrive and depart at the same time in order to allow easy transfers with short waits.

  6. Welcoming: Services should be safe, direct, coordinated and easy to understand, accommodating new and infrequent users of all abilities without added stress or delay. Stations and stops should be safe, comfortable, sheltered and easy to identify and access. Fares should be simple and integrated with other modes, including free transfers and more flexible fare policies.