TransitMatters 6/4/18 TransitMatters 6/4/18

The MBTA’s Late-Night Bus Pilot Will Start in September

The nonprofit advocacy group TransitMatters, which pitched the concept of a “NightBus” in 2016 and has rallied support for the idea, cheered the news on Monday.

Spencer Buell | Boston Magazine

“Late-night buses on the MBTA are a go.

The T’s oversight board voted on Monday to approve a $1.2 million pilot of a system of buses that will shuttle passengers after the rest of the system has shut down, which is intended primarily to give people who work late in the city an affordable way to get home. It will launch in September and add late-night stops to an area that stretches from Dorchester and Mattapan up into East Boston, Revere, Chelsea, and Malden.

The T had sought an outside private partner to operate the additional routes, but went back to the drawing board after it didn’t receive even one bid. The T will now need to hire six additional bus drivers. It will spend $800,000 on operations, $250,000 on paratransit service, $100,000 for T police and $50,000 for marketing.”

Late-Night on the MBTA Is Dead. Can NightBus Resurrect It?

The proposal could Boston’s next and best attempt at 24-hour service.

Spencer Buell | Boston Magazine

“The NightBus. Could it be Boston’s next and best shot at 24-hour public transit?

Advocates with Transit Matters seem to think so. The idea for a network of T buses running a limited schedule overnight has been kicking around ever since the death of late night service in February, and supporters of the proposal pitched it once again to the MBTA’s fiscal and management control board Monday. According to the Globe, it was at least marginally well received (there were concerns about uncertain costs and uncertain demand for the service).

The most recent iteration of the plan would see buses run every 75 minutes on eight routes from 1–5 a.m. and would cost, by advocates’ estimates, about $3.5 million. That’s more than the initial estimate in a Commonwealth pitch that argued it could cost as little as $1 million a year, but a fraction of the nearly $15 million the late-night rail pilot cost last year.”

Advocates urge MBTA to offer late-night bus service

TransitMatters, which lobbies for improved public transportation, is backing an estimated $3.5 million plan to run overnight buses every 75 minutes.

Nicole Dungca | The Boston Globe

“A transit advocacy group is calling on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to run eight overnight bus routes in the Boston area to compensate for the loss of late-night rail and bus service earlier this year.

Transit Matters, which lobbies for improved public transportation, is backing an estimated $3.5 million plan to run overnight buses every 75 minutes. The expanded service would cater to early- and late-shift workers in the hospitality and health care industries.

‘This latest proposal similarly addresses not the desire, but the need of so many businesses and workers across the city,’ Michelle Wu, president of the Boston City Council, said Monday at the weekly meeting of the MBTA’s fiscal control board.

Transit Matters had brought forward a similar proposal earlier this year. While MBTA officials appeared more open to the latest plan, they still voiced some reservations.”