The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is once again closing a key segment of the Red Line for maintenance work, which is causing substantial frustration among its riders.
Starting Thursday at 8:30 p.m., trains will not operate through Downtown Boston until Monday morning, with shuttle buses taking over between Kendall/MIT and JFK/UMass.
This marks the second consecutive week that the MBTA has implemented a closure of this nature, sparking discontent among commuters who are forced to adapt to frequent service disruptions.
Michaela Boyd from South Boston shared her experience, voicing her concerns about the impact these changes have had on her daily commute.
“This is really negatively impacting my commute,” Boyd said. “And they do this really frequently.”
During last week’s closure, she found herself facing confusing signage near Downtown Crossing Station. After navigating a few blocks from the station’s entrance to the shuttle bus stop, she was met with a large crowd of fellow commuters waiting along the sidewalk in the summer heat.
The added time to her travel became apparent as she noted, “This has added about 45 minutes to my travel. My message to the T’s leaders is: ‘Get it together!'”
In recent years, the MBTA has been striving to improve its service offerings. Following the appointment of General Manager Phil Eng in April 2023, the agency began a comprehensive plan to eliminate slow zones across all subway lines by the end of 2024.
To execute this plan, the MBTA instituted a series of staggered closures to replace over 140,000 feet of rail and modernize the aging infrastructure. Eng’s ambitious approach culminated in achieving a significant milestone: by January 1, 2025, the entire system was projected to be free of speed restrictions for the first time in two decades.
Governor Maura Healey hailed this accomplishment, stating, “This is an awesome milestone. Riders are getting more time back in their days, and our entire economy is seeing the benefits.”
Despite the elimination of slow zones, riders continue to experience regular train line closures, as the MBTA undertakes necessary maintenance work and upgrades to its signaling system, which is crucial for train operations.
In the next month alone, five separate closures are slated for the Red Line, Orange Line, and commuter rail.
Although most of these shutdowns are scheduled for evenings or weekends, commuters like Voleme Jean Baptiste express the challenges they face, especially when work commitments fall on weekends.
“I take the Orange and Red Lines,” said Baptiste. “It’s very hard. I have to walk away from the Orange Line, then look for the shuttle buses. It takes another 10 to 15 minutes total.”
In addition to scheduled closures, the MBTA has encountered disruptive incidents, including a recent emergency involving over 450 passengers evacuated from a Blue Line tunnel under Boston Harbor due to an old cable failure.
Eng acknowledged the situation and vowed to rectify the issue while extending apologies to affected riders.
Caitlin Allen-Connelly, the executive director of the transportation advocacy nonprofit Transit Matters, empathizes with the riders.
“It’s understandable that riders are frustrated,” she remarked. “Whether it’s these planned shutdowns or a short-term disruption, it’s tough.”
Allen-Connelly further explained that shutdown fatigue is a reasonable sentiment among passengers.
However, she asserts that maintenance work is imperative for an aging system like the T, and such planned closures are necessary to facilitate infrastructure improvements which can help prevent future incidents, like the recent Blue Line evacuation.
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