Rider alert: MBTA bus service facing fall cuts - and reduced subway service will remain in place

There appears to be no rest for weary MBTA riders.

With the 30-day shutdown of the Orange Line less than a week old, the T has announced that dozens of its bus routes “will operate with less frequency” in the fall, and previously announced reductions in subway service on the Red Line, Blue Line, and Orange Line will remain in place.

Those previous subway changes took effect in June with the T citing “staffing challenges among the ranks of subway dispatchers.”

The MBTA now says those changes will remain in effect for the fall season, effective August 28.

“Some of these changes are a result of a Federal Transit Administration directive regarding staffing challenges within the MBTA Operations Control Center,” according to a statement on the MBTA”s website.

Red Line:

“Service currently operating on the Red Line will continue this fall.”

That means Red Line trains will continue to run every 15 minutes on weekdays on both the Ashmont and Braintree branches.

*Please see the editor’s note below about the Red Line.

Orange Line:

“Service currently operating on the Orange Line will continue this fall,” says the T.

That means Orange Line weekday trains will operate every 10 minutes in the mornings, 11 minutes between trains in the evenings, and eight to nine minutes between trains during mid-day periods.

Service frequency will decrease by six round trips on Sundays. The frequency will increase by two round trips on Saturdays, according to the T’s website.

Blue Line:

“Service currently operating on the Blue Line will continue this fall,” says the T.

That means Blue Line weekday trains will continue to operate every seven minutes until 9 AM, and every eight to nine minutes for the rest of the day.

Bus Service:

Reductions in bus service will also take effect on August 28, and the T cites the difficulty in hiring drivers as one of the main reasons.

“Forty-three routes will operate with less frequency during varying times of day,” says the T.

“Nine routes will experience some routing changes and over thirty routes will see departure time changes,” says the T.

The T says it has hired 152 bus operators but it is still in need of about 300 additional drivers.

“Because of ongoing difficulties in hiring new bus operators, approximately 3% of scheduled T bus trips did not occur over the summer months, according to a statement from the T. “While the MBTA continues its aggressive hiring campaign, the MBTA is adjusting bus service on some routes beginning August 28, 2022, to better match scheduled service with the actual level of service being delivered.”

You can learn more about the rider changes here.

The current MBTA Orange Line shutdown is slated to end on September 18.

During a news briefing on Wednesday, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said roughly 16% of the work that was planned has been completed.

Poftak also reported a significant increase in Commuter Rail ridership.

EDITOR’S NOTE 8/25/22: The MBTA has deleted some of the original information posted to its website about its plans for disrupting Red Line service in the fall.

On Wednesday, the MBTA stated that “starting on 10/30, Red Line will terminate weekday service at Davis and weekend service at Park Street” and that “during the weekend of 11/26–11/27, service will terminate at Davis. This routing and schedule change accommodates track work at Alewife.”

Boston 25 News asked for clarification about the change to the website and why those details had been deleted.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, the MBTA said plans for disruptions to the Red Line in October and September had not been finalized.

“The MBTA is constantly looking at options to accelerate track and signal improvements across the system. At this time, no final decisions have been made on future diversions other than those already announced. After the details of any future infrastructure improvement work are finalized, the MBTA will keep its riders and the public informed of any necessary adjustments in rail service,” according to the statement from the MBTA.

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