Today the MBTA announced that upcoming winter service schedules will take effect on Sunday, December 19, 2021. Changes to Mattapan Line and bus schedules will be made as the MBTA and other public transit agencies face a national workforce shortage in the ranks of bus and train operators. With employee attrition outpacing new hires, the T will implement schedule adjustments that reflect the level of services currently being delivered.
To counter the broader workforce shortage being experienced at the MBTA and across other transit agencies, the T has launched an aggressive recruitment campaign to attract candidates to a career at the MBTA.
The winter schedule seeks to preserve access to transit-critical communities with a special focus on maintaining service levels on routes with durable ridership, provide sufficient levels of service to returning riders like those returning to in-person school or work, and support new and changing travel patterns and behaviors. These changes are also aimed at accelerating service adjustments so that the MBTA can increase service as ridership increases, optimize service with the limited resources currently available, and provide the MBTA with the flexibility to make additional changes based on information observed and analyzed this winter.
The MBTA’s Service Planning Team will hold a virtual public meeting on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, to outline these changes in detail, and to allow the public to ask questions and provide input. For full and complete listing of all upcoming service changes, please visit mbta.com/servicechanges.
Subway Service Changes Effective December 19, 2021
On the Mattapan Line, off-peak service will be increased with the frequency between trains improving from every 23 minutes to every 13 minutes in the late evenings on Saturdays and Sundays. During morning and evening weekday peak periods, schedules will be reduced to reflect actual service levels that have been in place; this will change the peak frequency from every five minutes to every seven minutes.
There will be no changes in service frequency on the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green Lines.
For complete subway service schedules, please visit each line’s individual schedule page.
Bus Service Changes Effective December 19, 2021
Due to a reduced workforce and other challenges, the MBTA is currently dropping about one of every 20 scheduled bus trips. While the MBTA continues an aggressive hiring campaign, short-term bus service changes are being made to better match its scheduled service and reliability with service actually being delivered. With special focus on maintaining service levels on routes with durable ridership, increasing scheduled service on the most crowded routes, restoring service to additional routes to accommodate new in-person school and work trips, and maintaining the flexibility to make changes to schedules as needed, a number of bus schedule changes will go into effect on December 19, 2021.
Bus routes with high ridership serving transit-critical communities continue to be prioritized. Route 111 will operate a new simplified service pattern with all service to/from Woodlawn; this will help reduce bus bunching and uneven passenger loads. The Route 62 and Route 76 will return to service on weekdays during rush hours this winter. A number of routes will operate with increased frequency, some routes will operate with less frequency, and a few routes will operate with both increased and decreased frequency depending on the time of day. There will also be changes to Silver Line service.
For complete bus route schedules, please visit mbta.com/servicechanges or each route’s individual schedule page.
-via Press Release