Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
The City of Boston will begin to offer free, all-day shuttle service Friday in Chinatown, following concerns about its omission from the MBTA’s Orange Line diversion route.
The shuttle buses, paid for by the city through a third-party transportation provider, will run every 30 minutes from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., between Government Center and Tufts Medical Center/Chinatown stations, the mayor’s office said.
The MBTA has faced criticism throughout the shutdown, which began on Aug. 19, first for excluding the Chinatown and Tufts Medical Center stops entirely from the diversion route, and then for only beginning to offer shuttle service in the heavily immigrant and non-English-speaking neighborhood during the early morning and nighttime hours.
“Convenient and efficient transportation in Chinatown has been a priority of the city’s since the original shuttle diversion routes were announced,” Mayor Michelle Wu said. “This expanded shuttle service shows what’s possible when we listen to our residents and work together to make positive change.”
The city-contracted buses will run along the same route as those provided by the MBTA through Sept. 18. Each ADA-compliant shuttle bus can carry at least 14 passengers, with one seat designated for wheelchair users, the mayor’s office said.
“As a city, we never stopped working to ensure our Chinatown community, especially our immigrant neighbors, seniors and persons with disabilities, are able to access convenient transportation that meets their needs,” said City Council President Ed Flynn.
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Sign up for email newsletters