Chinatown shuttles will bring some relief during T closures, but downtown still lacks service for most Orange Line stops

Updated Aug.19 at 11:52 a.m.

With just over 48 hours to go before the Orange Line shuts down for 30 days of scheduled repairs, the MBTA announced Wednesday evening it will add a Chinatown shuttle stop to its planned service.

The transit authority released graphics Thursday, after this article’s publication, showing limited shuttle service will be available at both Chinatown and Tufts Medical Center. The stops will be connected to Government Center with a bus scheduled every 30 minutes from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. Downtown Crossing and State Street will not be serviced by shuttles.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, City Council President Ed Flynn and other local officials asked the transit authority Wednesday morning to include either Tufts Medical Center or Chinatown in the shuttle service plan. Both stops are traveled by elementary school students, seniors and employees in the area — including at the Tufts hospital.

“Chinatown is the neighborhood that is particularly reliant on the MBTA for transportation, especially our immigrant neighbors and residents of color who use the MBTA to get to and from Chinatown,” Wu and local officials wrote. “The Chinatown T stop is always widely used, particularly for seniors and workers in Chinatown, and the lack of shuttle bus stops at either Tufts Medical Center or Chinatown will make travel extremely difficult for residents and workers in the area.”

At a meeting Wednesday at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School in Chinatown, Angel Donahue-Rodriguez, deputy chief of staff for the MBTA, announced the additional shuttle service stop for Chinatown and was met with applause from residents, even as he pointed out that details are still being worked out.

"We are literally working around the clock to make this as convenient as possible," he said. "We understand that this is going to be tough for a lot of people. We really look forward to continue to work with everybody in the community and we're really excited about that."

The MBTA also announced on Wednesday that it is working to add a Silver Line outbound route stop to serve the Chinatown community.

Wu, who also spoke at the meeting, was grateful for the additional MBTA shuttle service.

"Some of the details are still being worked out, but this community is seen and heard and needs to be a part of the planning, and so we're very glad that they have responded to the concerns that have been elevated by the city council, the state legislature and so many of our partners here at the city," she told reporters.

After the MBTA released information about the limited shuttle service, Flynn, whose district includes Chinatown, criticized the lack of clear communication around the Orange Line shutdown.

“We need a shuttle bus stop in Chinatown that works for the residents,” Flynn tweeted Friday morning. “As of now, we don’t have a plan that works for the neighborhood.”

He added that language access in communicating the plan was critical for Chinatown residents, calling it a “civil rights issue.”

At the meeting, there was still plenty of concern from people who live and work in Chinatown.

Karen Chen, who lives in Cambridge but works in Chinatown, had mixed reaction to the news of additional shuttle service, saying it was great that Chinatown was being considered but that she had concerns about the lack of communication around the operation.

"Some people didn't even know that this is happening," she said. "'Cause today, some of the people here, I was like, 'Did you guys know that this is happening?', didn't even know that this is happening."

She said she didn't see any signage inside cars about the upcoming shutdowns during her ride to Chinatown Wednesday, during which she took the Green Line from Lechmere and made sure to stop at North Station.

"And, you know, we're two days away," Chen said. "And I'm like, are people going to be able to get to work in the next few days is the question, is a huge question."

Meanwhile, local organizations are sharing travel information and bracing for slower, confusing commutes.

Riders who would normally enter or exit the Orange Line at Tufts Medical Center, Downtown Crossing and State Street are being told to head to the Green Line, which faces a partial shutdown of its own that overlaps with the Orange Line closures, under the latest MBTA guidance for the monthlong shutdown.

“There's a lot of people who depend on the Orange Line, and to then have to figure out again, can you access the Green Line? Can you get to a Green Line? And what does that do to your schedule?” said Ben Hires, CEO at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. “It's challenging.”

He’s thinking of the families who are bringing kids to the center’s daycare every day by the Orange Line — himself included — many of whom will need to get around unfamiliar buses and trains with strollers and small children.

In anticipation of the confusion, Hires' center made and distributed maps with alternate travel routes in multiple languages for their adult-education students. He said they’re also communicating with employees about their own commutes and figuring out how to support them during the shutdown.

“Like everybody involved in this, it's a little bit of a last minute rush,” said Anita Lauricella, an interim co-director at the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District. “So we have been, like everyone, trying to figure out: what do we have, what resources, how do we help make this work for our visitors, our tourists and our employees who need to get to work?”

The Downtown Boston BID’s ambassadors, stationed around downtown Boston, will be providing directions to travelers. Lauricella added that she toured the area with transportation officials this week to identify spots for additional bike racks and Bluebike stations to improve bike access to the area.

MBTA spokesperson Lisa Battiston told GBH News, “There is an ongoing dialogue between the MBTA and the City of Boston regarding the impacts of the Orange Line work and alternative transportations options.”

Update: This story was updated to include further details, released Thursday, about the Chinatown and Tufts shuttle service, as well as City Council President Ed Flynn’s reaction to the plan.