On the first workday of a two-week Red Line service suspension, the shutdown’s complicated timeline was sowing confusion among some commuters in Central Square.
Shuttle buses are replacing service between Alewife and Kendall/MIT stations. On weeknights after 8:30 p.m. and over the July 20-21 weekend, that suspension stretches all the way to Park Street. It’s the third of seven Red Line closures scheduled this year as part of an ambitious project to eliminate slow zones across the MBTA by the end of 2024.
At Central Square, an English tourist who asked only to be identified by his first name, Hoy, said he had been waiting for a shuttle to Park Street for 15 minutes before a transit ambassador clarified that the shuttle did not go to Park Street during the day on weekdays.
For locals, shutdowns are a familiar inconvenience. In Kendall Square, commuter Lily Nishan said she looks forward to seeing promised public transportation reforms materialize.
“This is something that all of us who live in the area are used to dealing with, it’s just annoying when the commute time increases by a lot or you have to sit and wait when you’re not used to waiting,” Nishan said. “But I think it’s something we’re all kind of used to. I’m hoping that it gets fixed with all of these betterings of the MBTA.”
The shutdown will enable the replacement of more than three-and-a-half miles of running rail, remove five miles of scrap rail, and progress on a number of maintenance upgrades. The shutdown is scheduled to completely end on Sunday, July 28. That final weekend, the shutdown will extend from Alewife to JFK-UMass stations.
“Our priority is to provide safe, reliable service while addressing longstanding infrastructure needs,” MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng said in a statement last week. “The scope of this project is unprecedented.”
Parking is also limited along the shutdown route so that pedestrians can access shuttles. Managers at Clover Food Labs in Kendall Square said that while the parking interruption hasn’t affected business — most customers come to Clover on public transportation — the Red Line suspension has made it difficult for employees to make it to work on time.
“It’s a little annoying,” said Shira Krinsky, a Clover employee who lives in Central Square. Krinsky, who studies sports administration at Boston College, is used to navigating shutdowns along the Green Line — but not in extreme heat.
“Walking a mile is not bad when it’s nice out, but this weather is a different story,” Krinsky said.
A fleet of eight shuttle buses piled up on Massachusetts Avenue around noon. Plentiful shuttles mean wait times under the scorching sun are short, but buses often stall at each stations to let passengers board.
At Harvard Square, an elderly couple using mobility aids disembarked from a Yankee Line shuttle as Christine Schwoerer folded and tucked a stroller into the coach’s luggage hold. Schwoerer, a German au pair living in Cambridge, said her short exposure to the MBTA has already familiarized her with the challenges of navigating transit shutdowns.
“Personally, I just think it’s annoying because you can’t count on public transportation. I forgot that the Red Line was not operating today, so we ran to Harvard Square station and now we have to take the shuttle,” Schwoerer said.
On a trek home with one of the children in her care following a trip to feed ducks at Boston Common, Schwoerer also bemoaned the piecemeal repairs.
“In every city in Germany, we have good public transportation. I feel like, here, they have a lot of small steps and it doesn’t change the whole picture,” she added. “I feel like they have to make a really good plan and then work on it.”
