BOSTON — It was local research you saw on Boston 25 News in January.
PhD candidate Nail Bashan at Northeastern University suggested that bus stops offering more amenities might motivate more commuters to take the bus.
The MBTA doesn’t disagree.
“The Better Bus Project” is designed to basically try to bring up the bus within the T,” explained MBTA Senior Director of Bus Transformation Justin Antos.
Antos told Boston 25 that the MBTA started implementing the Better Bus Project back in 2024 as part of the T’s five-year, $9.6 billion capital investment plan. The Bus Network Redesign is a key component, as the T works to provide 25% more service and a new type of route.
“The Frequent Bus at the T is a bus that comes at least every 15 minutes or better, seven days a week, 18 hours a day. So it’s a bus service that you can rely on, and you don’t have to check the schedule, and it can almost function like a subway line for you,” Antos said.
Another sign of the project is the bus stop signs themselves. They’re larger, double-sided, and they display more scheduling information. “Anywhere you see that yellow clock icon with the 15-minute logo, that means that there’s a bus here that will come every 15 minutes or better, 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week.”
We found bus passenger Cayla waiting at Malden Station. She relies on the bus to get to and from her college classes. “There’s just a pole and you just stand there. There is no bench or anything,” she described. But that could soon change. Antos explained that the T already has 500 bus shelters in the system. The agency would like to bring that number up to 1,500.
That project will be prioritized based on ridership and the types of places passengers are trying to access in an area. Redesigned bus stops are fully accessible.
Many have red painted bus lanes, ensuring buses can stop in an ideal spot. Others even have new audio messaging about bus wait times.
Passenger Cayla says she’s still waiting to experience some of the benefits of the Better Bus Project.
“The train comes every few minutes. Meanwhile, I’m sure people take the bus the same amount of time. Just come more often,” she said. To commuters like her, Antos has a message. “Just stay tuned. The T has a lot of good people working on a bunch of different facets of the Better Bus Project.”
Bues carry roughly 40% of the MBTA’s ridership.
The MBTA says it’s evaluating bus schedules every quarter to make adjustments.
The agency has also been able to hire about 100 new bus operators a year as it looks to increase service.
The T said collaboration with local cities and towns has also been an important part of the Better Bus Project when it comes to work like upgrading the bus stops and keeping them maintained.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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