Somerville dealing with two disruptions to MBTA lines

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The MBTA’s Orange Line and a stretch of the Green Line will shut down for a month. Communities like Somerville will lose two major lines in their city while the T does the work it says is much needed. “I don’t have a plan B, I guess maybe take the bus,” said one rider. “I know they are putting busses so probably use that, maybe a bike. I don’t know. It’s a mess actually,” said another rider.

The Orange Line month-long shut down was announced last week and days later, the MBTA added another month-long shut down to a section of the Green Line. “It doesn’t seem like a good idea to me, two lines in one area, but the T also needs repair so it’s a month of pain instead of a few more years of pain,” a rider said.

Grant Yosenick says he is not able to drive because of a rare eye condition leaving him legally blind. He says so far, MBTA information is limited.  “It’s important that I know that there is a landmark or something for a place where the busses are going to stop. Then that is good to know,” said Yosenick. The Somerville resident says he would rather have the information now than the day before the disruptions. “Obviously more lee time because people have to plan around this stuff. You need to know what is happening,” said Yosenick.

Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne says her office has been on the phone with the T and state daily, trying to get more information released. “Let’s be clear, this is the T’s responsibility, so they need to advertise as clearly and broadly as possible. We are going to support that. And we are going to help pass that information along,” said Ballantyne. The mayor says a safe and reliable T is critical for the region – and serving riders while the work is being done is just as important. “We got here because it was underfunded in our transit system so we need to do everything possible to make sure there is investment and funding in transit going forward,” said Ballantyne.

We are waiting to hear back from the MBTA on some of their awareness campaign. The mayor in Somerville says their police department is helping with traffic plans for the potential traffic caused by shuttle busses.

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