MBTA looks to cut service to recently refurbished track due to pandemic

The MBTA has been under scrutiny by the FTA for months.

MBTA

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) recently refurbished a section of the Green Line E Branch in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood. Now the agency is going to preserve it, but not necessarily in a good way.

Like most transit agencies, the MBTA is facing a serious load of budget cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic. One of the necessary moves appears to be eliminating five stops from the end of the Green Line E Branch. An $18 million track maintenance project was completed on the line earlier this year, and cutting the stops will save $2 million in FY 2022. The MBTA’s forecasted deficit is $584 million.

The 0.75-mile segment runs between Huntington and South Huntington Avenues, where trains operate alongside vehicular traffic.

MBTA General Manager Steven Poftak says the service cut is only temporary until the agency’s finances improve. The segment of the Green Line E Branch that will close carried about 1,000 riders a day during the pandemic.

The MBTA is retaining routes where ridership has remained relatively high during the pandemic.

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