BOSTON, September 26, 2016 — Today, the MBTA Fiscal Management and Control Board encouraged MBTA staff to move forward in working out details for NightBus, a proposal for overnight bus service put forward by TransitMatters earlier this year.
A number of local and state representatives, allies, and citizens lined up this afternoon to submit public comment. We thank them for their support and appreciate their ongoing advocacy as we move forward in our work with the T.
Boston doesn't stop working after midnight; neither should its transit system. Our plan responds to the realities faced by people every day. Numerous people work late nights and early mornings in businesses and industries that make Boston attractive as a place to live, play, work and invest in: at Logan airport; at our great hospitals; at restaurants and hotels; in the innovation sector that competes globally and works around the clock. We are not responding to these needs and are not providing the mobility that other great cities provide their citizens.
One way to test whether our public transportation system is responding effectively to the needs of our citizens is to ask whether it leaves anyone without affordable and reliable service. Until we establish cost effective overnight service we won't be able to answer that question the way we all should want to.
We share the Board’s concerns about forward progress on the proposal that we have worked with MBTA staff to develop. We also agree that we should have better data to shape the face of this service and that we need to establish success factors for any overnight service.
Today’s outpouring of support shows there is latent demand and we appreciate that the MBTA will continue to collaborate with us to fill this current void in Greater Boston’s transit service. We are committed to working through this process to see year a NightBus service that responds to clear needs implemented by the end of this year.