BOSTON, April 11, 2024 — The NextGen Bus team at TransitMatters is excited to announce the release of our first Pokey/Schleppie Awards report identifying and analyzing the top 10 slowest (pokey) and top 10 most bunched (schleppie) buses in the MBTA network. Inspired by the original Pokey/Schleppie report from NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign, this report identifies the most unreliable routes and suggests bus priority infrastructure implementations, operations modernization, and policy and planning changes to create a better bus network for riders. These proposals include the adoption of more bus lanes (including center-running bus lanes), Transit Signal Priority (TSP), headway management, all-door boarding, automated enforcement, and enhanced circulation planning. In conjunction, these measures can reduce bus bunching, increase speed, and improve rider experience while making the bus a dignified transit option.
TransitMatters recognizes the role other stakeholders play in this process, including various municipalities, the MBTA, community organizations, and in some cases MassDOT, DCR, and elected officials. These stakeholders have begun to lead efforts that prioritize buses, but additional collaboration, cooperation, and coordination are needed between them to see impactful results. Furthermore, improvements to our bus network will not be possible without addressing the MBTA’s financial constraints. A sustainable, dedicated funding source for the MBTA has yet to be identified, posing challenges for getting projects that prioritize buses off the ground. Plans and initiatives for bus improvements can only be valuable to our bus network if funding is available to execute them. The MBTA must be supported rather than shamed to ensure effective improvement in bus reliability.
The goal of this report is to not only confirm riders’ experience, but also to promote collaborative efforts by the MBTA, municipalities, community organizations, and other stakeholders to transform our bus network into the reliable system riders deserve. This report highlights where improvements to our bus network can be most impactful and provides the opportunity for stakeholders to come together and do the necessary work to create a system that riders can rely on. TransitMatters is hopeful that this report will spark the change we hope to see for our bus network. We look forward to being involved and supporting leaders in their endeavors to prioritize buses.
This blog post was written by Katie Calandriello, TransitMatters’ NextGen Bus, Mobility Hubs, and TransitMatters Labs Project Manager and Policy Analyst. For media inquiries, please email media@transitmatters.org or contact kcalandriello@transitmatters.org for your NextGen Bus questions.
###
Photo Credit: James Wang