The Item’s Aug. 7 story about a Lynn resident upset about the MBTA’s bus routes changes offered little attention to the significant benefits many Lynn area bus riders will experience, beginning next month.
Overall, 97 percent of bus riders in the Routes 441, 442, 448 and 449 corridor will see an increase in the number and frequency of weekday bus trips available, with the specific levels of increase depending on where riders are traveling.
About 75 percent of riders from Wonderland to Ocean Street at the Swampscott line, via Central Square will see a substantial 25-50 percent increase in daily bus trips they could ride. Other riders from Marblehead, Swampscott and Point of Pines will see smaller improvements of 3-15 percent in the number of daily bus trips they could ride.
As the story mentioned, 3 percent of corridor riders who take a bus directly to Boston, Seaport, or Logan Airport will now require a transfer to complete the same trip via transit, say Route 441, or 442 to the Blue Line subway connection, SL3 trip, or Massachusetts Port Authority shuttle. This is a tradeoff that makes a lot of sense.
We strongly believe the vast majority of our Routes 441, 442, 448, 449 corridor customers will welcome the significant improvements in the frequency of service.
Melissa Dullea
Senior Director of MBTA Service Planning
