Commuters are planning their routes as Orange Line prepares to shut down
BOSTON (CBS) - Throughout the night Thursday into the morning Friday, MassDOT crews are driving through Medford, Somerville, and Boston, painting "Bus Only" lanes and posting traffic signs to warn drivers of a soon-arriving fleet of shuttle busses.
The Orange Line train route will close Friday night at 9 for a total of 30 days. In the meantime, the route will be replaced by "every available shuttle bus east of the Mississippi," according to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak.
As signs advising passengers to hop on shuttle buses sit folded behind banisters at local T stations like Ruggles, passengers are planning - or procrastinating planning - how they will get around when the Orange Line shuts down.
"I am praying on it," said K'Lee Reeves of Boston. He plans to give himself an extra hour to travel to work in the morning.
"Honestly, my plan is just to get up earlier. Everybody should get up earlier," added Josiah Wade-Green of Boston.
Others know their routes already. "Normally I take the CT2 [bus] or the Orange Line, so I will be taking the CT2 instead," said Devin Muse of Somerville. "I just think we are going to be sitting in gridlock traffic."
Others plan to test the waters. "It's unclear if the additional commuter rail trains are going to be enough to get me here," said Kat McCormack, who lives in Chelsea but works at Northeastern School of Law. "[I'll be] testing that next week, and I have a boot on my foot. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind the shuttle so much, but I really can't stand and jostle around," she explained.
AJ Pape of Boston rides in a wheelchair and plans to ride the other lines of the T when he can avoid the Orange Line route for the next month. Still, when the project is done, he is hoping new trains make up most of the fleet - as the MBTA has promised. "I hope that we get rid of all the old trains because they don't have spaces for wheelchairs, so like, I always feel really awkward riding the old trains because I'm in everyone's way," he said, explaining that the new trains have seats that fold up to make room for his chair.