Here are shuttle bus routes for your commute during MBTA's Orange Line shutdown
BOSTON – A large part of the contingency plan for the Orange Line and Green Line extension temporary shutdowns are shuttle buses: enough to cart tens of thousands of riders each day.
"We have been told by some of the supporting teams that we have that we literally have every accessible bus east of the Mississippi in service here running these alternative shuttles," MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said in a press conference with state leaders on Monday.
Read: Riders Guide To Planning Ahead
With "every accessible bus east of the Mississippi" driving around the streets of Greater Boston, how will the commute for drivers be impacted?
Below are the maps outlining the shuttle bus routes for both the Orange Line and the Green Line extension during the upcoming month long shutdown.
On the Orange Line, shuttles will run from Haymarket up to Oak Grove, and south from Back Bay to Forest Hills, stopping at each spot with the exception of four Boston stops: State Street, Downtown Crossing, Chinatown, and Tufts.
WBZ rode along the northern corridor Orange Line shuttle route Tuesday night to see what drivers will be up against.
The northern shuttle starts at Haymarket, an area already flooded with tourists enjoying the North End and Faneuil Hall. Heading past North Station, into the Leverett Circle, and rounding past the Museum of Science, many Mass General employees who park their cars there were shocked to learn their commute will be filled with Yankee Line shuttle buses come Friday night.
"I think there were emails sent out [by work], but I don't take the Orange Line so I ignored them," Justine Murphy said as she walked to her car after work. "Definitely going to be more traffic. I mean there's already enough, so it's just going to make it worse."
Heading through Charlestown and Somerville, the area around Sullivan Square seems to be one of the tightest squeezes for the shuttle buses that DOT officials warn have large turn radiuses and "different" blind spots.
Once the buses drive into Medford, they enter wider streets with more available lanes for traffic approaching the Weillington stops and beyond.
Still, drivers in Malden don't have a lot of faith their commutes will be easy.
"Anything the government does, they usually do inefficiently," said Albert Banda of Woburn, who commutes to Malden Station.
Still, he'll survive the painful drive.
"I lived through the Big Dig," he joked. "Talk about driving issues!"
