Commuters Urged 'Not To Drive' Into Boston Amid Orange Line Shutdown

BOSTON — While some MBTA, state officials and commuters breathed a tepid sigh of relief that the first workday of the 30-day Orange Line shutdown did not produce the catastrophic gridlock many had forecast, there was a warning against complacency and any temptation to quickly fall back into familiar travel habits amid the unprecedented service suspension.

"Overall, we are cautiously optimistic at this point in time that things are going pretty well," MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said at a Sullivan Square news conference late Monday afternoon. "We know that we continue to have work to do. We want to emphasize to folks to please continue not to drive around where are conducting the shuttles and we also want to acknowledge that we are likely to see higher ridership (Tuesday) just based on historical patterns."

(Also On Patch: Orange Line Shutdown First-Person View: 'I Hope It's Going To Be OK)

Poftak said many of the shuttle buses around Boston and surrounding suburbs experienced "moderate ridership" with 10 to 15 people on each bus during peak hours. He acknowledged some bottlenecks around Sullivan Square in Charlestown and Forest Hills Station in Jamaica Plain but added that public safety personnel was able to take steps to mitigate those as the day went on as officials learn from each day of the new traffic pattern.

"I am hopeful there are not more people out on the roads (Tuesday)," Poftak said. "I don't want the message from today to be: 'Today went relatively well. I guess it's OK to drive to work tomorrow.' I would like folks, to the extent they are able, to continue to avoid these areas and heed the word of the highway commissioner not to drive.

"I believe that we'll get progressively better at running these shuttles and understand where the choke points are and be able to deploy personnel. I think ridership is going to increase after Labor Day and that is going to be a challenge."

Poftak urged those who must drive in the vicinity of shuttle bus activity to be cognizant of the new "bus-only lanes" designed to keep the line of nearly 200 charter buses moving along the Orange Line and the portion of the Green Line also shut down to complete the Medford extension.

"This whole project occurred on short notice," Poftak said. "We've asked folks to be aware of when they are driving and respect that there are now bus-only lanes in a number of places. I think that's going to be an ongoing process for folks to learn there are bus-only lanes and for us to put a little bit of enforcement in.

"But it does make these shuttles run a lot more efficiently when they do have a chance to run clearly in those lanes."

Poftak said another ongoing process is how much the MBTA is actually charging for certain routes during the shutdown. While riding the shuttle buses is free, and access to the Commuter Rail in zones 1, 1A and 2 is free of charge when flashing a Charlie Card or Charlie Pass, he said station operators have been "empowered" to make judgment calls at other stations — such as Copley Square and Government Center on the Green Line — to open the gates if there is are significant rider backups.

He said both stations were free at some points on Monday, but riders were charged at others.

Poftak remained insistent that the Orange Line shutdown will be no more than the 30 days scheduled.

"Our intent really is to get this done in 30 days," he said. "That is absolutely our expectation. If there is a critical safety issue that changes that, I am always going to prioritize safety.

"But it is really our intent — I know because I've heard the questions: 'Is this really going to be just 30 days?' — it's really our intent to get this done in 30 days."

For the full MBTA Rider’s Guide to the Orange Line shutdown, click here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)