Editing MBTA bus (section)

==History==
[[File:MBTA Arborway Yard in 1967.jpg|thumb|left|Buses at [[Arborway Yard]] in 1967]]
A number of [[horsecar]] lines were built in Boston and surrounding towns in the second half of the 19th century, beginning with the [[Cambridge Railroad]] in 1856. Several smaller companies were consolidated into the [[West End Street Railway]] in 1887. The West End began electrifying existing lines and constructing new streetcar lines; the last horsecar lines ended in 1900. The West End was purchased in 1897 by the [[Boston Elevated Railway]] (BERy), which had been created to build a [[MBTA subway|rapid transit system]] in Boston. As that system was constructed in the first two decades of the 20th century, many streetcar lines were cut back from downtown Boston to rapid transit stations. Stations like {{bts|Sullivan Square}}, {{bts|Dudley Square}}, {{bts|Forest Hills}}, {{bts|Harvard}}, and {{bts|Andrew}} were built as transfer stations with easy connections between subway and rapid transit.

Some small companies operated buses in Boston as early as the 1910s. BERy bus service began on February 23, 1922, when buses replaced the [[Green Line A branch#North Beacon Street line|North Beacon Street streetcar line]].<ref name=feb23>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/54545466/the-boston-globe/ |title=Extra "L" Service for Watertown and Newton |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=February 22, 1922 |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> Initial bus routes largely replaced lightly-used streetcar lines or expanded service to new areas. The BERy also attempted in the 1920s to make the [[Tremont Street subway|Tremont Street streetcar subway]] operate more like a rapid transit line, using trains of streetcars entering the subway from a small number of feeder lines, rather than single streetcars from numerous surface lines.<ref name=july10>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52267267/the-boston-globe/ |title=New Lechmere Sq Transfer Station, Open for L Traffic |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=July 10, 1922 |page=9 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> The [[69 (MBTA bus)|Harvard–Lechmere streetcar line]] was converted to trackless trolley ([[trolleybus]]) on April 11, 1936 – the first route in what would become [[Trolleybuses in Greater Boston|an extensive trackless trolley system]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97094777/the-boston-globe/ |title=El Tries Out New Trolleys |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=April 11, 1936 |page=9 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

As increased automobile usage reduced ridership and increased congestion, the BERy and its 1947 replacement Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) continued to convert streetcar lines to bus and trolleybus. Most trolleybus lines were replaced by buses in the late 1940s to early 1960s, as buses offered increased flexibility and no need to maintain overhead lines. When the [[Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority]] (MBTA) replaced the MTA in 1964, all surface lines were operated by buses except six streetcar lines (the five [[Green Line (MBTA)|Green Line]] branches plus the [[Mattapan Line]]) and four trolleybus lines.<ref name=netransit /> The MBTA rebranded many elements of Boston's public transportation network in its first decade. After being found unsuitable in 1965 for the [[Orange Line (MBTA)|Orange Line]] because it did not show up well on maps, yellow was chosen for the color of bus operations on January 8, 1972.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/yourtown/boston/downtown/gallery/orange_line_111th_anniversary?pg=11 |title=MBTA Orange Line's 111th anniversary |newspaper=Boston Globe |last=Tran |first=Andrew Ba |date=June 2012 |page=11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721150920/http://archive.boston.com/yourtown/boston/downtown/gallery/orange_line_111th_anniversary?pg=11 |archive-date=July 21, 2017}}</ref><ref name=chronicle>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/chronicleofbosto00mass |title=A Chronicle of the Boston Transit System |year=1981 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority |via=Internet Archive |page=8}}</ref>

The MBTA had primarily been formed to subsidize the [[MBTA Commuter Rail|suburban commuter rail]] network. However, the agency also took over unprofitable suburban bus operations – much of which was former streetcar lines – from several private companies. The MBTA took over the [[Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway]] in 1968, inheriting large networks based in [[Lynn, Massachusetts|Lynn]] and [[Quincy, Massachusetts|Quincy]] plus several lines in [[Norwood, Massachusetts|Norwood]] and [[Melrose, Massachusetts|Melrose]]. (Networks serving [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]], [[Lawrence, Massachusetts|Lawrence]], and [[Brockton, Massachusetts|Brockton]] outside the MBTA district were briefly operated by the MBTA. They were transferred to new public agencies: the [[Lowell Regional Transit Authority|LRTA]] in Lowell in 1976, a predecessor of the [[Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority|MVRTA]] in Lawrence in 1968, and a predecessor of the [[Brockton Area Transit Authority|BAT]] in Brockton in 1969.) The MBTA began subsidizing [[Middlesex and Boston Street Railway]] service based in [[Newton, Massachusetts|Newton]] and [[Waltham, Massachusetts|Waltham]] in 1964, and took over the remaining routes in 1972. Five former Service Bus Lines routes in northeast suburbs were taken over in 1975, and a single Brush Hill Transportation line in [[Milton, Massachusetts|Milton]] was taken over in 1980.<ref name=netransit />

The geographic scope of the MBTA bus network has remained relatively constant since these additions, though many services have been created, discontinued, and modified during the MBTA era. The openings of new sections of the Red Line (1971, 1980, 1984–85) and the Orange Line (1975–77, 1987) have resulted in significant changes as routes were modified to serve new transfer stations.<ref name=netransit /> Three [[MBTA crosstown bus routes|limited-stop crosstown routes]] were created in 1994 as a prelude to the [[Urban Ring Project (MBTA)|Urban Ring Project]], a never-implemented circumferential [[bus rapid transit]] (BRT) corridor. [[Silver Line (MBTA)|Silver Line]] BRT service began in 2002 with conversion of existing bus service on Washington Street, and was expanded in 2004–05 with new routes serving the [[South Boston Transitway|Waterfront Tunnel]] in the Seaport District. The latter used [[dual-mode bus|dual-mode]] buses that operated as trolleybuses in the Waterfront Tunnel and as diesel buses on the surface. A second Silver Line service using the Washington Street corridor was added in 2009, and service from the Waterfront Tunnel to {{bts|Chelsea}} began in 2018 with a new surface busway in Chelsea.<ref name=netransit />

The BERy and MTA operated overnight [[Night service (public transport)|Owl service]] until 1960. From September 2001 to June 2005, the MBTA operated bus service on 17 routes (7 normal bus routes and 10 routes replicating subway lines) until 2:30am on Friday and Saturday nights. Similar service on the [[List of key MBTA bus routes|key routes]] was operated from March 2013 to March 2014.<ref name=netransit /> In 2017, the MBTA Board rejected a proposal to run all-night service on several routes with pulsed connections at a central hub.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/31/mbta-may-test-overnight-bus-service-commuter-rail-trips-foxborough/zLiX8p5cdoutmn1kYJqNbM/story.html |title=MBTA may test overnight buses, Foxborough commuter rail |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=August 1, 2017 |first=Adam |last=Vaccaro}}</ref>

In 2018, the MBTA began planning for the Bus Network Redesign, a reworking of the entire bus network.<ref name=bbroct2023 /> A draft plan was released in May 2022, with a revised plan in November 2022.<ref name=draftmap>{{cite web |url=https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2022-05/2022-05-12-bnrd-proposed-regional-map.pdf|title=Draft Bus Network Redesign Map |date=May 2022 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}</ref><ref name=nov2022map>{{cite web |url=https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2022-11/2022-11-3-bnrd-revised-bus-network-map-7-mb.pdf |title=Revised Bus Network Fall 2022 |date=November 3, 2022 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}</ref> That plan was approved in December 2022. It increases overall service by 25%, with a doubling of the number of routes with high-frequency service.<ref name=bbroct2023 /> The first changes were made on December 15, 2024, in areas northeast of downtown Boston.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.mbta.com/news/2024-10-07/phase-1-bus-network-redesign-launches-december-15-bring-more-frequent-service |title=Phase 1 of Bus Network Redesign Launches December 15 to Bring More Frequent Service, Better Routes |date=October 7, 2024 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}</ref> The second phase is planned to cover most of Boston and Brookline; the third and south phases are tentatively planned to cover northern and southern suburbs.<ref name=april2024>{{cite web |url=https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2024-04/12.%20DRAFT%202%20and%20FINAL_BNR%20Board%20Update%20April%202024%20-%2020240422.pdf |title=Better Bus Project and Bus Network Redesign |date=April 25, 2024 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}</ref> Changes will take place through 2028.<ref name=bbroct2023>{{cite web |url=https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2023-10/Better%20Bus%20Project%20-%20Board%20Update%20October%202023%2010.23.2023%205pm.pdf |title=Better Bus Project Overview |date=October 2023 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mbta.com/projects/bus-network-redesign/phase-1-service-changes |title=Phase 1 Service Changes |date=April 2024 |access-date=April 5, 2024 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}</ref>

In 2022, the MBTA started cutting bus service due to a driver shortage resulting from a long-term retirement trend accelerated by the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts]]. Despite paying for training to get a [[commercial driver's license]] and offering a $4,500 signing bonus, it ended the year short about 350 drivers, plus about 400 more needed to increase service to implement a proposed bus network redesign. Experts said the shortage was caused by the failure to raise the starting hourly wage, and offer new hires full-time work instead of forcing all of them to start part-time. Drivers were also unhappy about lack of access to bathrooms and "split shifts" with unpaid time between morning and evening rush hour that was too short to go home.<ref>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/26/metro/mbtas-aggressive-year-long-bus-driver-hiring-campaign-failed-black-hispanic-riders-are-paying-price/ MBTA’s ‘aggressive’ year-long bus driver hiring campaign failed. Black and Hispanic riders are paying the price.]</ref> The MBTA began hiring operators for full-time work in 2023.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.mbta.com/news/2023-05-25/mbta-announces-summer-2023-bus-service-schedules-update-key-change-bus-operator |title=MBTA Announces Summer 2023 Bus Service Schedules Update, Key Change to Bus Operator Hiring Policy |date=May 25, 2023 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}</ref> The number of bus drivers increased from about 1,350 in mid-2023 to about 1,500 in March 2024.<ref name=april2024 />

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