Changes To Arlington's Bus Service Take Effect In March

ARLINGTON, MA — The MBTA has refined the service adjustments as part of its Forging Ahead initiative, announcing that changes to bus service will go into effect March 14. Fares are not proposed to increase at this time.

The following bus service changes were approved by the MBTA's Fiscal Management and Control Board (FMCB) in December:

• Suspension of service on Route 79 (Arlington Heights to Alewife Station)
• Consolidation of Routes 78 & 84 (Arlmont Village to Harvard Station and Arlmont Village to Alewife Station)
• Consolidation of Routes 62 & 76 (Bedford VA Hospital to Alewife Station and Hanscom Air Force Base to Alewife Station)

The following adjustments have been made as well:

• Route 80 (Arlington Center to Lechmere Station) will not be suspended, but will experience weekday and Saturday schedule changes throughout the day;
• Route 67 (Turkey Hill to Alewife Station) will only provide weekday service between 6:00 AM and 9:30 AM and 3:00 PM and 7:30 PM; and
• Route 77 (Arlington Heights to Harvard Station) will experience weekday, Saturday, and Sunday frequency decreases throughout the day.

The full list of service changes can be found on the MBTA's website. The MBTA will hold two virtual public hearings on the spring service changes Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. and Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. Register for these events via the MBTA's website.

On Feb. 1, the MBTA submitted an Environmental Notification Form to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Office in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The MEPA review process provides opportunities for public review of potential environmental impacts of certain projects for which certain actions by state agencies are required.

The MBTA's enabling legislation requires the submittal of an ENF and review by the MEPA Office if a decrease in service of 10 percent or more is proposed, even though the service reductions do not exceed the thresholds requiring submittal of an ENF. The ENF may be reviewed on the Forging Ahead Environmental Review page.