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Photo courtesy of the MBTA
Amid charges it is bowing unnecessarily to unreasonable State Police demands, MBTA managers on Monday backed a plan to let airport-bound Silver Line buses use a dedicated on-ramp into the Ted Williams Tunnel during rush hour.
The buses normally have to take a circuitous route from the Silver Line Way station near the Rockland Trust Pavilion to an on-ramp near the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, which can add up to 19 minutes to the trip during rush hour, according to Commonwealth Magazine. Faster Silver Line trips to the airport and Chelsea can help improve the service’s on-time performance elsewhere in the congested Seaport.
Transit advocates have been campaigning for several years to “free the ramp,” which sits next to a Massachusetts State Police barracks and is occasionally used by officers to get into and out of the tunnel. Members of the Transit Matters advocacy group criticized the tight restrictions placed on the buses’ use of the ramp in Monday’s decision, saying it could jeopardize attempts to improve service.
