The Melrose Pedestrian & Bicyclist Committee stands united in its commitment to promoting access to, and extolling the benefits of, our region’s public transportation system. We recognize that without a strong public transit system which serves all residents equally, regardless of their means or abilities, we cannot call ourselves a truly world-class region. Plus, walking and transit just go hand-in-hand!
That is why we were so excited to see two of our city councilors — Maya Jamaleddine (at-large) and Manjula Karamcheti (Ward 1) — recently sign onto an open a letter to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak requesting that the MBTA roll out a “fair, equitable, and standardized process for implementing fare-free bus pilots, and potentially permanent fare-free service on specific MBTA bus routes.” The letter, which touts the many social and public health benefits of expanding equitable access to public transportation, expresses a willingness on the part of cities and towns to not only work with the MBTA and neighboring communities to establish a process for setting up fare-free pilots, but also to advocate with the State Legislature to “sustain free bus service in the long term.”
Last summer, the city of Boston — in an effort led by the administration of Mayor Kim Janey — negotiated a pilot with the MBTA which sponsored fare-free ridership along the route 28 bus, which runs from Mattapan to Ruggles Station. The pilot has proved extremely popular, and last winter the Boston City Council approved a request from Mayor Michelle Wu to expand that pilot to two years, and also to cover the 23 and the 29 bus. Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Wu, the MBTA has signaled interest in working with other cities and towns to trial these pilots, and representatives from the MBTA have met — and gotten approval from — the Federal Transit Administration on these sorts of pilots.
Access to public transportation features prominently in the past, present, and future of Melrose, and we must continue to embrace this identity if we are to achieve our community’s many goals around improving public health, reducing emissions, creating access to jobs and housing, and sustaining a vibrant community which is open to all. Put simply, the more people in our community take public transportation, and the better-served those people are, the stronger Melrose will get. Melrose is currently served by the 132 (Malden/Melrose/Stoneham), the 131 (Malden/Melrose), and the 137 (Melrose/Wakefield/Reading) bus lines. We commend councilors Jamaleddine and Karamcheti for representing the voices of transit-dependent residents and employees of Melrose, and hope this sparks future conversations about how we can improve transit access for everyone in Melrose.