Bostonians expect tougher commutes and travel times during Orange Line closures as city switches to buses – Boston News, Weather, Sports

BOSTON (WHDH) – Come Friday, a city dealing with normal-sized traffic jams will be worse than usual.

As the city prepares to close the MBTA Orange Line on Friday for a month of repairs and maintenance, residents told 7NEWS roads will be more congested and make for an unusually difficult commute.

Jania Fulton, a student at UMass Boston, told 7NEWS that she plans to drive into town if the bus routes become too difficult.

“I’ll give it three days to see if it’s a little more organized,” Fulton said. “If not, I’ll drive.”

Although the replacement bus lines extend north and south through Boston, they do not travel through the city.

Chris Crompton, general manager of Old Town Tours Trolley, is expecting the route to be more difficult than ever for the 25 vehicles, but he still hopes to provide the service that tourists in Boston deserve.

“We have to make adjustments on the tour,” Crompton said. To make it number one, we make sure we’re still showing the city and giving people a good time, but make sure we’re not getting in the way of public transportation that’s supposed to bring people into the city.

Amidst the chaos, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo told 7NEWS that adaptability and flexibility will be key for the MBTA during the shutdown.

“When the T experiences congestion at certain stations and the T has shuttle bus capacity, staff can make immediate decisions to offer a direct Orange Line station shuttle option to downtown,” Pesaturo said.

MBTA officials told 7NEWS there will be no rapid transit routes into Boston.

According to the MBTA, people looking to get into Boston quickly should look to use the commuter rail.

“If new travel information becomes available or any changes are made, we will notify you on MBTA.com as well as on our social media channels,” said MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak.

Yankee Buses said it is importing buses to add to replacement buses, such as Dallas and Fort Lauderdale buses.

“Our team is working around the clock … We are on pace to log more than 5,400 hours of training over the next several days before this goes into production,” the Yankees line said in a statement.

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