Night Owl Buses in Boston: A Post-pandemic Reassessment to Determine Whether Overnight MBTA

Bus Service Can Serve Workers Who Currently Lack Any Transit Options

The MBTA operates one of the busiest public transit systems in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on the network of buses and trains to get them to work, school, stores, and anywhere else they need to go. However, the scope of service of the MBTA is limited to the day time and early evening. With most buses and trains shutting down by 1 a.m., anyone needing to travel past this hour is forced to take alternative means of transportation, most often driving. This is an acute problem for night time workers who need to travel everyday outside traditional transit operating hours. By developing a plan to serve these workers, who on average are less white and have lower incomes than day time workers, the MBTA can work to create a more equitable system that meets the needs of everyone at any time of day.

This thesis examines how such an overnight transit service can help workers by using census data to create a transit propensity index (TPI) to predict where night transit demand would be greatest in the Boston region. Then, various proposals both from past pilot programs and suggestions from advocates are evaluated based on how well they cover areas of high TPI according to the methodology. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of best practices for night transit and a recommendation for the MBTA to implement should it decide to start a new overnight bus service that is focused on providing more mobility opportunities to workers at night.

Rounaq Basu

Dissertation Advisor: Joseph Ferreira