Service Updates During MBTA Orange & Green Line Maintenance

The MBTA suspended service on the entire Orange Line and the northern section of the Green Line from August 19th (22nd for the Green Line) through September 18th. To provide riders more travel options during this unprecedented transit service disruption, we enhanced Bluebikes service. Here’s what happened:

Free Passes

Free 30-Day Passes were made available to everyone during the Orange and Green Line MBTA closures, thanks to the City of Boston.

Adding Valets

Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA sponsored additional valets at select locations and times to create more capacity at some of the busiest stations. Many valets remained active after the shutdown. Refer to the System Map or the Bluebikes app for real time valet service. Look for the Valet icon at your destination station to confirm service is active.

Expanding Stations & Bikes

The City of Boston added docks to select stations to increase capacity and make sure it’s easy to dock when and where you need to. Mayor Michelle Wu announced that these would be among several changes made during the shutdown that would become permanent. The following stations now have increased capacity:

• Ruggles T Stop
• Stony Brook T Stop
• Boylston St at Dartmouth St
• Boston City Hall - 28 State St
• Congress St at Boston City Hall
• Williams St at Washington St

The Bluebikes fleet also expanded by 500 bikes to accommodate the increased demand.

For more information about the City’s response to the shutdown, including recommended bike routes, visit boston.gov/Orange-Line.

Record Membership and Ridership

Date	Passes Redeemed
8/19	4,990
8/20	3,654
8/21	2,792
8/22	1,791
8/23	2,000
8/24	1,903
8/25	1,843
8/26	1,345
8/27	2,444
8/28	2,252
8/29	1,570
8/30	1,418
8/31	1,482
9/1	1,767
9/2	1,926
9/3	2,647
9/4	2,563
9/5	954
9/6	673
9/7	1,470
9/8	1,497
9/9	1,826
9/10	2,518
9/11	1,603
9/12	1,076
9/13	917
9/14	1,219
9/15	1,080
9/16	1,415
9/17	2,205
9/18	2,022

Since the start of the MBTA shutdown, Bluebikes has seen record membership and ridership. The free Monthly Membership passes being offered by The City of Boston were redeemed by almost 5000 riders on the first day of the shutdown, and by over 58,000 riders throughout the month.

Ridership during the shutdown was through the roof! Bluebikes single day trip record was ~11,000 trips going into 2022. That record was smashed TEN TIMES during the shutdown.

• The current daily record was set at almost 27,000 trips
• The weekly record is now 164,700 trips
• The Monthly Record is now 605,662 trips

Stay up to date with all the Bluebikes records and ridership data here.

Riders taking advantage of the free passes rode a lot! Over Labor Day weekend free pass holders took over half of the trips system-wide.

Date	Total trips	Free Pass Trips	% Free Pass Trips
8/19	15,617	2,817	18%
8/20	18,318*	5,892	32%
8/21	18,200	6,634	36%
8/22	10,500	3,126	29%
8/23	17,077	5,351	31%
8/24	20,237*	7,304	36%
8/25	20,598*	7,849	38%
8/26	15,228	6,096	40%
8/27	22,472*	10,011	44%
8/28	21,368	10,085	47%
8/29	19,628	8,577	43%
8/30	20,149	8,801	43%
8/31	20,688	9,350	45%
9/1	22,377	10,269	45%
9/2	22,567*	10,820	47%
9/3	23,393*	12,277	52%
9/4	24,279*	12,962	54%
9/5	9,924	5,403	54%
9/6	9,818	4,806	48%
9/7	22,576	10,874	48%
9/8	23,258	11,468	49%
9/9	25,290*	13,259	52%
9/10	26,602*	14,659	55%
9/11	20,198	11,511	57%
9/12	22,037	11,510	52%
9/13	18,954	9,952	53%
9/14	24,938	12,878	52%
9/15	23,859	12,471	52$
9/16	24,987	13,456	54%
9/17	26,952*	15,394	57%
9/18	22,799	12,926	57%

*New Daily ride record

So how does this compare to a normal month? Overall, there was a 53% increase in trips vs the same time period last year. See the Year-over-year comparison below!