The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) began reducing service to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus Tuesday. The MBTA has experienced reduced ridership in the past week, as social distancing guidelines continue to be enforced.
Chris Dempsey, director of transportation for Massachusetts, and Jim Aloisi, former transportation secretary, joined Boston Public Radio on Tuesday to discuss how the coronavirus is affecting transportation throughout greater Boston. Dempsey gave his opinion about whether it was smart for the MBTA to reduce its services.
"On the one hand, it does make sense when their ridership is now 20 or 30 percent of what it would be on a typical day," he said.
There are concerns that reduced service will cause more people to crowd onto certain lines, he added.
Aloisi said he thinks that only some lines of the MBTA should have reduced services.
"The Blue Line, which is disproportionately carrying a lot of blue collar workers, is down 28 percent versus the Silver Line down almost 70 percent," he said. "So I think an across-the-board reduction of service frequency is a mistake, and at least the Blue Line should have regular service to accommodate the clear need."