The Arborway Committee for Public Transit, Inc

Environment, Economy, Equity

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Welcome to The Arborway Committee for Public Transit, Inc. (ACPT). Supported by residents, merchants, non-profits and business people in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, the ACPT’s goal is to advocate for improved public transit service in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood and more generally throughout greater Boston. As a neighborhood organization we seek vibrant and inter-connective transit services. In doing so we work with other community organizations, our political representatives, and the business community to achieve these goals.

Our On-Going Major Transit Initiative  is the 0.65-mile extension of the E-branch of the Green Line along South Huntington Avenue in Jamaica Plain from its existing Heath Street terminus to Hyde Square, Jamaica Plain, Boston’s Latin Quarter. The E-branch is a streetcar service connecting northern Jamaica Plain by rail to, and into, the Boston subway system. The importance of extending the service to Hyde Square is underscored by the fact that Hyde Square is an environmental justice neighborhood that lacks a rail connection to downtown Boston, which extending the service would address. In addition, the Boston Planning and Redevelopment Agency (BPDA) has designated South Huntington Avenue a "development corridor". Development has already attracted hundreds of new residents to the area with more to follow.

Recent Announcements

Feb 26, 2024 - As part of its Go Boston 2023 transportation initiative the City of Boston is collecting feedback on transit projects including the Green Line Extension to Hyde Square.  The deadline for providing feedback is February 29, 2024.  Click here for instructions on how to provide feedback.

Feb 26, 2024 - The Governor’s new task force is considering a long-term plan for making the T solvent. One solution-- lift the Big Dig financial burden. See this Banker & Tradesman editorial. https://bankerandtradesman.com/free-the-t-of-big-dig-debt/

Jan 15, 2024 - While the City of Boston undertakes its Squares and Streets initiative, several cities across the U.S. are relying on “Transit-Oriented Development” (TOD) to achieve similar goals. Click here for a journal article by our chair that explains the TOD movement and its implementation in the U.S.

MBTA System Map showing the region of the Green Line Hyde Square Extension

Green Line Extension to Hyde Square

Click below to learn more

Transit Vehicle Electrification

With growing attention to reducing carbon-based emissions caused by the nation’s transportation system, there is impetus across the board to transition to electric-powered vehicles. Transit is no exception. Increasing the use of electric vehicles for transit contributes greatly to the goal of reducing carbon emissions because transit, in moving greater numbers of people per vehicle, provides more carbon-efficient transportation than personal automobiles. In addition, unlike diesel, hybrid diesel, and compressed natural gas buses, electric transit vehicles produce no point-of-service tailpipe emissions, thereby improving the air quality in neighborhoods that transit serves. Green Line streetcars for the proposed Hyde Square extension are electric and will promote neighborhood air quality. Extending high capacity, high frequency, clean urban electric transit is also an effective way of meeting national climate action goals.

Complete Streets

Our proposal to extend Green Line service to Hyde Square will utilize a “complete streets” design. According to the Complete Streets Coalition, “Complete Streets are streets that work for all users, not just those using a car.” Designing a “complete street,” therefore, means that the entire roadway is viewed and built as a multi-modal avenue that provides travelers with a variety of transportation choices that are safe and convenient regardless of travel mode. Such new visioning of urban streets requires, for example, sidewalks of ample width, clearly marked bicycle lanes or separated bicycle tracks, and segregated bus and streetcar lanes. In keeping with this road sharing concept, the U.S. Department of Transportation encourages cities to adopt complete streets policies that change the way transportation decisions are made and streets are designed. Visit the Complete Streets Coalition athttp://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets.

Environmental Justice

Our proposed Green Line extension to Hyde Square will serve an Environmental Justice (EJ) neighborhood. In designing and constructing transportation projects, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires cities and states to promote Environmental Justice. EJ seeks “to avoid, minimize, or mitigate disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects, including social and economic effects, on minority populations and low-income populations; to ensure the full and fair participation by all potentially affected communities in the transportation decision-making process; [and] to prevent the denial of, reduction in, or significant delay in the receipt of benefits by minority and low-income populations.” For example, transit agencies applying for federal grants to fund transit projects are required by DOT to assess a project’s impact on the health and environment of low income and minority populations. This assessment focuses on impacts during the planning, construction, and ultimate operation of the transit project. For more on EJ, visit DOT at:https://www.transportation.gov/transportation-policy/environmental-justice.