The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is improving transit reliability and travel times through an upgrade to Boston’s traffic management centre that integrates bus locations into real-time traffic signal adjustments.

Up to 50% of transit delay consists of waiting at red lights in signalised intersections and these upgrades have the potential to reduce that time significantly.

“The administration is transforming the state’s transportation system to make travel safer, more reliable and more efficient, and great strides are being made, especially when it comes to trips being taken on public transit,” said transportation secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt, CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. “The MBTA Transit Priority Group, Barr Foundation and municipalities have strategically implemented initiatives to improve bus travel times with transit signal priority and dedicated bus lanes. Their collaboration and innovative ideas are a catalyst for getting people out of cars and onto public transportation.”

Before scaling the upgrades citywide, the MBTA and city of Boston have been running a three-intersection one-year proof-of-concept test to make sure the system would function properly. The three-intersection transit signal priority (TSP) test is along Brighton Avenue at the intersections of Allston Street, Harvard Avenue and Linden Street, improving reliability on two key bus routes, the 57 and 66. Combined, Routes 57 and 66 have about 15,000 daily riders and both routes are in the top ten for highest ridership with the Route 66 being the third highest.

“The MBTA has great municipal partners who continue to collaborate with us on improving bus services, and we’re grateful to the city of Boston for building on the success of the 2019 Brighton Avenue bus lane project to add transit signal priority to the bus lane corridor,” said MBTA general manager Phillip Eng. “This will add to the reliability benefits already felt by riders on Routes 57 and 66 every day, improve bus service for the community, and bring riders to their destinations more quickly. We thank Boston for their partnership.”

The traffic signal software was deployed and running as of July 2024. Since installation, buses travelling through the corridor spent 21% less time waiting at red lights on average and arrived at a green light 5% more often. This resulted in 8% faster travel times with each bus saving an average of 16 seconds for a combined total of 110 minutes saved each weekday. Travel time savings were even greater during peak hours as each inbound Route 57 trip through the corridor was over 60 seconds faster.

The MBTA and the city of Boston have been working hand in hand with Boston’s traffic signal vendor, Control Technologies (www.controltechinc.com), to manage the project and update Boston’s traffic management centre software to be more flexible in signal timing. Helping will be Californian company LYT (lyt.ai) who will use its machine-learning TSP technology to track and predict the bus location, enabling Boston’s traffic management centre to be able to prioritise a green light for the bus as the bus approaches each intersection.

“We are thankful for the partnership between the MBTA and city of Boston as we continue to improve the reliability of public transportation options across the city,” said Boston mayor Michelle Wu. “Traditionally, traffic signals have been timed without prioritising the flow of bus routes. This is another step to retime signals to keep traffic moving for all road users in our city.”

The MBTA Transit Priority Group (www.mbta.com/projects/transit-priority-strategy) was created in 2019 to further bus priority projects around the region. As an important part of the Better Bus Project and guided by the MBTA’s Transit Priority Vision, the team works closely with municipal and state partners to deliver over 64km of bus lanes and activate transit signal priority at 110 locations in six cities. While 3% of the bus system operates in a bus lane, travel time and reliability benefits extend to 65% of bus passengers system-wide.