A letter from our Executive Director, Shavel'le Olivier
Published by The Boston Globe
MBTA buses compete with vehicle traffic in Mattapan Square. The City of Boston plans to redesign Blue Hill Avenue between River Street in Mattapan and Warren Street in Dorchester, with center running bus lanes to make bus trips better and the street safer.DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
Dedicated bus lanes along Blue Hill Avenue are a win for faster and more reliable bus service in the region and for healthier, thriving communities of color (“A smoother ride coming at last to Blue Hill Ave.,” Page A1, Feb. 29).
For too long, Mattapan’s public transit has suffered, negatively affecting the lives of residents in a neighborhood where 74 percent of the population is Black. Many don’t have the luxury of alternative modes of transportation, so they rely on public transit to get to doctors’ appointments, work, food markets, and the breadth of other resources within and outside of Mattapan.
Timely and reliably getting to places fosters a better quality of life for people who rely on the bus system. The Blue Hill Avenue dedicated bus lanes are a huge step in the right direction to address the years of underinvestment in this neighborhood, an environmental justice community, and make Mattapan a more thriving area of the city.
Shavel’le Olivier
Executive director
Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition
Mattapan