At this point, it’s uncertain whether Boston will lose late-night T service in a cost-cutting measure — as dictated by unanimous vote by the MBTA’s fiscal management board last month — or whether the agency will keep the service alive until a civil rights analysis is completed.
What is certain is both Uber and Lyft are prepared to swoop in and try to fill the gap if the MBTA does cut the 12:30 to 2 a.m. service on March 18 as currently planned. Both companies announced Monday that they will offer discounts on their shared ride options following the closure, reports BostInno.
Uber will offer $5 flat rates for several weeks on UberPOOL rides on weekend nights between 12:30 and 2 a.m. along the T lines; Lyft is offering 75 percent discounts on Lyft Line rides between 12:30 and 4 a.m. in Boston, Cambridge and other inner suburbs. A Lyft spokeswoman told BostInno this means “many rides within the T’s service area won’t cost riders more than a $2.65 T fare.” Both promotions run for a limited time.
Boston introduced its 12:30 to 2 a.m. service as a one-year pilot in March 2014, eventually extending it to two years. The service was popular, providing about 13,000 rides per night in December 2015. But according to the Boston Globe, the service cost $14.4 million to operate over the 2015 fiscal year, and the MBTA argued it cut down on overnight maintenance and repair time.
The MBTA’s fiscal management board voted 4-0 to end the service at the end of February, but last week the Federal Transit Administration rebuked the decision, saying the agency failed to follow civil rights guidelines that require a thorough examination of whether the cancellation would disproportionately impact minorities and low-income riders.
Uber and Lyft have crossed paths with MBTA recently in a different way: When the agency announced a pilot program to offer riders on its paratransit service the option of taking private taxis, officials said on-demand ride companies could also fill such a role in the future.
A year ago, a Boston resident launched a crowdfunding site to raise $300 million for the struggling MBTA.
Jen Kinney is a freelance writer and documentary photographer. Her work has also appeared in Philadelphia Magazine, High Country News online, and the Anchorage Press. She is currently a student of radio production at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies. See her work at jakinney.com.
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