Emerald Network
Boston is growing and changing rapidly, with population and job-growth both on the rise. 34% of Boston residents do not own a car. 42% of Boston residents want mobility and open space improvements in their neighborhood (Go Boston 2030, Imagine Boston).
The Emerald Network creates safe, non-motorized pathways that mimic common routes that many people already travel. As the network opens connections to transit, jobs, and open space, it has the power to prompt habitual changes in how we get around.
Visit the Emerald Network program website. Download our Emerald Network Quick Facts (Español)
What is the Emerald Network?
- The Emerald Network is a vision for 200 miles of seamless shared-use greenway paths in the urban core of Boston and its adjacent cities.
- Boston has a rich legacy of linear parks and greenways, but they were never finished. The Emerald Network builds on this portfolio of 100 miles of greenways.
View the Emerald Network Vision.
"We're excited by LivableStreets' Emerald Network initiative. It's a perfect pairing with Boston's Green Links project — a plan to provide walking and biking connections for all residents to Boston's largest parks. The Emerald Network takes Boston's local plan to scale in the region."
- Chris Osgood, Boston Chief of Streets | Boston Globe
Why Greenways?
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Greenways help to boost health and mobility by connecting people to open spaces and providing safe, green routes for active transportation.
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Greenways reduce congestion on our roads, aligning with Boston's goal of reducing emissions.
- Greenways create connected, more livable communities where people can thrive.
Read about the Power of the Network.
"By collaborating with the Emerald Network initiative at LivableStreets, park groups, community volunteers and other grassroots organizations we can repair the broken connections and provide more access to the parks for everyone."
- Karen Mauney-Brodek, President of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy
Why Now?
- Boston is a thriving, changing city with significant physical and social challenges. There is no better way to increase mobility than with a network that supports active transportation and expands the reach of the existing transit system.
- We are at a unique moment in time as agencies and citizens are collaborating on long-term plans to envision and shape the future of our cities, including Go Boston 2030, Imagine Boston 2030, Cambridge Citywide Master Plan, and DCR’s Urban Path and Parkways Study.
What's Happening
What You Can Do
Sign up: Receive greenway news, updates, and thought leadership by subscribing to 'Greenway Stories', our quarterly Emerald Network newsletter.
Start a Conversation: Download and share our Emerald Network Quick Facts.
Explore a Greenway: Each month on the website we feature a new Emerald Network greenway to explore.
Volunteer: Join us in spreading the word about the importance of a connected network of greenway paths.
Donate: Support the Emerald Network Initiative with a tax-deductible donation.
Contact: [email protected]
Better Buses
Imagine saving two weeks on your commute every year. Dedicated bus lanes, signal priority, and other techniques that prioritize people on buses are essential ingredients for Complete Streets, and help to anchor a world-class transportation network. Download our Better Buses Quick Facts (Español).
Campaigns
Visit our Better Bus campaign pages:
Reports
Read our reports about Better Buses:
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Downloadable PDF
Opens in new pageWant to support better buses in Boston? Sign up to receive news and updates. Follow the latest news with our #BetterBuses hashtag on Facebook and Twitter.
What We're Hearing From Riders
Columbus Ave Center-Running Bus Lanes + Stops
In December 2021, Street Ambassadors spoke with people waiting for buses at the new stops on the center-running bus lanes on Columbus Ave in Boston. We heard:
- 81% of people felt safer and more comfortable crossing the street, including when they weren’t on their way to take the bus.
- 78% of riders are satisfied with the bus lanes that have already improved travel times.
- Riders told us that their trips became faster and more consistent, with almost 75% of people experiencing improvements in these areas.
- The new bus lanes (along with the new bus stops) made people riding the bus feel valued, with one rider sharing, “I feel like I’m the mayor getting an escort”
- What’s the favorite feature of the new bus stops? Overwhelmingly, people loved the real-time arrival signs. These signs make it much easier to know when the next bus will be arriving and how crowded it is, allowing people to better plan their trips and expectations.
See more of our results on the City of Boston’s website page
People’s experience is critical for understanding how new infrastructure is working. However, the actual numbers also matter. Our partners at TransitMatters created a data dashboard where we can see the actual time saved for people riding the bus on the new center-running bus lanes.
- During the morning peak, heading towards Jackson Sq: travel times went from an average of 15 min to <11 minutes, a 20-30% improvement.
- In the evening peak, heading towards Walnut Ave: travel times decreased from 12 minutes to just 7 minutes, a 40% improvement in travel times.
These bus lanes are so important because these minutes add up! Saving 4 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening means 45 minutes each week, 3 hours over a month, 36 hours every year! That’s a day and half saved for riders who take the bus 5 days per week.
Why Better Buses?
- Today, approximately seven miles of Boston streets are holding back more than one-fifth of all MBTA bus riders.
- According to MAPC’s State of Equity Report, Black riders spend 64 hours more per year on MBTA buses relative to White riders.
- 36% of motorists surveyed in the Longwood Area wanted to switch to another mode, with public transit being the leading alternative. Finding a Cure: Transportation in the Longwood Area
- Go Boston 2030's goals to increase bus ridership and lower greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved with changes that prioritize streets and signals for buses.
- Without improvements, existing and would-be transit riders in Metro Boston will continue to turn to less sustainable transportation options like rideshare and personal cars, resulting in more congestion, more emissions, and less mobility for all in the region.
Evidence for Better Buses
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Following the completion of the bus/bike lane on Brighton Ave in Allston, Street Ambassadors conducted a survey of bus and bike riders to learn how they feel about the new bus/bike lane. Here is some of what we learned:
- 90% of bus riders and 98% of bike riders want to see a dedicated lane in the outbound direction.
- 94% of bus riders ranged between neutral and very satisfied with the lane, while 93% of bike riders were at least somewhat satisfied with the lane.
- 93% of bike riders feeling safer in the shared bus-bike lane compared to before.
- The survey responses also highlighted the importance of keeping cars out of the lane in order for it to work as intended.
- When bus lanes are introduced bus ridership goes up. Examples of this improvement across corridors include Broadway in Somerville, where ridership increased by 36%-69% and Brighton Ave in Boston where ridership increased by 5%-8%.
- Bus Lanes lead to faster bus trips. Adding the bus-bike lane on Washington st in Roslindale led to buses having 25% faster run times.
- In the MA Vision Zero Coalition’s 2019 Candidate Questionnaire, many elected officials in Boston have expressed support for restriction of on-street parking during rush hour in order to create dedicated bus lanes on certain major thoroughfares where bus riders experience significant delays due to traffic congestion.
Watch Better Buses in Action
What You Can Do
Join the conversation: Download our Better Buses Quick Facts.
Volunteer: Join us in spreading the word about the importance of safe and livable streets. Our volunteers are actively involved in tracking projects, tabling at events, and serving as Street Ambassadors.
Stand up and be counted: Attend a public meeting. Check out the LivableStreets calendar — it’s updated daily!
Become a member: Join our growing community of people invested in creating safe streets and livable communities. Become a member of LivableStreets today!
Contact: [email protected]
Vision Zero
In April 2022 we launched Dismantling Law Enforcement's Role in Traffic Safety: A Roadmap for Massachusetts. This report offers a vision and framework for moving toward traffic safety without police. You can check out the full report here.
A new standard for safety on our streets — Vision Zero ensures a basic right of safety for all people as they move about their communities. In Massachusetts, Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville have each made a public commitment to Vision Zero, with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. Download our Vision Zero Quick Facts (Español)
LivableStreets is a member of the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition. Visit the Coalition website to learn more.
In 2021, Vision Zero Coalition and the Great Neighborhoods Network put together a questionnaire of questions about mobility & housing; candidates from Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville responded with their answers. Check it out here!
What is Vision Zero?
- Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
- A commitment to Vision Zero shifts the priority of transportation policies and projects from speed to safety, with the philosophy that crashes can be avoided if streets are designed to protect all people.
- Vision Zero sets a timeline and a commitment and brings stakeholders together to ensure a basic right of safety for all people as they move about their communities.
- The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition has successfully led efforts to build public support for Vision Zero, improve proposed street designs, influence legislation, and hold city leaders accountable.
Why Vision Zero?
- Traffic deaths are routinely processed by the public as the unfortunate result of car "accidents" — leaving no one accountable for making changes that can prevent these deaths.
- Cultural attitudes must change to ensure political accountability around safe streets by applying the same focus to traffic deaths as we apply to public campaigns around drunken driving and work site safety.
- To prevent traffic deaths, greater collaboration among local traffic planners, engineers, police officers, policymakers, and public health professionals is needed. Vision Zero brings together diverse and necessary stakeholders to address the complex problem of road safety.
“When a story comes out about cyclists being injured in Boston, every single time I'm thinking, well, we could have prevented it. And people will always argue that cyclists are not being careful or that it's the driver's fault or the cyclist's fault. We just have to stop pointing fingers and just work on solving the problem together. As lofty as that sounds it's what works."
– Dahianna Lopez, PhD Health Policy, Harvard University | WBUR
Why Now?
- Nearly 6,000 pedestrians were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. in 2017, marking the second year in a row of the highest number of fatalities seen in 25 years (Governor's Highway Safety Association).
- In 2017, eighty people walking and ten people biking in Massachusetts were killed by people driving vehicles.
- Through the support of the Vision Zero Network and other national partnerships, cities in the U.S. are being given an opportunity leverage their shared resources to transform the culture and expectations around traffic safety through public policy, roadway designs, and other systemic practices to prioritize safety.
"Our shared goals to stop traffic deaths are ambitious and urgent. We will get there faster together by learning from one another.”
– Seleta Reynolds, General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation
What You Can Do
Join the conversation: Sign up for the MA Vision Zero Coalition email list, and download and share our Vision Zero Quick Facts.
Volunteer: Join us in spreading the word about the importance of safe and livable streets. Our volunteers are actively involved in tracking projects, tabling at events, and serving as Street Ambassadors.
Stand up and be counted: Attend a (virtual) public meeting. See LivableStreets calendar— it’s updated daily!
Become a member: Join our growing community of people invested in creating safe streets and livable communities. Become a member of LivableStreets today!
Contact: [email protected]
Go Boston 2030
On March 11, 2020, we released "Not on a Shelf: Reporting on the City of Boston's Progress on Go Boston 2030." Check out the report here: www.livablestreets.info/goboston2030_progress_report
What is Go Boston 2030?
Go Boston 2030 is a City of Boston initiative that envisions a bold transportation future for the City. Ideas and feedback collected from an extensive, multi-year public engagement process were used to develop the Vision and Action Plan, which was released in March 2017.
What's Happening?
- Three years after the launch of Go Boston 2030, it's not clear what progress the City of Boston has made toward reaching the access, safety, and reliability goals laid out in the plan.
- In March 2020, LivableStreets will release a report to evaluate the City's progress on implementation of the plan, made possible through generous funding from the Barr Foundation.
What's Next?
LivableStreets is committed to reviewing the City's performance every two years to ensure public accountability in reaching its Go Boston 2030 goals. The biannual report is intended to provide the public with a barometer with which to measure and understand the City's progress. The reports will also help the City recognize any gaps and improve their results.
Check out which Go Boston 2030 projects are planned for your neighborhood:
What You Can Do
Volunteer as a Street Ambassador to help build support for Go Boston 2030 projects and policies.
Become a member: Join our growing community of people invested in creating safe streets and livable communities. Become a member of LivableStreets today!
Contact: [email protected]