With dust settled, bring back old bus stop

The Hynes Convention Center MBTA bus stop on Boylston Street is too far away for many in Back Bay. (Christina Pazzanese for the boston globe)

Tipsters Milton and Renee Glass say they have been living in Back Bay near the Prudential for 30 years and have seen a lot of changes in their neighborhood. But one relatively recent change has not been for the better.

"For years there has been a bus stop in front of the Prudential Mall entrance on Boylston Street at Ring Road. The stop was removed a few years ago when construction took place at the new Mandarin [Oriental] Hotel," they wrote in an e-mail to GlobeWatch. Glass said the MBTA moved the bus stop up a few blocks to a spot in front of the Hynes Convention Center, but that location is a long, inconvenient walk for residents who live in the high-rise apartment buildings and condominiums clustered down by Ring Road. The next closest bus stop is in front of the Boston Public Library, he said, a less visible and accessible stop for patrons of Ring Road businesses like Shaw's supermarket, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Lord & Taylor.

"Now that construction is complete, the stop should be replaced as a stop for the No. 39 and No. 55 bus. This stop serves several thousand residents and other thousands of office workers who now must choose between the Hynes Auditorium and Copley Square stops, both too distant for many of the elderly such as we," writes Glass. "Please ask the T to restore the Prudential Mall Entrance bus stop."

The MBTA and city respond

"Yes, we did have a bus stop near this location at 829 Boylston St., opposite Fairfield Street," said Lydia Rivera, an MBTA spokeswoman. "The stop serviced routes 39 and 55" and was "temporarily removed to accommodate construction in front of the Prudential Center." It was dismantled, she said, because the T could not safely use the stop while construction work was going on so close by. Rivera noted the T defers to the city when deciding where bus stops should be placed in Boston.

"This past August, MBTA Bus Operations personnel made an inquiry to the Boston Transportation Department about reestablishing this bus stop." Rivera said if the city cannot agree to put the stop in exactly the same location as before, the T would work to find another location near Ring Road everyone can agree on. Right now, the former stop is being used as a taxi stand, she said.

After having trouble finding a record of the August notification T officials said they gave to the Boston Transportation Department last summer about installing a new bus stop, the department says there was "a mix-up" and that the issue appears to have fallen through the cracks, said spokeswoman Tracey Ganiatsos. Engineers from BTD and the T met last Thursday on Boylston Street to review possible sites, she said. Rivera said the two sides settled on a spot between Gloucester Street and Fairfield, near the entrance to the Prudential Center shops, and the new stop should be operational within a month.

WHO'S IN CHARGE
Daniel A. Grabauskas, General Manager
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
10 Park Plaza, Suite 3910
Boston, MA 02116
617-222-5215