Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

Were these Orange Line passengers tweeting positive thoughts about the MBTA? It could happen.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.

(Photo courtesy City of Boston)

By Johanna Kaiser, Town Correspondent

Getting to City Hall might be easier from some Boston residents this summer as the city launches its City Hall on wheels full time.

Starting July 2, the “City Hall to Go” truck will regularly visit neighborhoods on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to provide certain services to residents, and be stationed by request on Fridays and Saturdays at special events, block parties, and street festivals.

The truck will allow residents to pay or dispute parking tickets, request birth, death or marriage certificates, get a dog license, request a residential parking permit, or pay property and excise taxes without travelling to Government Center.

Residents will also be able to sign up for Renew Boston’s home energy audits and weatherization, request raffle applications, and submit claims to the City Clerk.

The city first held a soft launch of the trunk in December.

“The ‘City Hall to Go’ truck makes personal, timely service from the City of Boston possible for a whole new set of constituents,” Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “We are constantly trying to push what appear to be the limits of municipal services. The success of the truck’s earliest visits shows that benefits of City Hall can exist far beyond its walls.”

The repurposed Boston Police Department SWAT vehicle will be open until 7 p.m. on weeknights and 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

The truck will also use social media to determine part of its schedule. On the fourth Tuesday of every month residents can tweet @CityHallToGo to tell the city where they want the truck to go that day. The truck will open at the most requested location at 12:30 p.m.

The city provided the following schedule for its mobile City Hall. It is subject to change and residents can follow @CityHalltoGo on Twitter or call 617-635-4500 for updates.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

The MBTA’s Fairmount commuter rail line next month will see service increased, new schedules, and cheaper fares from one station, officials from the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company announced.

Six new daily round trips will be added and other schedule changes made after the recent opening of two new stations on the line, Newmarket and Four Corners / Geneva Ave., the announcement emailed to riders Monday said.

Fares from one station, Fairmount, will be lowered from Zone 1 rates, which cost $5.50 per trip, to Zone 1A rates, which cost $2 per trip, according to the announcement.

The fare adjustment means that trips between all stations on line cost $2, with one exception: traveling the entire line from Readville to South Station or from South Station to Readville will cost $6.

The changes take effect July 1, the announcement said.

In recent months, the MBTA has opened three new stations along the 9.2-mile Fairmount Line, bringing the total number of stations to eight including South Station.

The Talbot Avenue station opened last fall. Newmarket and Four Corners / Geneva Ave. stations opened this spring and summer. One more station, the Blue Hill Avenue Station is planned to be added.

The new stations are part of the Fairmount Commuter Rail Rehabilitation Project, which launched in 2005, included other rehabilitation work and improvements and is expected to cost $135 million altogether, state officials have said. The project aims to boost ridership along the line by providing an alternative for commuters who live and work around the corridor.

Among the MBTA’s dozen commuter rail lines, the Fairmount is the shortest distance-wise, has the lowest ridership and is the only one that exclusively serves Boston.

The railway runs from South Station through Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and Hyde Park, where it ends at the Readville Station.

The Boston and New York Central Railroad opened the Fairmount Line, then called the “Midland Railroad,” in 1855 as one of Boston's first passenger railroads. In 1944, passenger service was shut down due to competing railways that caused ridership to dip. Freight service continued on the line. The MBTA reopened it for passenger service in 1979.

For more information on the line, fares and its new schedule, click here.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

These Green Line riders had a not-bad wait at Kenmore Station on Thursday night.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

The YMCA of Greater Boston will provide free meals and snacks for children and teenagers this summer at about 20 sites across Boston and in neighboring communities, the organization announced.

The Summer Food Program will offer nutritious food at more than 10 YMCA sites as well as other community gathering places, including seven different locations in East Boston. Anyone 18 or under is eligible for the program, which will run from June 24 to Aug. 30.

In a statement, Kevin Washington, YMCA of Greater Boston president and CEO, said the program will address the needs of underprivileged families who struggle to supply extra meals through the summer.

“In order for kids to maintain good health, they need proper nourishment as well as activities to keep their minds and bodies active,” Washington said. “The YMCA’s Summer Food Program will help kids stay well-nourished, active and energized, and also provide some relief to families who need support in providing more food when school is out.”

The program is supported by a $70,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation as part of a national partnership between the foundation and the YMCA of the USA that focuses on addressing child hunger by serving children who lose access to free or reduced-price meals when school is out.

Across the country, the YMCA’s 900-plus Summer Food Program sites plan to serve 4 million meals and snacks to 100,000 young people.

The YMCA of Greater Boston also serves meals and snacks in its afterschool programs throughout the school year, the organization said.

Meals and snacks served through the Summer Food Program vary by location. For a complete list of program sites and meals served at each, visit www.ymcaboston.org/summer-food-program or contact Gail Klimas at (617) 569-9622.

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow East Boston on Twitter: @YourEastBoston.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

The MBTA says it will make its 15 busiest bus routes faster, more reliable, and more accessible through a series of changes this summer, which include relocating some stops and eliminating others.

Construction on some of the bus routes will begin this week and upgrades to all of the effected routes are expected to be made by the end of August, officials announced Monday.

The 15 “key” routes carry about 40 percent of the T’s total bus ridership. The routes run more often than other bus routes to serve high-density travel corridors, primarily in Boston, but also stretching to Arlington, Belmont, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Newton, Revere, and Watertown.

The T hopes to make each route about 10 to 15 percent faster by moving some stops and removing others. The goal is for there to be a bus stop every 750 to 1,320 feet, or about four to seven stops per mile. Many stops now are as close as 200 feet.

The agency also hopes to run more reliable bus service by better adhering to schedules and by trying to reduce “bunching,” when two or more buses on the same route are traveling close to each other.

More “passenger amenities,” including new bus shelters at 85 stops, as well as benches and trash barrels, will be installed. Some sidewalks will be improved and some curb extensions will be built.

New signs and pavement markings will be installed to provide better route-related details and to keep drivers from stopping or parking at bus stops.

Traffic signal improvements are expected to be made along some routes.

Work will include bringing bus stops into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act to improve accessibility for seniors and people with disabilities, officials said. In some cases, that will mean lengthening the bus stop area.

The T also plans to install new "Park and Pedal" bike parking cages at Alewife Station and the Beverly Garage in July and at Wollaston, Back Bay, Dudley Square and Wonderland stations in August.

Funding for the program includes $7 million in federal stimulus money and another $3 million in federal transportation funding.

Over the past two years, more than 50 public meetings have been held about the “Key Bus Routes Improvement Program.”

“The MBTA is looking forward to improving the quality of amenities and service on some of our most utilized services,” General Manager Beverly Scott said in a statement Monday. “This aggressive and ambitious project will reduce trip times, enhance customer comfort, accessibility, convenience and safety, and make service more reliable and cost-effective.”

A list of the 15 routes and projected timelines for construction are as follows. The schedules are subject to change, T officials said:

Key Bus Routes
Route 1 – July 1st – July 25th
Route 15 – June 24th – July 12th
Route 22 – June 17th – July 17th
Route 23 – June 17th – July
Route 28 – June 17th – August 30th
Route 32 – June 24th – August 8th
Route 39 – July – August
Route 57 – July 15th – August 30th
Route 66 – June 24th – August 1st
Route 71 – August 1st – August 30th
Route 73 – August 1st – August 30th
Route 77 – July 25th – August 26th
Route 111 – August 9th – August 30th
Route 116 – July 19th – August 30th
Route 117 – July 19th – August 30th

For more information on the bus improvement program, click here.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com

Another day, another crowded Red Line train.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @YTDowntown.

By Dave Eisenstadter, Town Correspondent

Fed up with flights over Milton, some residents are making a plan to persuade the Federal Aviation Administration to reverse a decision to establish a departure corridor above the town.

The Milton Citizens Committee on Aviation Impacts met Thursday evening in the basement of the Town Hall, along with representatives from other communities affected by the recent change.

Sheryl Fleitman, a cochair of the committee, went through a presentation about the new flight path, which brings departures from the 33-L runway at Logan Airport above Milton.

The route is a one-mile-wide condensed flight path, which went into effect this month.

“Basically, it’s just a highway in the sky,” Fleitman said.

Two such paths already exist over Milton, according to the committee’s research – flights from runways 4 and 27. In the past two years, Milton experienced a 21 percent increase in airplane arrivals on Runway 4 alone, according to the committee’s presentation.

One of the committee’s objectives is to disperse the flights so that more towns share the burden of noise and environmental effects.

They plan to make use of the FAA’s 30- to 60-day comment period. The flight path will have a six-month trial period from June to December before it becomes permanent.

The presentation addressed grievances including increased air traffic, noise at night, environmental concerns, and a lack of monitoring for the noise.

Frank Parker, who previously was involved in a route redirection that affected Hull and Hingham, said a more effective argument was related to safety rather than noise.

“There are around 9,689 students in schools [in Milton],” he said. “The number of planes flying over such a crowded area only adds to the risk of… the possibility of a disaster taking place.”

Committee member Cindy Christiansen said she thought Curry College students were not counted in the Milton population to determine the number of people who would be affected by the route change.

Committee members asked the 30 or so people who attended the meeting to get more involved with the committee.

Philip Johenning, another committee member, said the committee also needed to make political connections.

“There are enough political people in this town… we need your help in getting political clout behind this committee,” Johenning said. “I believe the reason why Hull and Hingham were successful was leaders and state representatives and congressmen and school committees got behind them.”

The full presentation

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

Residents of Beacon Hill, the Fenway, and downtown are most likely to have commutes of less than half an hour, while residents of Mattapan, Roxbury, and Dorchester are most likely to commute for more than one hour, according to a new report from the city’s redevelopment authority.

The report, “Boston in Context,” compares a range of commute-related and other demographic, economic, and housing characteristics between city neighborhoods, the rest of the state and the country using data from the 2010 Census data and from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority authored the report and released it this week.

The report also found that a higher proportion of West Roxbury residents, about 73.7 percent, drive alone to commute compared with the rest of Boston. Meanwhile, the top carpooling neighborhood is Mattapan, where 14.1 percent of residents share a vehicle to commute.

About 49.3 percent of residents in East Boston use public transportation users, which is a higher ratio than any other Boston neighborhood.

Beacon Hill residents are most likely to commute via another means. About 64.1 percent of commuters there either ride a motorcycle, taxi, bicycle, or walk.

Citywide, about 40 percent of residents drive alone, 7.9 percent carpool, 34.1 percent use public transportation, and 18 percent ride a cab, motorcycle, bike, or walk.

Statewide, residents use those means of commuting at the rates of 75.6 percent, 8.6 percent, 9.4 percent, and 6.4 percent. Nationally, those rates are: 79.3 percent, 10.8 percent, 5.1 percent, and 4.8 percent.

The Longwood Medical Area is populated with more car-less residents than any other part of Boston. About 79.6 percent of residents there do not have access to a vehicle.

The most single-car users are in the South Boston Waterfront, at 55 percent, while the most two-car users are in West Roxbury, at 37.7 percent. The highest ratio of residents with three or more cars is Hyde Park, at 9.8 percent.

Citywide, about 35.9 percent of residents don’t have access to a vehicle; about 42 percent have one vehicle available; 17.6 have two; and 4.4 percent have three or more. Statewide, those figures are 12.2 percent, 35.7 percent, 37.1 percent, and 15 percent. Nationally, they are 8.9 percent, 33.3 percent, 37.9 percent, and 20 percent.

The Longwood Medical Area is home to a higher percentage of out-of-state workers in Boston. About 14 percent of residents there work beyond Massachusetts’ borders.

About 42.1 percent of Brighton residents work outside of Suffolk County, but within the state. It is the highest rate among Boston neighborhoods.

And, compared with the rest of Boston, a higher proportion of East Boston residents, about 27.7 percent, work outside the city, but within Suffolk County.

About 78.6 percent of residents in Beacon Hill, 76.9 percent of the Fenway, and 75.8 percent of those in downtown spend between zero and 29 minutes commuting. About 18.9 percent of Mattapan residents, 13.8 percent of Roxbury residents, and 12.9 percent of Dorchester residents spend more than 60 minutes commuting.

Citywide, 52.3 percent of residents spend zero to 29 minutes commuting; 39 percent spend 30 to 59 minutes commuting; and 8.7 percent commute for more than an hour. Statewide, those figures are 58.8 percent, 31.3 percent, and 9.9 percent. Nationally, they are 64.8 percent, 27.2 percent, and 8 percent.

The neighborhood with the highest median household income is Charlestown at $83,282, followed by the Back Bay at $81,202 and South Boston Waterfront at $81,126.

The median income in Boston is $50,866. In Massachusetts, it is $65,201. The US median income is $52,395.

The median age for Boston is 32.1 years old, which is significantly lower than both the country's, at 37.1, and Massachusetts', at 39. The three youngest neighborhoods are Longwood Medical Area, at 20.7, the Fenway at 22.8, and Allston at 24.8. The oldest median age is in West Roxbury, at 42.2 years old.

To read the report, click here.

E-mail Matt Rocheleau at mjrochele@gmail.com.
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For the latest updates about your community, follow some of our local neighborhood, city and town Twitter accounts, here.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Town Correspondent

A forum has been set for Wednesday night to provide residents an opportunity to ask prospective mayoral candidates their stance on the Fairmount/Indigo Commuter Rail Line.

Organized by the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative, the forum will concentrate on fares, service, and other planning initiatives surrounding the transit line that cuts through Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park.

The forum is expected to run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will be held at the Boston Renaissance Charter School in Hyde Park.

In addition to questions surrounding the rail line, the audience is also expected to discuss the city’s Fairmount Indigo Planning Initiative and the Fairmount Greenway Project.

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Email Patrick D. Rosso, patrick.d.rosso@gmail.com. Follow him @PDRosso, or friend him on Facebook.