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Quick ridership gains, or a long-term lag? MBTA aims to position itself to react as pandemic eases

Tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccinations are being administered each day. The Red Sox will welcome fans to opening day in a few weeks. And the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is slated to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in a third installment of federal aid that is expected to receive final approval in Congress this week.

Despite the hopeful signs, the MBTA projects that ridership, decimated by the pandemic, will lag for years to come, a sustained downturn that could cause a long-term budget crunch. Yet even as the agency finalizes a slate of service cuts to take effect in the coming weeks, it’s developing plans to restore some service if ridership surges in tandem with vaccination rates.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe.

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