Shift Towns · Massachusetts

Walking, biking & transit in Boston

See the routes Boston neighbors actually walk, ride and take transit on, what's happening locally, and how the town is trending — built from real trips logged in the Shift app.

Keep a pulse on Boston. New street projects, meetings worth your voice, and how Boston is moving. One or two emails a month.

Get involved in Boston

Safer streets are made by neighbors who speak up. Start small:

Happening nowTue, Nov 17 · 2:00 PM

Public Meeting | Semi-Annual Forum on Accessibility at the MBTA (Hybrid)

Residents can share feedback directly with MBTA leadership on the transition to a new accessibility agreement that could affect how accessible the transit system is for riders with disabilities.

Register for the meeting→

In Boston

Advocacy groups

  • Allston-Brighton Housing Action (ABHA) — Local group working for safer walking and biking in Boston.
  • DotBike — Local group working for safer walking and biking in Boston.
  • Boston Better Streets Coalition — A grassroots coalition of 800+ Boston residents who organize neighborhood safety walks and speak up for safer streets, better bike lanes, and reliable transit citywide. (bostonbetterstreets@gmail.com)
  • WalkUP Roslindale — A volunteer neighborhood group working to make Roslindale more walkable through community walks, public-comment campaigns, and support for safer crossings and bike share.

Clubs & ride groups

Commuter perks & fare help

  • A Better City TMA — Pays downtown Boston commuters to skip the solo drive — up to $50 a year for biking to work, carpool subsidies, and free guided group bike rides, through employer members. (tma@abettercity.org)
  • Allston-Brighton TMA — Carpool subsidies, up to $50 a year for biking to work, and guided group bike rides for people who work in Allston and Brighton, through employer members. (tma@abettercity.org)
  • Charles River TMA — Runs the EZRide shuttle — open to the general public — between Boston's North Station and Cambridgeport via Kendall Square, plus Emergency Ride Home and other commuter programs. (info@charlesrivertma.org)
  • Longwood Collective TMA — For people who work or study at Longwood Medical Area institutions — nine shuttle routes, Bluebikes discounts and bike repair sessions, carpool subsidies, and three Emergency Ride Home trips a year. (tma@longwoodcollective.org)
  • Lower Mystic TMA — Free commuter services — trip planning, incentives, and the GoMassCommute app — for employees, tenants, and residents of member properties in Everett, Medford, Malden, Chelsea, and Charlestown. (info@lowermystictma.com)
  • Seaport TMA — CommuteSeaport incentives and Bike Seaport programs for people who live, work, or visit Boston's Seaport District, with some benefits tied to employer membership. (info@seaporttma.org)

Fix your own bike

  • Dorchester Bike Kitchen — Not-for-profit, volunteer-run repair space in Fields Corner, steps from the Red Line. Tools, parts, and friendly volunteers to help you fix or build your own bike. Donation-based and open to everyone.

Meetings & comment pathways

  • Better Bike Lanes Program — Boston's hub for bike-lane projects in construction, design, and planning — see what's coming to your neighborhood, sign up for email updates, and share feedback. (better-bike-lanes@boston.gov)

Your transportation department

Regional & statewide groups, 8 more

City committees you can join

  • Boston Region MPO Community Advisory Councilregional — A standing advisory council with a voting seat on the regional transportation board — any Boston-area resident can apply to join and help shape walking, biking, and transit plans. (mgrenier@ctps.org)

Advocacy groups

  • LivableStreets Allianceregional — The Metro Boston advocacy group for people-centered streets and transit, whose research and comment letters cover projects across the region.
  • TransitMattersstatewide — The transit advocacy group pushing for faster, more reliable buses and trains across Greater Boston, with data-driven campaigns anyone can join.
  • Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA)statewide — A statewide coalition of community groups advocating for safe, affordable, and reliable transportation choices in every corner of the state.
  • WalkMassachusettsstatewide — The statewide walking advocacy organization that leads walk audits and pedestrian-safety campaigns, with open network meetings on Zoom the third Wednesday of each month.
  • MassBikestatewide — The statewide bicycling coalition — a way to plug into bike advocacy, group rides, and Bike Month events across Greater Boston and beyond.

Commuter perks & fare help

  • MBTA reduced faresstatewide — Reduced-fare programs for seniors, riders with disabilities, people aged 18–25 on low incomes, and middle and high school students. Most cut the fare roughly in half.

Get updates

  • MBTA accessibility alertsstatewide — Live notices when an elevator or escalator is out of service, plus how to arrange a shuttle when one is. Worth subscribing to if a lift is part of how you get to the platform.

Roams to try

Self-guided routes. Preview the full route here, then check in at each stop in the Shift app to unlock the badge.

Photo by Mark Olsen on Unsplash

Emerald Necklace Bike Route

Starts 0.4 mi from central Boston · Bike · 7.3 mi route · 49 min · Boston · Brookline

Olmsted's seven-mile chain of parks, end to end.

Museum Hop

Starts 0.7 mi from central Boston · Walk + transit · 3.6 mi route · 3 hr · Boston

Three world-class museums, zero parking headaches.

The Freedom Trail

Starts 1.5 mi from central Boston · Walk · 3.5 mi route · 1 hr 10 min · Boston

Sixteen stops, 2.5 miles, 400 years of history.

All roams →
#3 of 30
Massachusetts towns by shift rate in October
4,425
active trips so far in October
11,327.6
active miles
10,089
lbs CO₂ avoided*
154
neighbors active so far in October

Shift Rate is the share of trips taken actively (walk, micromobility, transit). Counts cover October 1 through today, based on trips logged by Shift community members that start or end in Boston— a growing sample, meant as an interesting local signal, not an official or census-level count. *CO₂ avoided is estimated from active miles traveled (EPA 404 g/mi baseline).

Where Boston moves

New to Boston? You're joining a town that moves — neighbors logged 29,048 trips on foot, by bike, and on transit in the last 90 days, and Massachusetts Avenue, Somerville Community Path and Commonwealth Avenue are where you'll find them. A corridor appears only once three or more different people have traveled it — and it follows Boston residents wherever they go, including into neighboring towns, within about six miles of the town center.

  1. New to Shift: stretches of this route are mostly traveled by people who joined Shift in the last 90 days.
Fewer neighborsMore neighbors

Momentum

Active trips in Boston by week ending, last 5 completed weeks, and climbing.

Sep 27Oct 4Oct 11Oct 18Oct 25

How Boston moves

Active trips and miles so far in October, by mode.

Share of trips

58%
11%
25%

Share of miles

17%
14%
9%
61%
Walking
2,556 trips · 1,884.5 mi
Biking & scooting
495 trips · 1,531.8 mi
Bus
258 trips · 1,002.8 mi
Train
1,116 trips · 6,908.5 mi

What is this?

Shift is a free app from Green Streets Initiative, a nonprofit that has celebrated walking, biking, and transit since 2006. Shift automatically counts your walks, rides, and transit trips — every trip adds to Boston's totals on this page, earns you rewards at local businesses, and enters you into seasonal prize drawings.

Help Boston climb the board.

Every walk, ride, and transit trip counts automatically. Download Shift free and put your trips on Boston's board.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

Community stats reflect trips by Shift community members that start or end in Boston and refresh hourly. Municipalities and community groups can request aggregate data at info@gogreenstreets.org. A project of Green Streets Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.