Staff of City of Boston | Climate Resilience writes:

Mayor Michelle Wu announced the installation of green roofs on 30 bus shelters along the MBTA’s #28 Bus route. Built in collaboration with community partners, these new roofs feature drought-resistant plantings that will help provide shade, improve air quality, increase stormwater retention, and add new green space along the bus route.

The City selected bus shelters along this corridor as it has some of the highest bus ridership in the MBTA system and neighborhoods along this corridor are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat. The City and its partners will be evaluating this three-year demonstration project to learn how it can be scaled to other locations across the city.

“These green roofs on bus shelters are not just a representation of Boston’s progress on sustainability—they are a practical, scalable solution to some of the most pressing challenges we face as a city,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “With this new milestone from our Office of Climate Resilience, we are demonstrating that Boston is leading the way in innovative, community-focused climate action.”

These green roofs provide direct shade over bus shelters, which typically have transparent roofs. In addition to keeping people cool on hot days, the plantings will absorb rainwater, reduce runoff, and capture pollutants, thereby contributing to better water quality and flood prevention. Finally, the small rooftop gardens will also support birds and pollinators, fostering greater biodiversity in urban areas. This is the largest single installation of green roofs on bus shelters in the nation.

To install and maintain the green roofs, the City partnered with Social Impact Collective, a Boston-based, minority-owned architecture and design firm, Weston Nurseries, a Massachusetts-based plant nursery, and YouthBuild Boston, a local non-profit organization which focuses on providing underserved young people with the support and credentials needed to successfully enter the construction and design industry. Data collection and analysis will be conducted in partnership with Social Impact Collective, ensuring that the project’s benefits are thoroughly documented and understood. Data being collected includes how much stormwater is retained, temperature of green roofs compared to the sidewalk, and plant growth.

This project is a collaboration between the City’s Office of Climate Resilience, the Environment Department, the Office of Property Management, the Office of Green Infrastructure, the Transportation Department, the Mayor’s Office, as well as the MBTA and JCDecaux, the City’s street furniture contracting partner.

Read more: City of Boston Unveils 30 Green Roofs On Bus Shelters