The MBTA will use its paratransit service, the RIDE, to help distribute food to vulnerable Boston residents, the transit agency announced Friday.
The effort is a partnership with the city of Boston, the YMCA of Greater Boston and the Greater Boston Food Bank. Use of the RIDE service has declined during the COVID-19 crisis, the T said, and RIDE vehicles are being used to deliver food and school meals.
Drivers arrive at the YMCA on Huntington Avenue to pick up groceries and school meals to deliver to designated homes. MBTA general manager Steve Poftak said RIDE employees "interact with Boston’s most vulnerable citizens every day."
"During the pandemic, these employees saw firsthand and early on that individuals who have issues with mobility, illness, quarantine, or are otherwise at high risk were unable to leave their homes to access food," Poftak said. "It was their willingness to help that led us to the Food Bank with an offer to share resources."
