Internal City Hall Polling Reveals Broad Support for Bike Projects, Blue Hill Ave Transit

Internal City of Boston polling documents obtained by Streetsblog Massachusetts show that a strong majority of city residents support the proposed Blue Hill Avenue bus transitway project, and that a plurality of residents support bike lane projects—even when it comes at the expense of car lanes and on-street parking.

The Polling the City Hid

The city collected opinions from roughly 1,600 city residents who participated in a digital survey conducted in the first quarter of 2025, as Mayor Wu was beginning to gear up her re-election campaign and as her administration was launching its secretive "30-day review" of bike lane and bus lane projects.

The survey was carefully designed to get a representative sample of Boston's population in terms of age groups, gender, race and ethnicity, and neighborhoods of residence.

The results never left City Hall—until now.

What the Data Shows

• Blue Hill Avenue: Far more respondents support the busway project than oppose it, across every age group—even among respondents aged 55 or older
• Neighborhood support: While the project has considerably more supporters than opponents in every neighborhood across the city, even in neighborhoods near Blue Hill Avenue, supporters outnumber opponents 48% to 31%
• Bike lanes: A plurality of residents support bike lane projects, even when it means removing parking or car lanes

The Betrayal

This internal polling directly contradicts the narrative the Wu administration used to justify abandoning these projects. The mayor claimed the projects were too controversial, that the community was divided, that she needed to "balance" competing interests.

The data shows otherwise. Boston residents want safer streets. They support bike lanes. They support bus rapid transit.

The administration knew this—and chose to ignore it.

Read the full report: Streetsblog Massachusetts