Shift Towns · Massachusetts

Walking, biking & transit in Brookline

See the routes Brookline 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 Brookline. New street projects, meetings worth your voice, and how Brookline is moving. One or two emails a month.

Get involved in Brookline

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

Happening nowMon, Nov 9 · 7:00 PM · virtual

Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting (Brookline)

Brookline's Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets to discuss walking safety and accessibility issues in town, and residents can join to raise concerns or learn about upcoming plans.

Attend the meeting→

In Brookline

City committees you can join

  • Bicycle Advisory Committee — A town committee that advises on bike safety, education, and access, meeting the first Monday of the month at 7 PM at Town Hall — open to all residents.
  • Pedestrian Advisory Committee — A town committee that advises the Transportation Board on walking safety and sidewalk access, meeting the second Monday of the month at 7 PM via Zoom.

Advocacy groups

  • Brookline for Everyone — A grassroots resident group working toward compact, walkable neighborhoods near transit through housing and zoning advocacy.

Your transportation department

Regional & statewide groups, 7 more

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.

Events near Brookline

A few picks over the next 30 days — the full calendar has everything.

All community events →

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 Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash

The B-Line Crawl

Starts 0.9 mi from central Brookline · Transit · 0.9 mi route · 1 hr 30 min · Boston · Brookline

Four consecutive B Line stops through the heart of Allston, each with a bar worth ducking into.

Photo by Herry Sutanto on Unsplash

Museum Hop

Starts 1.3 mi from central Brookline · Walk + transit · 3.6 mi route · 3 hr · Boston

Three world-class museums, zero parking headaches.

Photo by Mark Olsen on Unsplash

Emerald Necklace Bike Route

Starts 1.5 mi from central Brookline · Bike · 7.3 mi route · 49 min · Boston · Brookline

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

All roams →

Trails in and near Brookline

Paths of their own for walking and biking, with where to get on.

All trails
#8 of 14
Massachusetts towns by shift rate in November
141
active trips so far in November
230.3
active miles
205
lbs CO₂ avoided*
24
neighbors active so far in November

Shift Rate is the share of trips taken actively (walk, micromobility, transit). Counts cover November 1 through today, based on trips logged by Shift community members that start or end in Brookline — 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 Brookline moves

New to Brookline? You're joining a town that moves — neighbors logged 18,343 trips on foot, by bike, and on transit in the last 90 days, and Massachusetts Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue and Somerville Community Path are where you'll find them. A corridor appears only once three or more different people have traveled it — and it follows Brookline residents wherever they go, including into neighboring towns, within about six miles of the town center.

  13. 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 Brookline by week ending, last 5 completed weeks, and climbing.

Oct 4Oct 11Oct 18Oct 25Nov 1

Friendly competition

Massachusetts towns by shift rate so far in November, the share of trips taken actively. Every town here has its own page: local stats, popular routes, events, and ways to get involved. Brookline is 8 points behind #1.

  1. 1Waltham95%
  2. 2Boston92%
  3. 3Somerville92%
  4. 4Cambridge91%
  5. 5Everett89%
  6. 6Malden88%
  7. 7Medford88%
  8. 8Brookline87%
  9. 9Quincy79%
  10. 10Newton78%
  11. 11Arlington60%
  12. 12Newburyport45%
  13. 13Watertown35%
  14. 14Lexington24%

How Brookline moves

Trips and miles neighbors logged so far in November, by mode.

Share of trips

58%
18%
13%

Share of miles

13%
15%
61%
Walking
96 trips · 80.8 mi
Biking & scooting
6 trips · 17 mi
Bus
10 trips · 39.6 mi
Train
29 trips · 92.8 mi
Carpool
3 trips · 17 mi
Driving
21 trips · 384.7 mi

What is this?

Shift is a free app from Green Streets Initiative, a Somerville nonprofit since 2006, for finding better ways to get around. Every walk, bike ride and transit trip people take with Shift adds to Brookline's totals on this page. Shift counts trips on its own.

Help Brookline climb the board.

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

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

Community stats reflect trips by Shift community members that start or end in Brookline 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.