Shift Towns · Massachusetts
Walking, biking & transit in Essex
See the routes Essex 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 Essex. New street projects, meetings worth your voice, and how Essex is moving. One or two emails a month.
Get involved in Essex
Safer streets are made by neighbors who speak up. Start small:
- Contact the Highway DepartmentEssex Highway Department→
- Look up the right officeEssex Town Staff Directory→
- Read the next agendaEssex Agenda Center→
In Essex
Get updates
- Essex Notify Me email and text alerts — A signup where you choose which town lists you want, including the general town calendar and news, so you get an email or text when something is posted.
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.
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.
All roams →
- 1
- active trips so far in October
- 0.4
- active miles
- 0
- lbs CO₂ avoided*
- 1
- neighbors active so far in October
Essex joins the Massachusetts board once it logs 20+ trips in a month. 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 Essex— 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).
Momentum
Active trips in Essex by week ending, last 5 completed weeks.
Friendly competition
Massachusetts towns by shift rate so far in October, the share of trips taken actively. Every town here has its own page: local stats, popular routes, events, and ways to get involved.
- 1Somerville94%
- 2Boston93%
- 3Cambridge93%
- 4Medford89%
- 5Salem88%
- 6Malden87%
- 7Revere83%
- 8Brookline83%
- 9Melrose81%
- 10Everett77%
- 11Arlington70%
- 12Watertown68%
- 13Saugus65%
- 14Newton59%
- 15Stoneham57%
- 16Milton50%
- 17Waltham45%
- 18Dedham43%
- 19Quincy41%
- 20Lynnfield38%
- 21Chelsea32%
- 22Bedford30%
- 23Newburyport29%
- 24Peabody25%
- 25Winchester24%
- 26Framingham15%
How Essex moves
Active trips and miles so far in October, by mode.
Share of trips
Share of miles
- Walking
- 1 trips · 0.4 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 Essex's totals on this page, earns you rewards at local businesses, and enters you into seasonal prize drawings.
Put Essex on the board.
Every walk, ride, and transit trip counts automatically. Download Shift free and put your trips on Essex's board.
Community stats reflect trips by Shift community members that start or end in Essex 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.