Healthy Air Network is supporting Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) in its lawsuit against Greyhound Lines for violating idling laws. Under Massachusetts law, vehicles are only allowed to idle for up to 5 minutes. On September 10, 2024 CLF sued Greyhound Lines, Inc. for violations of the Clean Air Act from its excessively idling vehicles in Boston. CLF received Greyhound’s GPS data recording idling events in Massachusetts. On August 6, 2025, CLF filed an Amended Complaint to include Greyhound’s idling events in Springfield, MA at Union Station.
After discussions with CLF staff, Healthy Air staff and Resident Advisors decided to visit Springfield Union Station to see the status of bus idling. On Thursday, October 2, 2025, Resident Advisors Brother Al Hubert and Mary Ann Babinski joined Sarita Hudson at Springfield Union Station at 3:30 pm to track idling of buses.
- We found that the PVTA buses moved in and out quickly, with little time for idling—one bus idled for two and a half minutes.
- Peter Pan buses did not idle long either—the longes we saw was for 3 minutes, 45 seconds.
- The Greyhound bus to Albany was parked idling for 38 minutes. We talked to the driver and shared what we were doing—we asked what the rule on idling was and he said “less than an hour”
On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, RA Brielle Ruth joined Sarita Hudson and Francheska Bermudez around 8 am to again check for buses idling.
- The Greyhound bus 402PHL 87274, to Albany was observed idling from 8:35- 8:50 when it departed.
- Again, we saw Peter Pan buses (#7014, #904, #7055) which were turned off and turned on within a minute of departure.
Sarita has submitted a Declaration in the CLF Lawsuit.
In addition, Sarita and Francheska met with DEP staff in December and shared these efforts. After that meeting, MA DEP instituted bus idling surveillance at Union Station. They observed violations with Greyhound and PVTA. As a result, DEP issued the attached Notices of Noncompliance and will likely be conducting additional surveillance in the future.
At our Healthy Air Meeting on March 19, we agreed to schedule a future visit to check on the status of idling. If you would like to join us or see another location where buses or trucks are idling beyond the 5-minute limit, please contact us.
Last modified: March 20, 2026
