For Liz Gomes and many other residents of Georgetowne, a nearly 1,000-home development in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood, the MBTA bus can be essential — especially the Route 40 bus.

The route loops directly through their neighborhood in the southernmost section of Boston, between Stony Brook Reservation and the Dedham town line. It connects them to Washington Street, Roslindale and, at Forest Hills, the Orange Line and beyond.

Gomes’ 22-year-old son, who has autism, used to take the 40 to high school if he missed the school bus. Gomes, 59, drives but increasingly prefers not to at night. She takes the bus to appointments in Longwood or other trips Downtown, where driving and parking can be an expensive, stressful hassle.

Yet after moving to Georgetowne from Roxbury 25 years ago, she found the bus could be infrequent, unpredictable and hard to rely on.

When her son was younger, there were times they missed the last 40 bus headed home. Turning instead to another route, they would get off on Washington Street and walk nearly a mile home down winding and dimly lit streets on the edge of Stony Brook. Hot, cold, rainy, dark — that was their way home.

But recent changes to the 40 bus schedule have made the route more reliable for Gomes.

This spring, the MBTA split the 40 and 50 buses, which had operated on a combined route, and adjusted their schedules. The change, part of a series of adjustments to MBTA bus routes and schedules, allowed the T to increase service for the 40 and 50 buses on weekday evenings, Saturday evenings and Sundays.

“It puts my heart at ease,” Gomes said.

Sundays had been an especially difficult day for residents who rode the 40, said City Councilor Enrique Pepén, who represents Hyde Park, Roslindale and Mattapan.

“The last bus leaving Forest Hills was around 5:20 p.m., effectively cutting residents off from the city far too early in the evening,” he wrote in a newsletter earlier this year.

For many Georgetowne residents, Pepén said, the 40 bus is a “lifeline.”

About 2,000 people — the majority in income-restricted homes — live in the development.

Under the prior schedule, Pepén heard from residents facing long waits during commuting hours, students missing class, workers missing shifts, seniors arriving late to medical appointments and parents balancing child care with their erratic commute.

Under the old schedule, buses traveled in only one direction during off-peak hours. Now, the 40 and 50 buses run in both directions throughout the day. The new schedule eliminated a confusing route and provided more direct service to Forest Hills, an MBTA spokesperson said.

With the new schedule, Pepén said, residents can catch a bus more frequently and later into the evening.

“It’s not like we were asking for, you know, give us door-to-door service,” Gomes said.

“I believe every parent is relieved,” she added, especially those whose children are coming home late from school after sports or other extracurriculars.

In years past, Gomes recalled seeing neighbors — young kids, a mother with a stroller, a woman in a wheelchair — on the long walk home from Washington Street, having missed the last 40 bus and instead boarded a bus that didn’t drive the important last mile into Georgetowne.

“During the cold months, rainy season, it makes it easier just to know the convenience that the bus will put you at home,” she said.

On board the bus, reviews can be more mixed.

Like other MBTA bus routes, the 40 is still at the mercy of Boston’s traffic-choked streets. That reality has created a disparity between Boston neighborhoods served by the subway and those served only by buses, which are generally slower and harder to predict.

Even with the new schedule, the 40 can still arrive infrequently. Residents said they plan their trip and arrive at the bus stop early, determined not to miss their ride. The 40 is not one of the T’s “Frequent Bus Routes,” intended to arrive every 15 minutes or less.

“I think it’s gotten better, but it could be more frequent,” said Isaiah A., a Hyde Park resident of 11 years, who declined to give his last name.

He boards the 40 bus each morning just after 6 a.m. If he’s late, Isaiah hustles around the block to another stop, hoping he can beat the bus there. Otherwise, the wait might be 30 or 45 minutes before another 40 bus.

“You should at least be able to get on the bus every 15 minutes,” he said while commuting home Tuesday afternoon. “I don’t know why it’s not a priority line.”

Jean-Claude Attis, who grew up in Roslindale and rides the bus daily, said the 40 has improved since he rode it as a teenager.

“Things have gotten better, because I used to be late to school quite a bit,” he said while riding the bus Tuesday.

The 40, Attis believes, is the most reliable bus of the routes he rides through Roslindale.

“I think the bus does its job,” he said. “It serves the community well.”

On weekends, he wishes the bus system as a whole could deliver more frequent rides.

“But it’s the public transportation,” he shrugged. “There’s things that happen. It’s a system. Delays. I’m used to it.”

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