Teban54
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Gotcha. This is roughly in line with what I thought, but I didn't know you did plan a short bored section. Using the (encroached) Watertown Branch and Pleasant St is an interesting idea: Main St (the 70 bus) technically serves more residents, but I imagine you might have been looking at TOD potential and ease of construction?
As for the route itself, I was surprised that reaching Brighton Center via Longwood (D) is not substantially more roundabout than via the 57 corridor. It does miss out on the Union Sq Allston area, but unless you do an even more circuitous route (cc @Riverside), you can't hit them all regardless. I personally feel Union Sq Allston may have greater cultural significance than Coolidge Corner, but this probably needs a deeper dive and/or someone more familiar with the area.
(@Riverside: Apologies for the number of times I've pinged you today, LOL.).
This prompted me to take another look at ridership patterns of bus routes through Linden Square. Interestingly enough, most bus routes do show a small local maximum there. I don't see much stuff around that would draw heavy ridership -- 3-4 restaurants, Walgreens, Stop & Shop, an Amazon warehouse and other suburban stuff... That's about it. Not to mention the area isn't very pedestrian-friendly, either.
So where is the ridership at Linden coming from? My best guess at the moment is transfers between bus routes, as a "bus hub" connecting Malden (108), Everett (109), Cliftondale (426, 429), Northgate shopping center (119, 429) and Revere (119). I have to think these are transit-dependent riders, as most of these bus routes don't have great frequencies even pre-Covid. Such a hypothesis would imply the area mostly serve local demands and those within nearby regions, so whether it needs a rapid transit anchor may be questionable; Linden Sq also has two of its four quadrants blocked by cemeteries and marshes. Perhaps a Route 1 HRT terminating at Northgate shopping mall would be better?
108:
109:
119:
426:
429: (Note that "inbound" 429 is actually from Northgate to Lynn, which is counter-intuitive)
Thoughts:
109:
119:
426:
429: (Note that "inbound" 429 is actually from Northgate to Lynn, which is counter-intuitive)
Thoughts:
- All routes seem to carry some traffic from Linden to Malden, Everett, Cliftondale/Saugus (426,429), and Revere (119). However, on the "inbound" 119 and 429, there are at least twice as many riders boarding at Northgate compared to at Linden. This seems to indicate Northgate is a more popular destination than Linden.
- A small number of riders (29 daily) use the 119 and 429 between Northgate and Linden, possibly transferring to routes like 108 and 109, but that demand doesn't seem very significant.
- Interestingly, while some riders (32 daily) use the 426 as an almost-nonstop express bus from Linden to Haymarket, far more (102) use it between Linden and Cliftondale/Lynn. This shows a good number of 426 riders use it for "short-distance" trips.
The 426 is already slated to terminate at Wonderland all day in the Bus Network Redesign. In your scenario (HRT to Woodlawn), it wouldn't surprise me if the 426 still ends up terminating at Wonderland for the Blue Line connection instead. Or it can either take local roads to Woodlawn, or take Route 1 to terminate at an intermediate stop on the HRT line, such as Chelsea.
My first thought was that Saugus was probably not dense enough for rapid transit. But then I found that Saugus is actually similar in density to Needham and Newton Highlands, one of which has LRT service and the other is likely to get it in the future. The parts of the ROW on both ends, in Malden and West Lynn, are also moderately populous that make LRT intriguing.
So if a street-running LRT line through Saugus to Lynn is feasible, it might be worth a shot. The question is, can it co-exist with the existing rail trail?
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