The EGE
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2013
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Dean Rd's ridership in 2014 was lower than both Englewood Ave and Tappan St, so this choice makes sense from a ridership perspective (though arguably not from a stop spacing perspective). However, several stops on the C have lower ridership than Dean Rd, including Brandon Hall, Kent St and Hawes St, so I wonder what made them decide to keep these stations.
Or could it be the case that some of the other stops may be merged into one like Amory and Babcock on the B, even though they're all mentioned on the report? The exact phrasing (quoted below) would argue against any stop consolidation or relocation, but if Dean Rd is the only consolidation, the word "consolidations" probably wouldn't have been in plural form.
Does anyone recall how the Amory and Babcock consolidations were initially stated?
It's worth remembering that the stops aren't randomly placed - almost all of them are at significant cross streets where much of their ridership will be walking from. Moving stops to midblock, as was done on the B, is often counterproductive by making longer walks for people coming from both the former stops. Merging Kent and Hawes at Amory, and Fairbanks and Brandon Hall, are the only two locations on the C that I think make sense.
I've never been particularly convinced about needing to remove Dean Road. It's not actually that close to Beaconsfield - about a 900 foot walk, the same as to Tappan Street or Englewood Avenue. Moreover, because it's only two stops from the terminal, the only people whose trips it delays are those using Cleveland Circle or Englewood Avenue. I'd rather see improvements further east on the line - in particular, closing some of the closely-spaced grade crossings like Centre and Pleasant - that would benefit more riders and not give anyone a longer walk.
From the beginning of messaging, the B consolidations were messaged as such: "The proposed project would consolidate the BU West, St. Paul, Babcock, and Pleasant stops into two fully accessible stations that will help reduce travel times and improve safety."