MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

Roxxma said:
Or, they could install toll gantries above the bus lanes and assess a $35 or so "toll" to anyone using the bus lane.
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Fantastic idea. I wonder how challenging it would be to get that through our corrupt legislative process.
 
Roxxma said:
Or, they could install toll gantries above the bus lanes and assess a $35 or so "toll" to anyone using the bus lane.
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Starting with actually having the Boston Police hand out tickets and enforce traffic in this city — like, ever — would be a much simpler way to start.
 
FK4 said:
Starting with actually having the Boston Police hand out tickets and enforce traffic in this city — like, ever — would be a much simpler way to start.
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Actually a toll gantry has a much higher probability of success. Have you EVER seen Boston Police enforce traffic laws?
 
JeffDowntown said:
Actually a toll gantry has a much higher probability of success. Have you EVER seen Boston Police enforce traffic laws?
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Yes. I got a jay walking ticket in the Back Bay in 1968, but I had long hair, and the police didn't like "hippies".
 
Roxxma said:
Or, they could install toll gantries above the bus lanes and assess a $35 or so "toll" to anyone using the bus lane.
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They should do this at the bus loops at every rail station (like Back Bay and Sullivan too). Don't tell drivers "no," tell them how much it would cost to say "yes."
 
Arlington said:
They should do this at the bus loops at every rail station (like Back Bay and Sullivan too). Don't tell drivers "no," tell them how much it would cost to say "yes."
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Shoot, do this at bus stops too. Want to fund the T?, make drivers pay for getting in the way!
 
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/mbtas-electrification-priorities-stuck-in-traffic/

I really like Bruce Mohl as a transpo beat reporter, but dear lord does Comm Mag publish some hot garbage for transit Op-eds.

Did these two think tank stooges even read the FCMB slides about for-real going full-fleet into battery-electric bus adoption...but first taking the necessary time up-front to modernize the bus garages? None of which are currently equipped to handle an electric. Are we just supposed to rush to stand still, cancel all current orders to plunge headfirst into a new procurement, then congratulate ourselves that we have rows and rows of these things sitting motionless in a yard because no charging stations have been built yet???

Egad...where in the failing-upwards world of policy wonkery do they keep finding these morons?
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/mbtas-electrification-priorities-stuck-in-traffic/

I really like Bruce Mohl as a transpo beat reporter, but dear lord does Comm Mag publish some hot garbage for transit Op-eds.

Did these two think tank stooges even read the FCMB slides about for-real going full-fleet into battery-electric bus adoption...but first taking the necessary time up-front to modernize the bus garages? None of which are currently equipped to handle an electric. Are we just supposed to rush to stand still, cancel all current orders to plunge headfirst into a new procurement, then congratulate ourselves that we have rows and rows of these things sitting motionless in a yard because no charging stations have been built yet???

Egad...where in the failing-upwards world of policy wonkery do they keep finding these morons?
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Keep reading past the headline. The third paragraph addresses your concern.

I think this article makes good points and nothing you’ve said pokes any holes in it. They didn’t say buy buses and don’t do garages. They said get started on the whole program, just like peer cities across the country, and quit screwing around.
 
fattony said:
Keep reading past the headline. The third paragraph addresses your concern.

I think this article makes good points and nothing you’ve said pokes any holes in it. They didn’t say buy buses and don’t do garages. They said get started on the whole program, just like peer cities across the country, and quit screwing around.
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Where in the FCMB's projected scheduling has it indicated that they're screwing around?

https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/...ization-part1-policy-strategic-accessible.pdf

They're giving themselves 13 years to modernize/expand the capacity of 10 garages to allow for complete overchurn of fleet. They spell out exactly what is obsolete about the current facilities, and what they'll need above-and-beyond general state-of-repair to support battery buses. They've identified the garages most ripe for early action (i.e. what the op-ed authors say they aren't doing fast enough). They've also awarded the engineering contract for evaluating available battery-electrics to purchase for the first available renovated garage. And are using that contract to restructure for more rapid procurement cycles: signing a contract for 500 40-footer buses to be delivered 100 per year from 2021-2025 instead of moving station-to-station on awards+options like this recent New Flyer diesel-hybrid option pickup. That's enough to flip 50% of the fleet by mid-decade. And have scoped out what sequence of existing buses will be replaced first. That schedule will ensure that deliveries are capable of keeping up with the facilities renovations for battery-electrics. They're also setting a retirement cutoff target for the diesel-hybrids of age 12, ending the practice of doing midlife overhaul contracts for extended lifespans, and moving towards a life-long vendor service & support maintenance agreement. That not only ensures that the diesels don't malinger longer than they need to, but also that leaps-and-bounds new advances in battery tech get refreshed into the fleet quicker.


That's a whole lot more than some backhanded "taking some initial steps". The authors make no attempt to reconcile their concern-trolling with the specificity of the FCMB's schedule and the very concrete reasons the FCMB says it can't move faster. Then they cite L.A., whose schedule for systemwide adoption is actually marginally slower than the T's. And when throwing those other cities around, they make no attempt to explain the circumstantial differences in readiness of support facilities in a large city like Philly and end up cherry-picking a lot of smaller cities that are simply invalid comparisons on scale of back-end support.

It's basically, "You should feel bad for not hurrying up...but we aren't going to tell you how you could feasibly hurry up."

Hot...garbage.
 
FMCB/MassDOT had a presentation on Silver Line ramp access. 3 takeways:

  1. They found no evidence the ramp was built with anything other than emergency vehicles in mind
  2. They maintained it would be unsafe for Silver Line buses to use the ramp when Pike traffic is at full highway speeds
  3. With the installation of a traffic monitoring system, they do believe it would be safe to use by buses when the Pike is very congested (so evening commute when there is most benefit from using the ramp)

Edit: no evidence
 
whittle said:
FMCB/MassDOT had a presentation on Silver Line ramp access. 3 takeways:

  1. They found no evidence the ramp was built with anything other than emergency vehicles in mind
  2. They maintained it would be unsafe for Silver Line buses to use the ramp when Pike traffic is at full highway speeds
  3. With the installation of a traffic monitoring system, they do believe it would be safe to use by buses when the Pike is very congested (so evening commute when there is most


    I'm sure the research was impecable!
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Arlington said:
How is TSP @ D St coming?
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I was on an SL bus coming from the airport on Friday night. As we approached D St, the signal was green, but it turned red before we got there. We only waited about 30 seconds before it turned green again, which is a big improvement over the past. I don't know why it didn't just hold the green as we approached. So, my conclusion is that it's better but not as good as it could be.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
To be fair they literally got on a bus with some drivers and tested it... That's pretty good way of testing imo
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It's been a load of crap from the beginning. There's been no reason for the Silver Line to not use the ramp all the time, other than the state police don't want it to happen.
 
Coyote137 said:
It's been a load of crap from the beginning. There's been no reason for the Silver Line to not use the ramp all the time, other than the state police don't want it to happen.
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Dude take it from someone who's been at the conversations, state police have literally approved the use its just push back from some dudes at bus ops who are concerned about liability. Nothing would look worse than opening the ramp and getting into a crash, no matter how minor it would probably be. The MBTA has taken the position that its better to do this the safe and slow way, it has nothing to do with state police at this point. MassDOT owns the emergency ramp, they have the final say in who uses it.
 
jass said:
In Pittsburgh, buses merge into the *center* lane of an interstate highway from a full stop sign.

https://goo.gl/maps/8zNgCpT9oJ3f41oFA
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Spurious comparison; that roadway in PA is grandfathered to fuck. The geometry on that whole deck is cosmically substandard by today's regs.

To add an all-new regular-service merge at the Ted it would have to be up to modern standards, or up to no later than the (99% modern) standards of 1995 when the roadway was built.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Spurious comparison; that roadway in PA is grandfathered to fuck. The geometry on that whole deck is cosmically substandard by today's regs.

To add an all-new regular-service merge at the Ted it would have to be up to modern standards, or up to no later than the (99% modern) standards of 1995 when the roadway was built.
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The complaint was that there would be a collision and MBTA would be liable.

If this was actually an issue, dont you think Pittsburgh would have rerouted the buses to avoid all these collisions? Or is the mayhem and carnage ok because its grandfathered in?
 
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