MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

In a virtual meeting for municipal stakeholders and transit advocates on Wednesday morning, the MBTA’s Bus Network Redesign team shared a first look at a new “high-frequency” bus network for the region that could be implemented in phases over the next three to five years.

The map is still being refined and is subject to ongoing changes in response to feedback from riders and other stakeholders.

But it illustrates the T’s overall strategy to provide simpler, more frequent bus service for transit-dependent neighborhoods like Dorchester, Chelsea, and Mattapan, and better service to growing neighborhoods like the Seaport and the Longwood Medical Area.

“We’re talking about 7-day, frequent service with dedicated transit-priority infrastructure to provide the levels of frequency we’re looking for,” explained Caroline Vanasse, the Manager of Transit Planning at MassDOT.
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mass.streetsblog.org

A First Look at the T’s Proposed ‘High-Frequency’ Bus Network

The T’s proposed network of high-frequency bus routes aims to serve more neighborhoods throughout the region with better bus service, with better connections to key employment centers.
mass.streetsblog.org
 
I'm glad that north station to seaport BRT is proposed.

Frankly I think that's necessary for how much the seaport has grown, and to improve ridership on the northern commuter rail lines.

It would be nice as true BRT (enforced separated lanes and fare control). Or just make buses free, since a large chunk of trips will just be connections with the commuter rail or subway.
 
tysmith95 said:
I'm glad that north station to seaport BRT is proposed.

Frankly I think that's necessary for how much the seaport has grown, and to improve ridership on the northern commuter rail lines.

It would be nice as true BRT (enforced separated lanes and fare control). Or just make buses free, since a large chunk of trips will just be connections with the commuter rail or subway.
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Its baffling that people have been talking about the north-south rail link for years but theres never been a "temporary" bus connection meanwhile.

The 4 (I think its the 4) doesnt count.
 
jass said:
Its baffling that people have been talking about the north-south rail link for years but theres never been a "temporary" bus connection meanwhile.

The 4 (I think its the 4) doesnt count.
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BRT is what's needed. Not a bus stuck in downtown traffic, or one that waits for 5 mins at every stop for people to pay.
 
jass said:
mass.streetsblog.org

A First Look at the T’s Proposed ‘High-Frequency’ Bus Network

The T’s proposed network of high-frequency bus routes aims to serve more neighborhoods throughout the region with better bus service, with better connections to key employment centers.
mass.streetsblog.org
Click to expand...
I think shifting the bus hub from Ruggles to LMA is a really interesting idea. In terms of travel demand, it makes sense. LMA has literally hundreds of private shuttles doing the Ruggles to LMA route every day. But from a purely logistical perspective, where do you layover all these MBTA buses in LMA?
 
Congress St needs to be Bus Priority from North Station to the Surface Artery, and then either keep going into the seaport or jump to any of Summer, Congress, or Seaport Blvd (wherever "the other Bus Priority in the Seaport" ends up).

I'm sure we talked about this on this thread. Such a bus would be awesome at connecting transit nodes to transit deserts as it went:

North Sta (CR-Green-Orange) (the Canal-Causeway-Beverly loop)
Haymarket (Green-Orange-Bus) (Congress-side bus curb)
State (Blue)
Post Office Square (suburban 500 series buses)
Atlantic Wharf

and then Seaport, Congress, or Summer (So Sta/BCEC)

From the map, it looks like they're proposing Seaport Blvd.
 
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Arlington said:
Congress St needs to be Bus Priority from North Station to the Surface Artery, and then either keep going into the seaport or jump to any of Summer, Congress, or Seaport Blvd (wherever "the other Bus Priority in the Seaport" ends up).

I'm sure we talked about this on this thread. Such a bus would be awesome at connecting transit nodes to transit deserts as it went:

North Sta (CR-Green-Orange) (the Canal-Causeway-Beverly loop)
Haymarket (Green-Orange-Bus) (Congress-side bus curb)
State (Blue)
Post Office Square (suburban 500 series buses)
Atlantic Wharf

and then Seaport, Congress, or Summer (So Sta/BCEC)

From the map, it looks like they're proposing Seaport Blvd.
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I'll leave this link here: https://archboston.com/community/threads/reasonable-transit-pitches.4187/page-100#post-392329

With this map:
1632360043184.png
 
Two weeks ago I saw several recently installed yellow signs that were still wrapped along I-93 between Medford and Wilmington, one sign was partially unwrapped and said something along the lines of "Caution: Breakdown Lane In Use By Buses". I assume these will be for the Medford/Woburn/Burlington MBTA express buses (when fully restored), MVRTA, and NH and other Merrimack Valley bound commuter coaches. I couldn't find much on it other than some MAPC documents. I assume that means there's a pilot program in the works..
 
Arlington said:
From the map, it looks like they're proposing Seaport Blvd.
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The map also has it hitting South Station, so I'll suggest that if it's going there it's probably not doubling back to then take Seaport Blvd. I think the map is just showing rough routing and not precise street/corridor choices.

------------

As a personal opinion, I also don't think Seaport Blvd makes sense at present and kind of defeats the idea of "high frequency corridors" by splitting ridership and frequencies.

There's a shiny new bus lane on Summer St. Pack it full of buses and actually achieve real high frequency services. This new service plus the 4/7/whatever else. One high-density corridor. Make it so I can show up there unplanned and as an uninformed tourist/visitor and have some bus taking me to at least South Station show up in a couple of minutes.

If you manage to max that out for service and there's no more capacity to be realistically added to the SL.....that's when I'd start thinking about a Seaport Blvd bus corridor (or better yet, rail!).
 
Roxxma said:
Two weeks ago I saw several recently installed yellow signs that were still wrapped along I-93 between Medford and Wilmington, one sign was partially unwrapped and said something along the lines of "Caution: Breakdown Lane In Use By Buses". I assume these will be for the Medford/Woburn/Burlington MBTA express buses (when fully restored), MVRTA, and NH and other Merrimack Valley bound commuter coaches. I couldn't find much on it other than some MAPC documents. I assume that means there's a pilot program in the works..
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This genuinely seems destined for disaster... Just make a dedicated bus lane.
 
donkeybutlers said:
This genuinely seems destined for disaster... Just make a dedicated bus lane.
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Bus-On-Shoulder is used in places nationwide without trouble. https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop15023/apa.htm I've seen it in action and it seems to work well. Usually only used when traffic is at a standstill basically. It was part of the CLF settlement:
  • A pilot bus-only lane beginning in the southbound direction on the Tobin Bridge with the aim to implement permanent bus priority on the bridge.
  • A pilot allowing buses traveling on I-93 between Woburn and Somerville to use the right-hand shoulder, effectively creating a bus-only lane.
  • A study of future locations within the I-495 area for bus lanes, HOV lanes, and roadway pricing, with input from environmental justice communities.
  • Maintaining HOV lanes and only making changes to those lanes following the legally required process that includes seeking public input.
Its also used nationwide in the UK as part of the larger smart motorways strategy.
 
Can school buses (of any size) and shuttle buses with 13* or more seats use the red Bus lanes? They should.

On Winter Hill in Somerville, I see School Buses (sometimes small vans with the sign, sometimes mini Yellow school buses) sitting in the general traffic lanes as I’m biking in the bus-and-bike lanes

* or whatever the size is that requires a CDL P
 
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