MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

JumboBuc said:
She doesn't want a cabinet role in a future Dem administration. She wants to lead one.

That's what her standing up to Trump in Washington but not dissenting voices in her own party has been all about.
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Explains things even less I think. People in Iowa don't care whether or not bike lane flexposts were removed on Arlington St.
 
KCasiglio said:
Explains things even less I think. People in Iowa don't care whether or not bike lane flexposts were removed on Arlington St.
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She wants to foster a broad coalition of support from all the flavors of Democrats and moderates, including the (mostly) older demographic who see bus/bike lanes as radical and liberal and the (often) Black population who feel like white and Asian liberals take the their votes for granted.

To put another spin on your analogy: ignoring the concerns of elected Black leaders and installing anti-car infrastructure in Roxbury and Mattapan could absolutely matter to Dem primary voters in South Carolina.

Bike and bus infrastructure is loved by urbanists in Boston, but "we" are extreme weirdos nationally. The voters Dems need on the national stage drive trucks and SUVs and think that stuff like center-running bus lanes is fringe and "liberal elite" coded. It's not worth her spending her political capital on it in this national-focused context. And the same goes for White Stadium. Building a new city high school stadium through a public-private partnership with a pro team sounds like the cool sort of innovative idea that people want in government. Remember that in most parts of this country, governments pay pro sports teams to come to town, while here it's the exact opposite. The "Franklin Park Defenders" read nationally as weirdo woke tree-huggers separated from reality.

I'm not saying I agree with this thinking, but I think it's how she's angling. She sees Elizabeth Warren's image (loved by the white educated urban left while never being able to get traction among the national party more broadly) and doesn't want to be that.

On the national stage, stories and photos of her standing with Culpepper and Worrell to protect parking spots could help her.
 
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Scott said:
This is the person who stood up to a Republican Congress that wished to humiliate her and won. She can also stand up to those who do not want this by washing her hands of it and threatening to walk away. So I hope the bike people stop sounding a lot like Josh Kraft and realize who is and is not on their side. They are aligning with the very people Wu warns us, want to kill the Blue Hill Ave project
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We are? That's news to this bike advocate, and I can tell you with certainty it's not the position of the Boston Cyclist Union.
 
as02155 said:
I don't suspect that it's people in Iowa, but, people in Plymouth and Springfield.
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I believe the statewide ambitions pitch far more than the national one.

JumboBuc said:
She wants to foster a broad coalition of support from all the flavors of Democrats and moderates, including the (mostly) older demographic who see bus/bike lanes as radical and liberal and the (often) Black population who feel like white and Asian liberals take the their votes for granted.

To put another spin on your analogy: ignoring the concerns of elected Black leaders and installing anti-car infrastructure in Roxbury and Mattapan could absolutely matter to Dem primary voters in South Carolina.

Bike and bus infrastructure is loved by urbanists in Boston, but "we" are extreme weirdos nationally. The voters Dems need on the national stage drive trucks and SUVs and think that stuff like center-running bus lanes is fringe and "liberal elite" coded. It's not worth her spending her political capital on it in this national-focused context. And the same goes for White Stadium. Building a new city high school stadium through a public-private partnership with a pro team sounds like the cool sort of innovative idea that people want in government. Remember that in most parts of this country, governments pay pro sports teams to come to town, while here it's the exact opposite. The "Franklin Park Defenders" read nationally as weirdo woke tree-huggers separated from reality.

I'm not saying I agree with this thinking, but I think it's how she's angling. She sees Elizabeth Warren's image (loved by the white educated urban left while never being able to get traction among the national party more broadly) and doesn't want to be that.

On the national stage, stories and photos of her standing with Culpepper and Worrell to protect parking spots could help her.
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The reason I'm skeptical of this though is that it doesn't seem like that's the case on any of her other issues. With White Stadium she's happy to ram stuff down black communities throats over the opposition of what she seems to rightly judge as non-representative opposition.

We also shouldn't get too hung up on the specific case of Blue Hill Ave, this appears to be a general and universal retreat. I posted in another thread about the Boylston St flex posts being removed about a month ago, and a BTD planner in the fall told me (as did the city's better bike lanes project website) that the intent was to replace them with cast-in-place concrete. It's been about a month and there's no replacement for those flex posts.

It's not "listening to residents" in specific locations it's wholesale surrender.
 
JumboBuc said:
On the national stage, stories and photos of her standing with Culpepper and Worrell to protect parking spots could help her.
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It won't. It's exactly the sort of status quo, moderate and vapid pandering position that we've seen destroy excitement to vote for the Democratic party (running to stop something rather than for a bold new idea). Bus riders are more likely to be Black or POC (across the country this is true, including in South Carolina). Historically, some of the most consequential mobilizations by the Black community have surrounded public transit and bus improvements in particular. Capitulating to a group of wealthy senior leaders (who are right to remember the destruction of car-centric urban renewal, but wrong to now defend the car-centricity that it brought about) in order to block improvements is exactly the sort of thing that loses time and time again on any level higher than city councilor.

You're right that delivering results on "cool sort of innovative" ideas is exactly what wins. Delivering on bus lanes to drastically improve the mobility for a daily (mostly Black) ridership equivalent to the population of Mattapan is more characteristic of that than White Stadium (they should both be done to be clear).
 
Regarding Washington Street between Roslindale and Forest Hills, according to this document, the plans for each of those 9 bus routes are as follows:
  • 30: Reduced frequency on weekdays; same frequency on weekends.
  • 34: Route 34 extends to Legacy Place, stops serving the Dedham Mall.
  • 34E: All Route 34E trips serve Walpole Center.
  • 35: Route 35 extends consistent service to Dedham Mall all day; Route 35 and 36 together create all-day high-frequency corridor from Spring St @ Centre St to Forest Hills.
  • 36: Route 36 extends consistent service to Dedham Mall via VA Hospital and does not serve Millennium Park or Rivermoor Industrial Park.
  • 37: Replaced by a combination of the 35, 36, and 52 (Dedham Mall-Watertown Yard).
  • 40: Route 40 extends to Wolcott Sq to replace portion of 33 (Dedham Line-Mattapan) and does not serve Margaretta Dr, Crowne Point Dr, and Georgetowne Pl.
  • 50: Route 50 extends to Fairmount Ave to replace portion of 24 (Dedham Mall-Mattapan) and extends to Wolcott Sq; more evening & weekend service with simpler two-way service.
  • 51: Same route, and new Sunday service.
Thus far, none of these changes have been implemented, or in some cases have only been partially. I imagine that once some of these busses are extended, they will optimize the frequencies, probably by having them layover at their remote endpoints.
 
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samsongam said:
block improvements
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What has been told to me by a POC who lives over there - is that the senior leaders really really just don't want the bike lanes. That's a gentrification signifier too far - and the bus lanes sound more like shady business given the mayor's way of talking about it.

I really think that the shady way she's been going about this, unless she course corrects and starts living up to the progressive 'good governance' reputation, will result soon enough in the game of whispers killing any campaign she'll try to mount anywhere else.
 
If it gets bus lanes, I think it is 100% OK to not also put in separated bike lanes as a compromise. I say this as someone who only owns a bike as transportation. Stripe parking spots all the way up and down and then in ten years Mayor Mamdani can do quick build flex posts there.
 
Longfellow said:
If it gets bus lanes, I think it is 100% OK to not also put in separated bike lanes as a compromise. I say this as someone who only owns a bike as transportation. Stripe parking spots all the way up and down and then in ten years Mayor Mamdani can do quick build flex posts there.
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Yeah, I'm kind or reluctantly agreeing with this position. It's that whole perfect being the enemy of the good thing. The single most important transformation for Blue Hill Ave. would be bus lanes. If we can get that done, we will have made a hugely positive impact for thousands of people. I currently manage without bike lanes on Blue Hill Ave., mostly by selecting other route options. I can continue to do that.
 
Does anyone know what neighborhood opinion would be if, rather than bike lanes, the parking was replaced with widened sidewalks/greenery (which, sneakily, could become on-curb bike lanes in the future)? Put another way, is the neighboorhood against parking loss, or are they against parking loss *for the purpose of bike lanes*?

As a cyclist, I don't mind sidewalk riding when there's plenty of room for me to give pedestrians space.
 
Longfellow said:
If it gets bus lanes, I think it is 100% OK to not also put in separated bike lanes as a compromise. I say this as someone who only owns a bike as transportation. Stripe parking spots all the way up and down and then in ten years Mayor Mamdani can do quick build flex posts there.
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I'm not sure that the bike lanes are the main issue, this article gives a pretty comprehensive view of the process and opponents points and no mention of bike lanes. The leaders of the opposition are against loss of parking spots and loss of private car lanes, not bikes or even greenery (because as I understand it, green medians and tree planting on the sides are retained and expanded). Something that is mentioned is how the bus lane got removed on Boylston in Back Bay due to white wealthy and business interests. Shows how this becomes a slippery slope of fairness when you start capitulating to certain people and not others.

I agree that the bus lanes are more important than the bike lanes, but there's also an equity argument to be made against preventing bike transportation from being a viable option in Black nighborhoods. It leads to worse health and economic outcomes in the long run, which we know that minority neighborhoods are already subjected to. Also, what stops certain people bring up the same argument in the future? The primary reasons people bike are not due to race or culture, it's due to perceived safety. Continue keep it dangerous and you will continue to foster a community that is hostile to bikes. The way you turn opinion is not by capitulating to the loudest voices, it's by delivering results. It would be different if the community was wholely against this project, but the response is mixed. So just do the right thing now and in ten years it won't be an issue. I guess local politicians don't really think on that time scale though.
 
as02155 said:
Right now, the option appears to be no build or a compromised project.
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If removing bike lanes will get the bus lanes through, then sure that's an option. But the opposition leadership group is way more focused on the "drawbacks" of the bus lanes than bikes. I really don't see where they are looking to compromise on anything that doesn't lead to retained car lanes and more parking.
 
samsongam said:
If removing bike lanes will get the bus lanes through, then sure that's an option. But the opposition leadership group is way more focused on the "drawbacks" of the bus lanes than bikes. I really don't see where they are looking to compromise on anything that doesn't lead to retained car lanes and more parking.
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If only there were a way to quickly bring more people to the neighborhood businesses that doesn't require more parking? A high capacity vehicle with a lane that bypasses traffic -- such that you move more people, faster, with fewer cars? What could that be?
 
csindie.com

Why doesn't Phil Eng know how batteries work? - Cambridge | Somerville Independent

Since our transit system turned over in 2023 from the gentle touch of fiscal conservatism to its current leadership, a lot has changed at the MBTA. The T is finally making investments in maintenance, reliability has improved and communications are more detailed. At the center of it...
csindie.com csindie.com

I have picked up opinion writing. I definitely simplified things here but I think some may appreciate.
 
Longfellow said:
csindie.com

Why doesn't Phil Eng know how batteries work? - Cambridge | Somerville Independent

Since our transit system turned over in 2023 from the gentle touch of fiscal conservatism to its current leadership, a lot has changed at the MBTA. The T is finally making investments in maintenance, reliability has improved and communications are more detailed. At the center of it...
csindie.com csindie.com

I have picked up opinion writing. I definitely simplified things here but I think some may appreciate.
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This has certainly been brought up before, but I always like to add in these conversations that modern trolleybusses with modest batteries can handle discontinuous electrification, with wires only strung for part of the route. This means (mostly) less infrastructure to maintain, less overhead wires, and a lot more ease in handling diversions/road work. And of course, Dayton, OH started doing the work of converting a legacy trolleybus system to one with in motion charging over a decade ago. The last point being especially relevant to shame politicians and T leadership
 
I agree, and the best part about the technology is it *still has a battery* which means that it should be acceptable to our cognoscenti but alas
 
as02155 said:
What has been told to me by a POC who lives over there - is that the senior leaders really really just don't want the bike lanes. That's a gentrification signifier too far - and the bus lanes sound more like shady business given the mayor's way of talking about it.
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If I'm interpreting this the right way, this is extremely depressing. It's implying that lower income (and less white) neighborhoods are, by association, so closely linked to dangerous street design and car dependency, that you have to be middle or upper class just to be able to walk across the street without elevated risk of being killed by a reckless driver.
 
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