Crazy Transit Pitches

Ok so if I wanted to make purty maps like you guys where would I want to start off?
 
Yea, that is pretty cool. There is def some stuff we've been talking about. They totally should check our stuff out though! Davem's map is the ultimate fantasy map for sure and excellently made as well.
 
cbrett said:
Ok so if I wanted to make purty maps like you guys where would I want to start off?
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Graph paper. It's a critical tool for spatial relationship planning and understanding. Once you figure out what you want your scheme to look like, then you can take it into Gimp, Inkscape, Illustrator, etc and digitize it.
 
datadyne007 said:
Graph paper. It's a critical tool for spatial relationship planning and understanding. Once you figure out what you want your scheme to look like, then you can take it into Gimp, Inkscape, Illustrator, etc and digitize it.
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Yup. I used lots and lots and lots of paper. Then I dumped it into autocad for some better dimensioning. Then I dumped that into photoshop. Then I hated it and started over from scratch. But I never could have gotten to the end without all the trash first.

The iterative process is a bitch.
 
Matthew said:
South Boston is difficult to serve geographically because it's not "on the way" to somewhere else.

Restoration of the streetcar service would probably be the most sensible thing but, South Boston is the land where parking is valued more than human life.

Until that attitude changes, forget it.
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S. Boston is definitely not on the way to anything else except S. Boston, but I think if streetcar service was implemented in a smart way that maybe went through the Seaport Dist. direct to downtown that would lessen the need for cars there (similar to what Portland, OR is doing). In addition to that, if they introduced some higher frequency buses (the articulating capacity) then over a short time it may catch on and would become highly utilized. At least I would hope...
 
c_combat said:
Yea, that is pretty cool. There is def some stuff we've been talking about. They totally should check our stuff out though! Davem's map is the ultimate fantasy map for sure and excellently made as well.
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I just want to say again I never would have bothered taking it from CAD to the glossy product I've got now if you hadn't done yours first. I will admit I stole a lot from your style, it's beautiful.
 
davem said:
I just want to say again I never would have bothered taking it from CAD to the glossy product I've got now if you hadn't done yours first. I will admit I stole a lot from your style, it's beautiful.
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Thanks man! I'm real glad you did make your map cuz it really gets me thinking, as well as others, what could be done..
 
In London as well as many other cities, there are sporadic bus-only lanes, as well as short little street pieces that are entirely bus only, along many "normal" bus routes (in London no one would ever call the Silver BRT, nor would most places, I think)... One project, more modest in nature, would be to imagine where in the city bus only lanes could be placed, realistically and without much detriment to traffic. Certainly, I think bus only lanes on Broadway, although guaranteed to generate opposition, is a particularly long stretch that would be of great potential.
 
I'd guess that most places where there's a lane currently dedicated to street parking can be converted into a bus lane - you'd just have to lose the parking. London has virtually zero street parking in the City and West End (one reason why the garages in the center are priced only for bankers, Sheikhs and Russian oligarchs)

I think the entire routes of the #1 and #66 should receive that treatment. (I'd also add the 39 and 57, but, then, why not just bring back the streetcars!)

On some major arteries around Boston you could even lose a travel lane or two - Blue Hill Ave, Melnea Cass, Columbus Ave - I'm looking at you.
 
We need to beg the T just to add more off peak service to the 66. It's ridiculous to have twenty minute headways on the third busiest bus in the system.
 
Matthew said:
We need to beg the T just to add more off peak service to the 66. It's ridiculous to have twenty minute headways on the third busiest bus in the system.
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It is downright pathetic. SOOOO many students go back and fourth from Allston to Harvard Sq. and When it's not "rush hour" one has to wait for ages for a 66...

MBTA is Shameful.

Not to mention I had to take a $20 cab ride to work the other day from Harvard Ave because for some reason there was no Friday night inbound service for the half hour I stood there in the rain. And the people that were waiting with me had waited an additional 20 mins before me. Oh yea, and that was the Green Line.....
 
I always thought Tremont along the Common would be a great spot for this, form Park Street to Boylston. You have the 43, 55, and SL5 that all run that same stretch.
 
Future_MBTA_System_Map_Olympics_Version.jpg


I think this is my final draft. Though it may be crazy, only an olympic-funded endevour would ever make this a possibility. I've branded the "indigo line" the "city express" indigo line sounds kinda dumb.. since it's sort of a short distance commuter rail, i'd like to call it something that is more in-line of what it is. I'd rather it be electric too (EMU). Plus A high frequency on that route would be a very good thing toward Boston Landing where there is a transfer to traditional commuter rail. The City Express would terminate at N. Station though, taking advantage of The BU bridge, following MIT, Kendall, and N. E. Cambridge areas as the traditional commuter rail would continue on as-is thru Yawkey and S. Station (via Back Bay).

I think all this would be better supplemented with major bus routes ("key bust routes" [I don't know what 'key' really means, and it sounds pretty stupid as well - key to what?]) being served with better frequency - ie. 66, 1, 7, etc.

But only with some Olympic funding and local support would this ever even be imaginable.
 
Two issues:
1) It looks like you accidentally clicked a point when making the CR lines, theres a random purple dot above the (B) Boston college.

2) Access to Yawkey, Back Bay and South Station is a huge benefit to the DMU line from Newton and New Balance. It makes it somewhat less useful to have it go to NS. Perhaps two lines, one to NS and the other to SS would be possible?
 
That is true, that development in good old Brighton may be better connected to S. Station. Two lines though may make for a more confusing route, perhaps. I really want to take advantage of the bridge at BU for some reason, because it exists, but it may cost more to rehabilitate it maybe. I know its a nice spot to drink a 40 and watch the time go by. Maybe if there were two city express lines that alternated N. and S. stations?

Being an urban planner must be hard...
 
c_combat said:
That is true, that development in good old Brighton may be better connected to S. Station. Two lines though may make for a more confusing route, perhaps. I really want to take advantage of the bridge at BU for some reason, because it exists, but it may cost more to rehabilitate it maybe. I know its a nice spot to drink a 40 and watch the time go by. Maybe if there were two city express lines that alternated N. and S. stations?

Being an urban planner must be hard...
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Yeah, the primary commuting patterns skew heavily towards the Back Bay, although some do go to Cambridge. I'd say having the line split with alternate NS and SS runs would be perfect.

Also, there is almost certainty going to be a "west" station (Allston Landing?) within the next few years. Newton Corner will probably be getting a stop as well.
 
c_combat said:
But only with some Olympic funding and local support would this ever even be imaginable.
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I think you're seriously overestimating the amount of stuff the Olympics would get build. We would maybe get Red/Blue, BLX to Lynn, partial electrification of Framingham and Lowell lines, commuter rail extensions into NH/NHDOT funding their own CR to Boston, GLX to Harvard (and a buried B-Line to BU), and some sort of Green Line connection to the transit-way. Honestly, I'd be surprised if we got that much.

Local support is a whole other animal. That scratches Red to Waltham immediately - it will take decades to grind down the Belmont NIMBYs. Nothing else on your map is too invasive into Not-Used-To-Trains/Construction-Areas though.

Engineering difficulties are another one - your biggest problem probably being the Green/Transitway connection (I know, I know, we've discussed it already).

The biggest issue obviously is $$. And the Olympics aren't going to raise the Sochi-style numbers that would be required to pay for this sort of transit overhaul.

I do love your map though! Don't mistake my criticism for distaste :)
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
I think you're seriously overestimating the amount of stuff the Olympics would get build. We would maybe get Red/Blue, BLX to Lynn, partial electrification of Framingham and Lowell lines, commuter rail extensions into NH/NHDOT funding their own CR to Boston, GLX to Harvard (and a buried B-Line to BU), and some sort of Green Line connection to the transit-way. Honestly, I'd be surprised if we got that much.
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If those things were to be built in my lifetime, I think I would be very content with that ...
 
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