Crazy Transit Pitches

Fact: It's the only light rail/trolley to run through a cemetery in the US.
 
Commuting Boston Student said:
To each his own, I guess.

For me, I don't, so I took care of it.

I also made this.

Next on the docket is the Blue and Orange Lines, I think.
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I like this idea, but I wonder about extending yellow all the way to Needham. Personnaly I'm enamored of the old plan that used the Needham ROW for HRRT through to West Roxbury then branches more Southward to the Dedham Mall, which would be a perfect spot for TOD, especially if some version of the Indigo line also got there via Readville. The other thing you'd need to do, is extend the Orange Line from Forest Hills to meet up with the Yellow Line in Roslindale. It's too close to not have it terminate at a transfer station.


BussesAin'tTrains said:
Latest version of my crazy transit system


Voila
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And this is just downright awesome. Do you envision the Mattapan line being replaced by heavy rail (ie extending the Ashmont branch of the Red Line)? Have you thought about incorporating CBS' idea for a subway under Cummins Highway? This would give some great connectivity between outer branches and would not be a very long extension.
 
Commuting Boston Student said:
To each his own, I guess.

For me, I don't, so I took care of it.

I also made this.

Next on the docket is the Blue and Orange Lines, I think.
Click to expand...

I always wonder why people are so determined to extend more frequent transit to Needham. Sure, the Needham Line is one of the busier ones on the commuter rail system, but I think most Needhamites prefer it to a 20-stop subway ride downtown, especially if on a Green Line trolley (there's not much traffic between Needham and Mattapan/Dorchester, or JP/Roslindale if the connection were made by Orange Line, although the extended Green Line to Newton might see some traffic).

What Needham could really use is bus service along 135 between Dedham and Wellesley centers.
 
HenryAlan said:
And this is just downright awesome. Do you envision the Mattapan line being replaced by heavy rail (ie extending the Ashmont branch of the Red Line)? Have you thought about incorporating CBS' idea for a subway under Cummins Highway? This would give some great connectivity between outer branches and would not be a very long extension.
Click to expand...

Right; in this vision the Mattapan Line would be upgraded to an extension of the Ashmont Red Line. If the Cedar Grove Cemetery complicates updating the tracks, the line could alternatively be sunk either beneath Adam's St or Dorchester Ave to Milton Station, where a portal to the right of way on the surface would have to be built.

I have some other maps that include the line going further under the Cummins Highway to Roslindale. The issue I have with it is wether there's enough demand to get from Dorchester/Mattapan to Rozzie via a bypass of downtown to justify a two mile bore (more expensive)/ cut & cover (more disruptive) beneath Cummins Hwy. If existing or new bus line indicate the demand is there, it would make sense to add to the line. If not, then the Orange Line extension and bus operations ought to manage it.

I also have other maps (that I've posted further back in here) that have a larger outer loop to the urban ring (my Yellow Line LR system) which goes through Allston, Brighton, Brookline, Roxie, and Dot, which would let riders of my Red and Indigo lines transfer at Andrew Sq/Newmarket Sq and get to the Orange Line at Ruggles/Rox X-ing, and bypass downtown, thought it would be a two transfer trip...
 
HenryAlan said:
I like this idea, but I wonder about extending yellow all the way to Needham. Personnaly I'm enamored of the old plan that used the Needham ROW for HRRT through to West Roxbury then branches more Southward to the Dedham Mall, which would be a perfect spot for TOD, especially if some version of the Indigo line also got there via Readville. The other thing you'd need to do, is extend the Orange Line from Forest Hills to meet up with the Yellow Line in Roslindale. It's too close to not have it terminate at a transfer station.
Click to expand...

Done. (I'd actually planned on only having the Reading - Hyde Park Orange Line instead of the branches, but there you go.)

czsz said:
I always wonder why people are so determined to extend more frequent transit to Needham. Sure, the Needham Line is one of the busier ones on the commuter rail system, but I think most Needhamites prefer it to a 20-stop subway ride downtown, especially if on a Green Line trolley (there's not much traffic between Needham and Mattapan/Dorchester, or JP/Roslindale if the connection were made by Orange Line, although the extended Green Line to Newton might see some traffic).

What Needham could really use is bus service along 135 between Dedham and Wellesley centers.
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I don't think it's really apparent given how google maps is stubborn and doesn't like it when I try to put a complete system with all the stop markers into a single map (it likes to shove things randomly onto "page 2") and so I've been releasing things one line at a time and splitting things up into different maps so I avoid having to try and figure out under what rhyme or reason google maps says "this page is full now," and I've given up on the expanded Commuter Rail for now, (I have maps that are only stop markers with no lines if you guys want to see those) but...

I'm more determined to have rapid transit go from a hub-and-spoke system like we have now to a full on wheel. Needham is incidental, I was more concerned with better tying together the southbound ends of the Red, Orange and Green Lines. That's why I kept the Needham Line of the Commuter Rail, along with the potential for it to meander southwest into Medfield and Dover, and only cut down the number of stops so that you could theoretically get on at Needham Junction and have a four stop ride to Back Bay, or a five stop ride to South Station. Needhamites who don't want to suffer through a 20 stop ride don't have to.

And at the end of the day, I just really hate buses and love trains. I want to see as many subways inside of 128 as I can possibly cram in there, I want to see subway stations in every city and town inside of 495, and I want to see a Boston where you're never more than 2000 feet from a subway station no matter where you are, even if that's only on paper.

Speaking of which, stay tuned for that Blue Line extension I talked about earlier!
 
Commuting Boston Student said:
Done. (I'd actually planned on only having the Reading - Hyde Park Orange Line instead of the branches, but there you go.)
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There's no need to make a spur if you have the Orange meet Yellow along the NEC ROW. Just so long as the two lines cross at a transfer point.
 
^ CBS you can get them all on one page if you copy the KML link (right click on the "KML" hyperlink and hit "Copy Link Address" or whatever your browser calls it) and paste it into the GoogleMaps search bar. You can't edit it in that view, but it's good for a final presentation! :)
 
To make my lined map easier to comprehend, I've started to break it up into individual lines like CBS has done. So far I've only done my heavy rail lines. The light rail lines (Green and Yellow/Urban Ring) will follow I'm sure ...

Here they are, with some minimal explanation in the text:

Red Line

Blue Line

Orange Line

Indigo Line

Teal(?) Line

Eventually I might add stop markers to this, but the lines will do for now.
 
And at the end of the day, I just really hate buses and love trains. I want to see as many subways inside of 128 as I can possibly cram in there, I want to see subway stations in every city and town inside of 495, and I want to see a Boston where you're never more than 2000 feet from a subway station no matter where you are, even if that's only on paper.
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I think you've just won the 2012 ArchBoston Award for Craziest Transit Pitch (can we actually have this category, please?)
 
HenryAlan said:
There's no need to make a spur if you have the Orange meet Yellow along the NEC ROW. Just so long as the two lines cross at a transfer point.
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Well, it's there now, and I don't really feel like deleting it and sending the Saugus branch somewhere else, like onto the Blue Line.

BussesAin'tTrains said:
To make my lined map easier to comprehend, I've started to break it up into individual lines like CBS has done. So far I've only done my heavy rail lines. The light rail lines (Green and Yellow/Urban Ring) will follow I'm sure ... [/URL]

Eventually I might add stop markers to this, but the lines will do for now.
Click to expand...

Looking good!

Although, I always thought teal was a darker color than what you've got there, but that's splitting hairs over semantics. Keep up the good work!

czsz said:
I think you've just won the 2012 ArchBoston Award for Craziest Transit Pitch (can we actually have this category, please?)
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Yes!

I'd vote for me.
 
Commuting Boston Student said:
Looking good!

Although, I always thought teal was a darker color than what you've got there, but that's splitting hairs over semantics. Keep up the good work!
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You're right! I had it darker in an earlier map, but for some reason that I don't remember anymore I made it lighter! I guess I kept the name because it sounds better than Light Blue Line...
 
To my mind this is the least expensive way of bringing real transit to the Seaport, and connecting as much as possible with downtown and Cambridge:

http://g.co/maps/mdnt2
 
^ How about extending to East Broadway in Southie, then rejoining the Red Line mainline at JFK/UMass? Red Line trains could then go "Via Seaport" or "Via Dot Ave" (maybe 2/3 trains would go "Via Seaport" to serve its greater number of stops). You could extend this logic to the rest of the line and have Dot Ave trains go to Ashmont and Seaport trains to Braintree (since presumably more commuters would be heading to the Seaport).
 
Shepard said:
To my mind this is the least expensive way of bringing real transit to the Seaport, and connecting as much as possible with downtown and Cambridge:

http://g.co/maps/mdnt2
Click to expand...

Unless there's a costly signal upgrade from Broadway to Alewife, you'll have to take away from the Ashmont/Braintree headways. Better off Green Lining it.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
You're right! I had it darker in an earlier map, but for some reason that I don't remember anymore I made it lighter! I guess I kept the name because it sounds better than Light Blue Line...
Click to expand...

You could always call it the Turquoise Line.

Ergh. Honestly, I feel like that will be hands down the least satisfying Line to have mapped, and the Line I will be least happy with.

I'd set out to have an elevated rail along the various Waterfronts, serving a double purpose as scenic overlook/outlook and rapid transit, and then it just started growing out of my control and getting away from me.

I tried to curve around buildings once I got it into Boston, as well, having not wanted to plow through buildings OR bury the line.

All in all, definitely my worst performance.
 
Here's my map for the Green Line.

The dark lines represent the Green Line as shown in the full system map I posted above. The light lines are other possibilities, largely based on alterations to that map or from previous maps I've worked on.

Green Line

EDIT:

Here's my Yellow Line (Urban Ring) map. Brighter lines correspond to the full system map, while the light lines highlight other possibilities (albeit crazy tunnely ones)

Yellow Line
 
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HenryAlan said:
I've had that idea, too. Does anybody know whether the haul road still serves a useful purpose?
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The Bypass Road provides a truck route connecting the SE Expresssway to the Seaport. It also serves as a route for Seaport truck traffic that cannot use the tunnels under Fort Point Channel due to hauling unsuitable loads(explosives, etc.).
 
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