Salem St in Malden is a relatively active bus corridor, so I agree that a Broadway/Eastern looks intriguing. That said, Broadway is where the Salem St routes diverge; the lower frequency "branches" from that corridor could potentially be redirected to a transfer terminal at Linden Square, and leave Salem St itself for a short taut service pinging from Malden Center to Linden Square or Northgate. That probably lowers the competitiveness for a Broadway/Eastern station a bit.
Broadway/Eastern serves the purpose of a bus hub for Route 99 service. The 106, 411, and 430 all have a better home there and creating a 108 equivalent for Eastern Ave (the 105 doesn't make it) makes that area ripe for redevelopment. The 108 could terminate there, but if an Everett line went to Linden, I would terminate it there. For the 411, Having the Everett subway set up the way
@ritchiew and I describe allows it to be way more focused. It terminates at Eastern/Broadway, hits the high density residential on the cliffsides, hits Linden, skips Northgate, goes to Revere-Broadway and Wonderland. I have more to this but it hinges on the Chelsea Revere Subway, so hang on.
Linden Square was the most surprising data point to me. Combine that with the possibility of TOD at Northgate plus a park-n-ride for Route 1, and I think you've got a pretty interesting case for a station here. But, getting back to my original point, it's not obvious that it must be a station on an Everett line -- you could reach Linden/Northgate by way of:
- Orange branch from Malden Center via Northern Strand
- Everett Broadway service
- Something along Route 1 (i.e. a Tobin Bridge service)
- Chelsea/Revere Broadway
I agree with this but I also don't know how to solve the puzzle. For example, I don't agree, in the the mid-to-long term that Route 1 deserves rail transit the way
@samsongam 's map wonderfully incorporates everything we're talking about here (Although you did convince me that Sweetser Circle is a must). I look at the Orange line on one side, the blue on the other, and I see the triangle wedge where there's nothing but bus (and that one commuter rail stop). Where is the residential density? Where do the buses take people because that's where the locals go? Where is the industry, commercial, and job potential corridors? Which buses are stretched thin to make it to the rail lines?
@vanshnookenraggen 's
blog post about "Build[ing] Transit Where It’s Most Effective, Not Where It’s Least Expensive" sticks with me the most when I conceptualize the MBTA (and any transit really). We are so starved for money that we appear, to me at least, to be making short term decisions for cost that have long term weaknesses. Route 1 service is that. A Chelsea Everett subway under Broadway to Bellingham square, up Washington to an Urban Ring connection (in a perfect world, that would come to Bellingham itself), then on to Cary Square, then back to Broadway around Webster Ave, with it continuing to the Rotary at the junction of 60 and 107 is to me the clear winner. It touches or comes within short shuttle distance of all of the places where people are or want to go in a way that easily interfaces with a spiderweb-like bus network that can connect all four routes to the other places. For example, a bus that uses the 104 route from Malden center to Ferry St in Everett, then uses the 110 that connects to Glendale over to Broadway in Revere, then follows the 119 over to Beachmont becomes an easy feeder/outer ring for all the lines. This setup is extremely repeatable at all levels of this area because of the strong main thoroughfares with cross roads that go roughly all the way from one side to the other.
Here's what I mean about the puzzle, though: It's clear where the lines should go through the current density, but after that we are space making. Does the Blue line got to Lynn via Point of pines or the Eastern ROW? Does a Chelsea/Revere Broadway line go to Lynn via the Eastern ROW or Does it go Northwest to Northgate? Does a future Route 1 ROW Push on the destination of a Chelsea/Revere Line? Should the Everett subway keep going up Broadway or take the Northern Strand to Linden? If it goes to Linden, should it go to Northgate? Do we provision for the Northern Strand to have it's own line or is Main Street the actual place that needs transit? Is OL on the Northern Strand to Malden Center worth it if Rivers Edge and the Fellsway Neighborhood is densifying? The topography of the general termini points is really limiting and it doesn't feel like there are concrete answers, but, whatever we choose to build first and second will become locked in (in the same way that the Northern Strand itself is being looked at as viable now despite historically serving Linden and Saugus as an express once streetcars took away the inner passengers because they actually went where the people were).
Agreed, though I do still agree with
@ritchiew that it's not strong enough on its own. (And it is true that the ROW I drew I could pose engineering challenges.)
I really think this is a lock. If the private sector interest wants it, it's happening. This is where I think I run afoul of you and
@TheRatmeister. In our funding starved world it seems to me that you both favor the minimum builds that reach people where they are now where as I would rather spend more on a project that includes those things but also spends that extra bit to capitalize on political momentum that sets up future density. Look at Arlington kicking itself now. There's no doubt that that area is a wasteland, but put a train station on the ring and it's over and much faster redevelopment than something like a Roslindale +1 because it's rebuilding industrial/parking lots. Don't downplay the power of the potential especially that close to the actual urban core of Boston because I think we're witnessing the birth of a new power node akin to Kendall and Longwood (factoring in Assembly as part of this).
Yes, but that's combined over a distance of 1,000 feet. "Glendale"'s ridership significantly increases if considered over a comparable area.
I think Broadway/Lynn is a good example of a challenge with an Everett Line: as strong as Linden/Northgate appears to be, it's not a strong enough anchor, nor is there a consistent enough corridor between it and "Square", for it to be "obvious" that an Everett Line should run all the way to it. Which means, each potential station isn't just an "infill", but rather represents x additional feet of subway extension. An Everett Subway running from "Square" to Broadway/Lynn would be half again as expensive as one that terminates at Glendale.
The upside to that is that you can do an Everett Subway in phases more easily than some extensions. "Square" as Phase 1, "Glendale" as Phase 2, etc etc.
A train is going to have a bigger walkshed so those combinations need to be understood that way. As someone who lives on the GLX but doesn't use it for my everyday commute, I am constantly surprised to see people clearly walking to the Green line from further than I am waiting for my bus that arrives in two minutes and stops approximate to the station. People do not often ride the 89 and 80 to Ball Square station from Magoun Square to take the train but I do see them walking to the train. They are even removing the 80 bus into Gilman (not that I agree with that) The same was true for Holland street into Davis when I lived in Teele square. This is why I think that a phase one Everett Subway should end at Glendale/Ferry St; why build a whole subway for one station when the other two are already established for the UR. Phase 2 could be Eastern Ave or all the way to Northgate or Salem Street or what have you (also a Phase 3 idea).
As for the Broadway infill? If we have a Sweetser station, Square, and Glendale it's tough to justify because the square station should be Chelsea street headed north. While it is a hill, the core is really the only other place in the metro that is that tight.
