General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[Jahvon09]

Yeah,I read about it on their website. The Green Line is still shut down in that area. Given that it is somewhat of a problem with that area being packed & crowded, the MBTA will stop the shuttle buses & encourage riders to take the Orange Line to North Station, get off their & take the Green Line to their final destinations.

 

[dhawkins]

Just a positive review of the system. Car has been in the shop for a week so I've been using the green and redline daily , a couple buses and even the commuter rail to South Acton. The whole system as a whole is running well as far as I'm concerned, even the orange line transfer thru haymarket was surprising this morning with plenty of guides to direct folks around! Plenty of people using it. Even the Fitchburg line at 10PM last night had about 30 people on it going inbound, and surprisingly not everyone was going to the end of the line in Boston. About 6 or so were traveling between West Concord and Brandeis. I don't think I've noticed that before. The only two draw backs; I don't think Porter Sq has been washed since year 2000 and 10PM on the South Acton platform, I was waiting for a coyote to come out of the tall grass.

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[RandomWalk]

All the Red Line Northwest extension stations are reaching their design lifetimes (~35 years). Sadly, there is no program to rebuild them, even to a state of good repair.

 

[Stlin]

Hidden in the R-TAG presentation, I don't recall hearing about these before. Looks like an extension of the platform level info/ad panels and the outdoor info panel program by bringing it to the station "lobby" - by which I hope they mean headhouse. I haven't seen this in person yet, but I'm hopeful it communicates real time transfer information as well.

 

[Urban_Hermit]

I was just waiting at Arlington Street station and noticed theses boxes spaced every 10ish feet. (See below) Does anybody know what they are?

 

[The EGE]

There's an item in the CIP about rebuilding the trackway at Arlington and Copley because LRV doors keep hitting the platform. Perhaps related to that?

 

[Stlin]

So quietly amongst the many elevator and accessibility projects, the T has slid this in: apparently, North Station is getting an underground "pedestrian bridge?" Presumably so they can get to somewhere there they can fit an elevator from near the existing South side entrance, but it's a novel approach. Why call it that and not a mezzanine extension? Also, it looks like they're using the overall elevator project to include some SGR and light brightening upgrades on the stations they're touching: new lighting, electrical systems, wayfinding, repairs and replacement of flooring and glazing, with the Davis headhouse on Holland looking like it's going to get the most visible touch.

 

[RandomWalk]

It’s remarkable that the North Station “superstation” is new enough that it post dates the ADA, and yet they need to touch it in the accessibility projects.

 

[Stlin]

It’s remarkable that the North Station “superstation” is new enough that it post dates the ADA, and yet they need to touch it in the accessibility projects.

Its not that North, or the other stations being touched as part of this project are inaccessible, per se. They just don't have redundancy or have gaps in accessibility and less than ideal travel paths. I.e., only one entrance / headhouse might have an elevator, and/or there's only a single elevator to each platform or the mezzanine, leading to the station/platform becoming inaccessible in the case of an elevator outage. That's the case at North Station, Davis and all of these stations being touched as part of this project. Its not an full scope accessible rebuild - its just making accessibility more reliable and fixing annoyances, and that logic is why every GLX station has either multiple elevators or an available path that doesn't require one.

 

[The EGE]

Because of the tireless work of disability advocates, standards for accessibility have come a long way in the quarter-century since North Station was designed. No longer are single elevators at a single entrance acceptable, especially for busy rapid transit stations. As Stlin pointed out, this group of projects is adding redundant elevators - mostly at additional entrances - to stations that are already accessible. The MBTA is doing a remarkable job - in large part due to the BCIL's 2004 lawsuit - not only at making stations accessible, but of not making that accessibility a thing.

In the Bay Area, for most systems, accessibility is a thing. By that I mean this: using the accessible portions of the system is difficult, often requires help from employees, and usually takes more time than non-accessible paths of travel. Even the newest BART stations only have single elevators, and many of the older elevators are at the end of dark, uncomfortable passages. Many are outside fare control, meaning you have to also pass by the main fare array or use a single accessible faregate. (Better hope it works, because it's nowhere near the agent booth.) If the single elevator is out of service, they have to call you a paratransit vehicle to take you to a nearby station. (Most of the time, it's faster to just take the bus yourself.) Only some Muni Metro surface stops are accessible - many are just planned to never be accessible - and most of those that are require using a separate ramp and having the train stop twice. Parking is allowed at many bus stops, so the bus has to pull into the crosswalk to use the ramp.

When stations have multiple accessible entrances and redundant elevators, when elevators are along the main path of travel within normal fare control, when stations have full-length accessible platforms so everyone has level boarding, when every station is accessible so you don't have to triple-check the map, accessibility stops being a thing. Navigating the system with a mobility device (or a stroller, or a cart of groceries...) is just as fast, comfortable, and convenient as using the stairs. There are currently 14 MBTA elevators and escalators out of service (most for a few days of maintenance), yet there are no stations that have been made fully inaccessible by those closures.

 

[JeffDowntown]

I would also point out that accessibility infrastructure also works for travelers with luggage.

If you expect travelers to routinely use public transit to access Logan or our major rail terminals, you need to provide good infrastructure for rolling suitcases.

 

[bigeman312]

I would also point out that accessibility infrastructure also works for travelers with luggage.

If you expect travelers to routinely use public transit to access Logan or our major rail terminals, you need to provide good infrastructure for rolling suitcases.

And bicycles. And strollers. Etc, etc.

 

[RandomWalk]

Working in computers, I naturally think about N+1 redundancy. I had not realized that accessibility standards didn’t work along similar lines.

I am thankful that the T is far ahead of many other US transit agencies on accessibility. The BART system and NYC MTA both seem to be lagging.

 

[The EGE]

BART is an oddity as accessibility goes - it was pre ADA, but disabled advocacy resulted in elevators being built with the original stations. It was ahead of its time in 1972, and far behind its time in 2022. The $2.4 billion Berryessa extension, opened in 2020, has only one unreliable elevator per station platform. (The parking garages have 4-6 each, though, because god forbid the suburbanites have to wait to get to their Tesla.)

Even the value-engineered GLX stations are better than that. Lechmere has three elevators across two headhouses, Gilman two across two, and Medford/Tufts and Magoun two in a single headhouse. Union and Ball only have one each, but both have a fully accessible non-elevator entrance as well. East Somerville should have an elevator to shorten the path, but it's not the worst ramp I've seen.

 

[jass]

BART is an oddity as accessibility goes - it was pre ADA, but disabled advocacy resulted in elevators being built with the original stations. It was ahead of its time in 1972, and far behind its time in 2022. The $2.4 billion Berryessa extension, opened in 2020, has only one unreliable elevator per station platform. (The parking garages have 4-6 each, though, because god forbid the suburbanites have to wait to get to their Tesla.)

Even the value-engineered GLX stations are better than that. Lechmere has three elevators across two headhouses, Gilman two across two, and Medford/Tufts and Magoun two in a single headhouse. Union and Ball only have one each, but both have a fully accessible non-elevator entrance as well. East Somerville should have an elevator to shorten the path, but it's not the worst ramp I've seen.

DC was also built fully with elevators pre-ADA.

But thats because they cared about rider comfort. It was all about attracting people to transit. Padded seats. Carpets. Air conditioned stations. Escalators.

We've completely reverted back to hating transit riders

 

[The EGE]

In March, I happened to see some old tiles exposed during repair work at Copley. These were the original blue-and-white tile bands; they separated the granolithic floor from the terrazzo lower walls, and the terrazzo from the plaster upper walls.

 

[notthemonthaugust]

In March, I happened to see some old tiles exposed during repair work at Copley. These were the original blue-and-white tile bands; they separated the granolithic floor from the terrazzo lower walls, and the terrazzo from the plaster upper walls.

View attachment 23364

Is there any repair work activity happening here? Every time I've been through Copley I just see the fences up in front of the broken bits, and the wall seems to be collapsing inward more and more...

I'd be curious to know a) the reasons for the settlement/shifting (something about the neighboring library?), and b) the timeline to address it, if any.

 

[Stlin]

Is there any repair work activity happening here? Every time I've been through Copley I just see the fences up in front of the broken bits, and the wall seems to be collapsing inward more and more...

I'd be curious to know a) the reasons for the settlement/shifting (something about the neighboring library?), and b) the timeline to address it, if any.

As I recall reading somewhere here, Back Bay is basically just barely land. there's apparently a lot of trapped water down there dating to the original landfill and apparently the buildings around here are on wooden stilts as a result. Any changes to the water table evidently goes poorly - When they renovated the station ~15 years ago, they managed to cause enough shifting to crack Trinity Church.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Copley damage is related to hydrostatic water seepage.

 

[The EGE]

An interesting discovery I made in March: a single pole from the old Gladstone Loop is still intact:

The loop was actually a small yard, located in what is now a wooded area north of Suffolk Downs station. It was built in 1930 (along the existing Orient Heights–Revere Beach streetcar line) and was in use until 1952. It's been heavily reclaimed by nature; the undergrowth was not easy to navigate even in winter. Only the pole, a few feet of rail laying around, and hints of the embankment of the Revere Beach line gave any clue to its former use. Here's what the loop looked like in the late 1930s, with the 1935-built spur to Suffolk Downs at left.

 

[stick n move]

Pretty crazy to see how devoid of trees so many areas were back then compared to today. That spot to the right of suffolk downs is damn near a little forest today. Ive actually done a little bit of reading on reforestation in new england and its actually reforested a massive amount. The vast majority came about by just leaving the areas alone and letting them grow naturally. Pretty cool.