General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[Riverside]

(If memory serves, the B Line alone serves more riders than the entire North Side Commuter Rail.)

The 2014 Blue Book is the easiest to reference quickly:

My read of the 2018 data (which should be taken with a grain of salt) puts the northside a little above 21K (against a system total of 63.5K), and the B just below 21K.

So, not quite more than the northside, but the B Line is definitely in the same ballpark as the entire northside.

 

[HenryAlan]

BU would become the busiest stop on the entire surface system if they were combined, which would raise some questions to me as to if you actually get any operational improvements out of it or if you just wind up with longer dwell times + more platform crowding issues, especially with the (from my impression) somewhat peaky nature of college student ridership.

Agreed, I just don't see any feasible justification for consolidating BU East and Central. Yes, they are close together, but the ridership density is such that it makes more sense to maintain them as distinct stations. I think you could, however, shift BU East to the other side of Granby Street, then eliminate Blanford.

 

[TheRatmeister]

I think you could, however, shift BU East to the other side of Granby Street, then eliminate Blanford.

This is indeed mentioned as a possibility in the presentation.

 

[thepianoperson]

One would hope that the T would create these new level boarding platforms to the Type-10 Spec, or at least plan it to be easily expanded in the near future... right?

They won’t be at the Type 10 spec until all Type 7s and 8s are gone from the system - since their doors open out they don’t allow level-boarding height platforms, the interim condition is 8” platforms like the rest of the current accessible green line stations (so bridge plates from the train will work), designed (like all other recent upgrades) to be relatively easy to convert to true level boarding when the time comes.
Edit- mixed up numbers

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

They won’t be at the Type 10 spec until all Type 8s and 9s are gone from the system - since their doors open out they don’t allow level-boarding height platforms, the interim condition is 8” platforms like the rest of the current accessible green line stations (so bridge plates from the train will work), designed (like all other recent upgrades) to be relatively easy to convert to true level boarding when the time comes.

I think you meant Type 7's and 8's. The Type 9's have the same plug doors the Type 10's will have and should have no problems with the raised platforms.

 

[CheapLeak]

I think you meant Type 7's and 8's. The Type 9's have the same plug doors the Type 10's will have and should have no problems with the raised platforms.

I think the Type 10s will be slightly taller IIRC.

 

[Delvin4519]

West Wedgemere station?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1796976176805585183

 

[Stlin]

West Wedgemere station?

View attachment 51069

https://twitter.com/x/status/1796976176805585183

I bet the social media person typed West Medford first, then didn't hit backspace enough

 

[HubCat]

ApartmentAdvisor just put out a report on the avg 1-BR rent for apts along the T (half-mile radius) -- they have a listing for every stop. Here is a link to the report: AvgRent-T

Most expensive: South Station at $3,860
Least: Wollaston at $1,950

 

[Stlin]

Back in November we saw the Board Presentation for the Capital Needs assessment, but in April the T quietly posted the actual report, dated 4/5/2024, to its website. It isn't spectacularly more detailed than the board presentation, but it does include a more detailed breakdown by asset class.

https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2024-04-05-mbta-cnai-report-final.pdf

 

[Delvin4519]

Green Line central subway tunnel downtown has a crippling failure in the middle of a downtown Orange Line shutdown. (Originally stated reason was a disabled streetcar in the GL downtown tunnel)

No regularly scheduled service between Kenmore/Copley and Govy; except for shuttles; as both the GL and the OL downtown are both offline.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1797693900821532870

EDITED to add a news article from WCVB:

Part of Green Line shut down for hours due to power issue on train

The MBTA said nearly 50 riders were on the disabled train had a problem with its pantograph, which connects the train to overhead power lines.

www.wcvb.com

From the article:

Those Orange Line riders had been advised to either use shuttle buses between Wellington and North Station, or use the Green Line between North Station and Copley — which was not an option during the service suspension caused by the pantograph problem.

 

[stefal]

Maybe there's another thread for this, but the MBTA is more vocally/officially discussing an Alewife TOD RFP in the coming weeks. It's a shame this wasn't a few years earlier, they'd probably have developers piling on their door steps to put some labs up.

Link

Also notable:

The agency also is eyeing future transit-oriented developments at JFK-UMass station in Dorchester, Andrew station in South Boston and the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn.

 

[TheRatmeister]

Maybe there's another thread for this, but the MBTA is more vocally/officially discussing an Alewife TOD RFP in the coming weeks.

"We have a garage that is in very, very poor condition and the decision has been made that it should come down"

 

[RandomWalk]

That probably explains why there has been zero movement on repairing the atrium.

 

[Aprehensive_Words]

It's a shame this wasn't a few years earlier, they'd probably have developers piling on their door steps to put some labs up.

OTOH once financing eases maybe we'll get some housing there. Although that will probably depend on the state and/or city being willing to assist with demo costs.

 

[stefal]

OTOH once financing eases maybe we'll get some housing there. Although that will probably depend on the state and/or city being willing to assist with demo costs.

The article quotes the director saying they're being realistic about housing not being as lucrative, and this project has some pretty large sunk costs already...

 

[StreetsblogMASS]

The new North Station drawbridge is shaping up to be another unfulfilled Big Dig promise:

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2024/0...lude-a-long-promised-walkway-to-north-station

 

[bakgwailo]

Random question, but, anyone come across a more up to date status of the Franklin Line Double Tracking project? From what I can tell, Phase 2 is still underway. It was supposed to be done in 2020, put on pause, and funding restored beginning of 2022, with the last communication being Poftak putting out a letter saying it's still underway which doesn't instill confidence. Phase 3 was supposed to be design complete in 2020 with the completion of Phase 2. The MBTA's project page is woefully out of date with Phase 2 being projected for a 2020 completion still.

Also, with the Phase 2 completion, the MBTA projected it will allow 35 vs 45 minute headways. Will Phase 3 and essentially fully double tracking the line allow 15 or 20 minutes headways or better? Will any of this allow faster travel on the line? It is ~30 mi and currently looks to take about an hour and 5 minutes or an hour and 13 minutes (guessing this is NEC vs Fairmont line routing), which seems pretty meh to average 30 mph.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Random question, but, anyone come across a more up to date status of the Franklin Line Double Tracking project? From what I can tell, Phase 2 is still underway. It was supposed to be done in 2020, put on pause, and funding restored beginning of 2022, with the last communication being Poftak putting out a letter saying it's still underway which doesn't instill confidence. Phase 3 was supposed to be design complete in 2020 with the completion of Phase 2. The MBTA's project page is woefully out of date with Phase 2 being projected for a 2020 completion still.

Also, with the Phase 2 completion, the MBTA projected it will allow 35 vs 45 minute headways. Will Phase 3 and essentially fully double tracking the line allow 15 or 20 minutes headways or better? Will any of this allow faster travel on the line? It is ~30 mi and currently looks to take about an hour and 5 minutes or an hour and 13 minutes (guessing this is NEC vs Fairmont line routing), which seems pretty meh to average 30 mph.

Nothing faster. Franklin is pretty delay-prone, especially on the segment shared with Foxboro trains (the original F'boro trial was pretty much a disaster for overall Franklin OTP). So the DT segments bring its schedule reliability up a lot, and may allow the T to strip out some excess padding in the schedules. All 3 phases will allow for true clockfacing schedules both for Forge Park and Foxboro. There's nothing more they'd need to do for Regional Rail except take care of the somewhat woeful state of station accessibility on the line.

Note that Franklin-to-Forge Park really drags out the schedules because of the slow speed of the curvy Milford Branch. South Station to Franklin/Dean only takes about 1:04, which is pretty representative for other lines reaching 495. But that last stop over 2.8 miles takes 10-12 minutes unto itself. And unfortunately there's really nothing you can do to speed it up other than recoup maybe 1 minute with EMU's and better speed recovery off the curve penalties. Unfortunately the line geometry is what it is.

 

[Stlin]

Random question, but, anyone come across a more up to date status of the Franklin Line Double Tracking project? From what I can tell, Phase 2 is still underway. It was supposed to be done in 2020, put on pause, and funding restored beginning of 2022, with the last communication being Poftak putting out a letter saying it's still underway which doesn't instill confidence. Phase 3 was supposed to be design complete in 2020 with the completion of Phase 2. The MBTA's project page is woefully out of date with Phase 2 being projected for a 2020 completion still.

Also, with the Phase 2 completion, the MBTA projected it will allow 35 vs 45 minute headways. Will Phase 3 and essentially fully double tracking the line allow 15 or 20 minutes headways or better? Will any of this allow faster travel on the line? It is ~30 mi and currently looks to take about an hour and 5 minutes or an hour and 13 minutes (guessing this is NEC vs Fairmont line routing), which seems pretty meh to average 30 mph.

The Google Earth Imagery from 4/25/23 is identical to 2021, but it looks like they got most of the work done back then - it appears they only have ~1.5 miles of track to put in. It is still programmed in the CIP, but the T has Keolis doing quite a bit of stuff these days.