Longfellow
Active Member
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- Dec 12, 2023
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Tack on West Station there. I agree GL to Nubian is necessary, but I don't think we'll get it. I also never hear any buzz about BLX to lynn either.
With South Coast Rail open and nothing else under construction*, the question becomes: what's the next transit expansion for the region? This is my list of plausible candidates - i.e, those projects that are sufficiently in the public consciousness that them being under construction within a decade seems possible.
* There is BRT-lite planned for Columbus/Tremont between Jackson Square and Ruggles within the next few years, but that's hardly a major project.
Rapid transit:
Commuter rail:
- BLX to Lynn
- Red-Blue Connector
- GLX to Route 16
- GLX to Porter
- GLX to Needham
- GLX to Hyde Square
- RLX to Arlington
- RLX to Mattapan
- OLX to Roslindale or West Roxbury
- Tech Square infill
- Edgemont (Medford Street) infill
- Port Norfolk/Neponset infill
- Automation of one of the rapid transit lines
Rubber tire:
- Lowell Line extension to Nashua
- Franklin Line extension to Milford
- Providence Line extension to Kingston
- South Coast Rail Phase 2
- Battleship Cove station (technically included in SCR Phase 2)
- Middleborough-Buzzards Bay shuttle service
- Old Colony Main Line double-tracking
- South Salem infill station
- West Station
- Everett infill station
- River Works opened for full public service
- Infill station(s) in Rhode Island
- Other proposed infill stations (Weston/128, Montvale, Union Square, Revere, North Abington, Newton Corner, etc)
- Full electric service on the Fairmount Line (every 20 minutes, all day, 7 days a week)
- Full electric service on another line
- NSRL
- SL3 extension to Sullivan
- BRT on Blue Hill Avenue
- BRT on Rutherford Avenue
- Downtown bus corridor (Congress Street)
- Decent quality BRT on another corridor (Seaver, Hyde Park, ...?)
- 24/7 bus service on major routes
- Full completion of Bus Network Redesign service changes
It’s okay. You’re new here. Welcome to NIMBYville, bro.With South Coast Rail open and nothing else under construction*, the question becomes: what's the next transit expansion for the region? This is my list of plausible candidates - i.e, those projects that are sufficiently in the public consciousness that them being under construction within a decade seems possible.
* There is BRT-lite planned for Columbus/Tremont between Jackson Square and Ruggles within the next few years, but that's hardly a major project.
Rapid transit:
Commuter rail:
- BLX to Lynn
- Red-Blue Connector
- GLX to Route 16
- GLX to Porter
- GLX to Needham
- GLX to Hyde Square
- RLX to Arlington
- RLX to Mattapan
- OLX to Roslindale or West Roxbury
- Tech Square infill
- Edgemont (Medford Street) infill
- Port Norfolk/Neponset infill
- Automation of one of the rapid transit lines
Rubber tire:
- Lowell Line extension to Nashua
- Franklin Line extension to Milford
- Providence Line extension to Kingston
- South Coast Rail Phase 2
- Battleship Cove station (technically included in SCR Phase 2)
- Middleborough-Buzzards Bay shuttle service
- Old Colony Main Line double-tracking
- South Salem infill station
- West Station
- Everett infill station
- River Works opened for full public service
- Infill station(s) in Rhode Island
- Other proposed infill stations (Weston/128, Montvale, Union Square, Revere, North Abington, Newton Corner, etc)
- Full electric service on the Fairmount Line (every 20 minutes, all day, 7 days a week)
- Full electric service on another line
- NSRL
- SL3 extension to Sullivan
- BRT on Blue Hill Avenue
- BRT on Rutherford Avenue
- Downtown bus corridor (Congress Street)
- Decent quality BRT on another corridor (Seaver, Hyde Park, ...?)
- 24/7 bus service on major routes
- Full completion of Bus Network Redesign service changes
It’s okay. You’re new here. Welcome to NIMBYville, bro.
I knew that…I knew
Isn’t the Blue Hill Ave busway starting construction next year?My 2035 list.
Rapid transit:
Buses:
- Red-Blue Connector
- GLE to Hyde Square
- GLC stop consolidation
Commuter rail:
- BNRD completion
- SL3 extension to Sullivan Square
- SL6 launched between Glendale (or possibly Chelsea) and Kendall
- Rutherford Ave and Everett Lower Broadway busways used by SL6 (and SL3 for the latter)
- If we're lucky, Blue Hill Ave busway
- Battleship Cove
- West Station
- West Lynn
- Existing Newton stations rebuilt, and thus Framingham Line no longer needs to switch tracks for AM/PM peak
- Battery electric trains on the Fairmount Line
- If we're lucky, (non-battery) electric trains on the Providence Line
Isn’t the Blue Hill Ave busway starting construction next year?
Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan | Projects | MBTA
Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.www.mbta.com
That is the schedule, and accordingly I think "if we're lucky" by 2035 is too pessimistic. That being said considering it a done deal is also too optimistic, and if you are a Boston resident and/or regularly use the corridor I would strongly suggest you be in touch with your local and state representatives about this project's importance and making sure this receives funding. It's not being funded by the MPO, so it's insulated against even the worst case federal scenarios, but I wouldn't count on anything until construction has actually started.
Everyone here should know better than to assume a published schedule means, frankly, anything.
The MBTA posted the PDFs and there's a lot of secret hidden frequency reductions in those "to improve reliability" statements.
Look at the 89 bus, 95 bus, 120 bus etc. Fewer trips in the new timetables!
As usual, the service increases are not as advertised. There's more frequency reductions that are always hidden as usual, buried beneath the actual timetables.
Why can't the T just ever straight up admit "fewer trips in the timetable to improve reliability" for once?
By your own metric, “subway & local bus - weekly sum” is +61, +0.13%.
Weekday and Saturday bus service is the only part of the system that is still below pre-COVID levels by more than 0.1%, which we can agree is a major problem, but it’s worth considering that since GLX has opened, many of those former bus trips are now better served by the Green Line. Have you considered isolating routes that are now served by GLX in this analysis?
Let's revisit the discussion about expansion. Here are the entities that I would classify as expansion, excluding entities that I classify as service improvements, even if they are important, notable, or large. So, I'm only considering new infrastracture supporting new lines or extensions and new stations. I'm not including things like electrification, double/triple tracking existing lines, station consolidation, or anything involving just standard non-BRT bus routes without at least guaranteed center-running bus lanes. I know this is an arbitrary line of distinction, but I have to draw it somewhere.
I wish this idea would just die already. There's no need for a CR platform at Wonderland.
- "Wonderland multi-modal connector" (CR infill) ($4m)
Take it up with Ed Markey. He secured the $4M federal grant to study this yet again...and yet again come to the same conclusion that all previous studies have. Namely:I wish this idea would just die already. There's no need for a CR platform at Wonderland.
This reminds me how interesting it is going to be to see how the T handles the World Cup. I know it’s not the entire cup but it’s still going to have a bunch of Europeans that would rather take the train than an Uber/bus.
- Improvements to Foxboro station for the World Cup ($8m)
- D branch signal replacement from Fenway to ReservoirAlright I've gone through the projects to try and pick out the new/interesting ones for people that don't want to wade through pages of stuff like circuit breaker replacements. Let me know if I've missed any.
Red Line:
Blue Line:
- New crossover at Kendall ($6m)
- Alewife redevelopment ($2m)
- JFK/UMass rebuild ($1.4m)
- Central improvements ($52m)
- Short term support for Alewife ($30m)
Orange Line:
- "Blue Line Studies" ($11m)
- Suffolk Downs station reconstruction ($???)
Green Line:
- Jackson Sq improvements ($35m)
Mattapan Line:
- E Branch transitway ($54m)
- Lots of Type-10 stuff. A test track, OCS fixes, GLTPS2, signalling, power upgrades, etc. ($a good chunk)
- Removal of the pedestrian crossing at Webster Woods ($0)
- Lake St rebuild ($27m)
- Inner Belt yard expansion ($9m)
- Reservoir Yard rebuild ($29m)
- Symphony Station upgrades ($93m)
- B+C branch accessibility ($166m)
- Hynes improvements ($7.7)
Silver Line:
- Mattapan Line rebuild design work ($100m)
General Rapid Transit
- More fixes for Courthouse ($5.7m)
- SLX planning ($0.6m)
Bus
- Reducing power section lengths ($1.5m)
- Columbus Ave Phase II ($31m)
- Lynnway bus lanes ($27m)
- Blue Hill Ave transitway ($22m)
- Other general bus priority projects ($52m)
- BEB charging at Ashmont ($0.2)
- Arborway Garage Design ($8m)
- BNRD ($33m)
- CNG bus overhauls (~$150m)
Regional Rail
- Fairmount Line improvements ($50m)
- Worcester Line triple-track and upgrades in preparation for 30 minute frequencies ($33m)
- Franklin Line doubling ($16m)
- BEMU service on the Newburyport/Rockport lines, plus an electric ferry??? ($10m)
- "Early actions" for Old Colony doubling ($5m)
- Widett Circle Layover ($39m)
- South Side Maintenance Facility ($2.3m)
- Lynn Station and garage demo ($57m)
- "Short term" accessibility solutions at Melrose/Cedar Park, Belmont, and Wellesley Hills ($42m)
- Newtonville Station rebuild ($13m)
- Improvements to Foxboro station for the World Cup ($8m)
- North Andover station feasibility study ($0.1m)
- "Wonderland multi-modal connector" (CR infill) ($4m)
- Fairmount Line electrification ($50m)
- HSP46 Overhaul ($150m)
- New Locomotives ($150m)
- "Regional Rail modernization planning" ($6.3m)