Logan Airport Capital Projects

jass said:
"What about those of us with a 95 year old grandparent that requires an oxygen tank, our 7 kids, and the 4 St bernards? The Silver Line won't cut it"

Who gives a shit about your scenario.
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I gotta call that out. A family flying with kids is not nearly as unique a situation as what you describe.
 
And kids means anyone living in the same residence between the ages of 0 and 22 (or 30 now, I guess). No one living outside of Boston, under the same roof, and traveling together are going to take public transportation. The best you're going to get is a single Uber ride.
 
In all the times I've taken the Silver Line bus from Logan to South Station I don't believe I've ever seen children on the bus.
 
Wonk said:
And kids means anyone living in the same residence between the ages of 0 and 22 (or 30 now, I guess). No one living outside of Boston, under the same roof, and traveling together are going to take public transportation. The best you're going to get is a single Uber ride.
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This is a very good point, if I’m reading you correctly. Families are far less likely to take mass transit, in general, so they’re going to be taking ubers or taxis. I know, as someone who has driven for uber, that a fair percentage of uber trips to the airport include families. Plus, I don’t have an SUV, for whom the percentage would be even higher.
 
Three transfers is fine for an infrequent single or couple traveling. It doesn’t work for families and it doesn’t work for frequent travelers. I fly a lot and generally take Atul flights out 5-6am (NY or Chicago) or late flights say 9-11pm to Europe. Mass transit isnt practical for me from the western suburbs given how often I’m flying and the generally off hours.
 
TallIsGood said:
Three transfers is fine for an infrequent single or couple traveling. It doesn’t work for families and it doesn’t work for frequent travelers. I fly a lot and generally take Atul flights out 5-6am (NY or Chicago) or late flights say 9-11pm to Europe. Mass transit isnt practical for me from the western suburbs given how often I’m flying and the generally off hours.
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If we really want people to use regional rail to access Logan, then we need to bring regional rail directly to Logan. Think a NSRL, but with Logan as Central Station.

Rail needs to be the faster option, with more direct access than driving. Otherwise people will stay in their cars.
 
JeffDowntown said:
If we really want people to use regional rail to access Logan, then we need to bring regional rail directly to Logan. Think a NSRL, but with Logan as Central Station.

Rail needs to be the faster option, with more direct access than driving. Otherwise people will stay in their cars.
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To state the obvious, geography makes this extremely difficult. Easy to do for Heathrow, Gatwick, O'Hare, etc. Hard to do on a harbor peninsula. Maybe a third Williams tunnel for transit could have somewhat solved this, but even then it would more likely have been for a GL/rapid transit branch than a passage for "regional rail" (whatever that is)

Unfortunately, many airports on the water have this issue. How's the train ride into LaGuardia? What about that express into JFK? How's the train to LAX from downtown LA or anywhere on the West Side?

If you want to get people into and out of Boston efficiently, using "regional rail" (whatever that is) to shuttle people directly into and out of an airport, then the best bet in my mind would be a T.F. Green Express.

I'm happy to be corrected if there's actually something more feasible.
 
Shepard said:
To state the obvious, geography makes this extremely difficult. Easy to do for Heathrow, Gatwick, O'Hare, etc. Hard to do on a harbor peninsula. Maybe a third Williams tunnel for transit could have somewhat solved this, but even then it would more likely have been for a GL/rapid transit branch than a passage for "regional rail" (whatever that is)

Unfortunately, many airports on the water have this issue. How's the train ride into LaGuardia? What about that express into JFK? How's the train to LAX from downtown LA or anywhere on the West Side?

If you want to get people into and out of Boston efficiently, using "regional rail" (whatever that is) to shuttle people directly into and out of an airport, then the best bet in my mind would be a T.F. Green Express.

I'm happy to be corrected if there's actually something more feasible.
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I absolutely agree that it would be costly and an engineering challenge, but certainly not impossible.

The Copenhagen airport (waterfront location) is serviced by both regional rail and direct service to their central station, for example. You can get to a number of points throughout Denmark without a transfer.

Charles de Gaulle (Paris) (not waterfront obviously) has exceptional train service including both regional rail and TGV service to points throughout France. That was not cheap to implement, but they wanted to make it happen. (By the way, this arrangement not only reduces private vehicle usage, it also reduces the need for regional air flights across France -- an even bigger polluter per passenger!)

And that is kind of the point, you have to want to make mass transit work effectively and efficiently in order to have that happen. If our society continues to view transit as something for poor people, all we get are worn out trains and busses in dingy, century old tunnels.
 
TallIsGood said:
Three transfers is fine for an infrequent single or couple traveling. It doesn’t work for families and it doesn’t work for frequent travelers. I fly a lot and generally take Atul flights out 5-6am (NY or Chicago) or late flights say 9-11pm to Europe. Mass transit isnt practical for me from the western suburbs given how often I’m flying and the generally off hours.
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Honestly I don't there is anything wrong with using a car or Uber during off hours. Congestion isin't a huge problem then.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I absolutely agree that it would be costly and an engineering challenge, but certainly not impossible.

The Copenhagen airport (waterfront location) is serviced by both regional rail and direct service to their central station, for example. You can get to a number of points throughout Denmark without a transfer.

Charles de Gaulle (Paris) (not waterfront obviously) has exceptional train service including both regional rail and TGV service to points throughout France. That was not cheap to implement, but they wanted to make it happen. (By the way, this arrangement not only reduces private vehicle usage, it also reduces the need for regional air flights across France -- an even bigger polluter per passenger!)

And that is kind of the point, you have to want to make mass transit work effectively and efficiently in order to have that happen. If our society continues to view transit as something for poor people, all we get are worn out trains and busses in dingy, century old tunnels.
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I get it. One of my ideas has been to repurpose the HOV lanes of the Fort Point I-90 tunnel as a direct continuation of eastbound rail into the Seaport, gets you right onto the Track 61 alignment... and from there a potential rail tunnel alongside the TWT could bring it to Logan... and just thinking out loud here, you could have some northern CR lines branched down to the airport where they can meet... NSRL via airport? (BBY-or-SS -> Seaport -> Logan -> Chelsea -> North Station?)
 
TallIsGood said:
Three transfers is fine for an infrequent single or couple traveling. It doesn’t work for families and it doesn’t work for frequent travelers. I fly a lot and generally take Atul flights out 5-6am (NY or Chicago) or late flights say 9-11pm to Europe. Mass transit isnt practical for me from the western suburbs given how often I’m flying and the generally off hours.
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three transfers? as in four parts to your trip to logan? That's mad.
I live in east somerville and its two transfers orange > red > silver and that takes about an hour. If you want to get a Friday flight after work you could be stuck in the seaport area for 45 minutes. I usually stick up for the T but getting to logan is a joke! I always grab an uber.
 
Ruairi said:
three transfers? as in four parts to your trip to logan? That's mad.
I live in east somerville and its two transfers orange > red > silver and that takes about an hour. If you want to get a Friday flight after work you could be stuck in the seaport area for 45 minutes. I usually stick up for the T but getting to logan is a joke! I always grab an uber.
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They need a frequent bus from North station to the airport imho. Maybe extend it to Kendall for good measure.
 
The Admirals Club on the west/legacy-US side of Terminal B is undergoing renovation so as to open in conjunction with the completion of the consolidation project. This is a big space with high ceilings and two walls of windows so I think it has the potential to turn out as one of AA's better clubs when finished.
 
Ruairi said:
three transfers? as in four parts to your trip to logan? That's mad.
I live in east somerville and its two transfers orange > red > silver and that takes about an hour. If you want to get a Friday flight after work you could be stuck in the seaport area for 45 minutes. I usually stick up for the T but getting to logan is a joke! I always grab an uber.
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Why not try Orange-Blue-shuttle? Especially at rush hour, this minimizes the time in street traffic, especially in the most congested areas (the tunnel, the Seaport—heck, those T lines shouldn't be bad, either).
 
34f34f said:
Why not try Orange-Blue-shuttle? Especially at rush hour, this minimizes the time in street traffic, especially in the most congested areas (the tunnel, the Seaport—heck, those T lines shouldn't be bad, either).
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I haven't tried that, will give it a go, thanks
Think going to south station is really just a force of habit from living on the red line a few years back.
Anything to avoid going round in circles in the seaport.
 
34f34f said:
Why not try Orange-Blue-shuttle? Especially at rush hour, this minimizes the time in street traffic, especially in the most congested areas (the tunnel, the Seaport—heck, those T lines shouldn't be bad, either).
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I do this all the time. The blue line to the shuttles is definitely faster than the silver line from downtown (or anywhere on the orange line). The only annoying part is that they put so much anticipated "traffic time" into the schedules that you end up waiting at Airport and Conrac for what seems like eternity so that they don't arrive at the terminals too early.
 
kmp1284 said:
The Admirals Club on the west/legacy-US side of Terminal B is undergoing renovation so as to open in conjunction with the completion of the consolidation project. This is a big space with high ceilings and two walls of windows so I think it has the potential to turn out as one of AA's better clubs when finished.
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I'd be curious to know where that club ranks in terms of size with the rest of their system?

Also, what's going to have to the Adminals Club on the soon to be old AA side?
 
A lot of complaints about enticing families to take transit to the airport. My question is: who cares?! As long as a significant portion of travelers (non-families) take transit to the airport, then the families that are flying can go take their cabs/livery/personal vehicles all they want and everyone is happy.
 
Ruairi said:
three transfers? as in four parts to your trip to logan? That's mad.
I live in east somerville and its two transfers orange > red > silver and that takes about an hour. If you want to get a Friday flight after work you could be stuck in the seaport area for 45 minutes. I usually stick up for the T but getting to logan is a joke! I always grab an uber.
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You should be doing Orange, Blue, Airport circuit bus. Much more reliable, and 50% faster.
 
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