MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

Does anyone know what's going on at Watertown Yard? Seems like they're doing some construction.
 
Mother Brook said:
This doesn't make sense because the poor design would make the pilot less likely to be successful.
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It being a pilot program allows the city a sort of “back door” to even making it a reality. It’s a risky proposition because you bypass the neighborhood input, which brought the previously proposed center-running bus lanes on Summer st down. However, When it comes time to make it permanent, there could still be a fight for even side-running lanes.

It’s better than no lanes at all, and if people like it enough it makes it more likely that the lanes could one day evolve to center-running imo.
 
Or the city could just do whatever it wants and not worry about what some "neighbors"* think, like they do for projects that they really want to build (e.g., Centre St, West Roxbury, to their credit).

People who don't want bus lanes will complain whether the city calls it a pilot or not. You may as well test out the vision you actually want to implement.
 
Teban54 said:
mass.streetsblog.org

Here's the MBTA's Bus Lane Wishlist for Its New 'High Frequency' Bus Routes - Streetsblog Massachusetts

"MBTA's Transit Priority Vision corridors are identified based on service offering (bus network redesign frequency), social benefit (existing bus and passenger delay), and passenger experience."
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
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This map is the first indication I’ve seen that Malcolm X Blvd has bus priority infrastructure planned. That’s great news as it will be the highest frequency corridor in the BNRD. I can’t find any information online, though. Does anybody have a source for this plan?
 
bigeman312 said:
This map is the first indication I’ve seen that Malcolm X Blvd has bus priority infrastructure planned. That’s great news as it will be the highest frequency corridor in the BNRD. I can’t find any information online, though. Does anybody have a source for this plan?
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This is all I could find: https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/roxbury-transportation-corridors

And this coverage related to the city getting federal funding for this with the help of Rep Pressley: https://www.baystatebanner.com/2022...-million-for-roxbury-transportation-projects/
 
Teban54 said:
mass.streetsblog.org

Here's the MBTA's Bus Lane Wishlist for Its New 'High Frequency' Bus Routes - Streetsblog Massachusetts

"MBTA's Transit Priority Vision corridors are identified based on service offering (bus network redesign frequency), social benefit (existing bus and passenger delay), and passenger experience."
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
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If you look at this map, squint, and kind of look sideways, you can see the old BERY/MTA streetcar lines. Let's do this with buses, and once the real estate is reclaimed from cars, let's start laying tracks.
 
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HenryAlan said:
If you look at this map, squint, and kind of look sideways, you can see the old Berry/MTA streetcar lines. Let's do this with buses, and once the real estate is reclaimed from cars, let's start laying tracks.
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Not surprising. The widest streets are best for bus lanes, and the widest streets are the widest because they used to have streetcar medians.
 
Sounds like Gov. Healey might be putting her weight behind camera-based enforcement for bus lanes (but not necessarily in a hurry):

"Rep. Owens told StreetsblogMASS that his bill doesn't mention transit buses because he expects the MBTA and the Healey administration to file their own bill to deal with bus lane enforcement.

"I had considered including that or filing something separately, but deferred to the administration," Rep. Owens wrote in an email to StreetsblogMASS on Monday.

StreetsblogMASS also reached out to the Governor's office and to the MBTA to confirm whether the administration does intend to file its own legislation. As of publication at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, we had not yet heard a response."
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Full story here: https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/1...omated-traffic-enforcement-is-missing-the-bus
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
All MBTA buses are already camera-equipped. It would take a trivial upgrade to allow them to do license-plate scanning for bus lane violators.
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Cameras on buses are likely not enough. You really need continuous enforcement from overhead cameras on the lanes.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Cameras on buses are likely not enough. You really need continuous enforcement from overhead cameras on the lanes.
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Cameras on buses catch the people who are actually delaying the bus. While I agree that people using the lane illegally is a bad thing even if they're not in the way of a bus....being in the way of the bus certainly seems like the highest priority enforcement target.
 
millerm277 said:
Cameras on buses catch the people who are actually delaying the bus. While I agree that people using the lane illegally is a bad thing even if they're not in the way of a bus....being in the way of the bus certainly seems like the highest priority enforcement target.
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The purpose of enforcement is not just to catch the proximate offender to the bus -- it is to train Massholes not to use the lane.

And for every offender who is right in front of the bus (where it can be caught) there will be ten more ahead of that offender who cannot be captured on the bus cam.
 
So here's the thing. I'm most familiar with how the NYC MTA has implemented their system, and unfamiliar with anyone elses, but if we take their automated bus lane enforcement program as our model, we would need both mobile and fixed cameras, because they do different jobs. (That said, there's probably no reason a different logic couldn't be applied in Boston, but I'd imagine bus mounted cameras struggling with acceptable bus lane use [ie, turns.])

At least in NYC, the bus mounted cameras only capture standing "parked in the bus lane" violations. The 2022 report described it as follows:
For the mobile camera system, equipment is installed on buses to read the rear license plates of vehicles stopped in the bus lane as the bus passes the vehicle and uses GPS to mark that location. To issue a violation under this system, two buses must observe the same vehicle stopped at the same GPS location, and the two buses must make this observation at least five minutes apart. This ensures that violations are not issued to vehicles making an expeditious drop-off in the bus lane. Because this system records only standing violations...
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Driving in the lane, on the other hand, is the province of the fixed camera system.
In the fixed system, two cameras are mounted above the bus lane. Each camera system contains two video cameras. One is placed mid-block and the other is placed at the intersection. The midblock camera captures if the vehicle is traveling in the bus lane and not making any right turn to leave the lane, such as entering a driveway. The intersection camera captures the vehicle traveling through the intersection for a total of 200 feet without making a left[sic] turn.
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Stlin said:
So here's the thing. I'm most familiar with how the NYC MTA has implemented their system, and unfamiliar with anyone elses, but if we take their automated bus lane enforcement program as our model, we would need both mobile and fixed cameras, because they do different jobs. (That said, there's probably no reason a different logic could be applied in Boston, but I'd imagine bus mounted cameras struggling with acceptable bus lane use [ie, turns.])

At least in NYC, the bus mounted cameras only capture standing "parked in the bus lane" violations. The 2022 report described it as follows:

Driving in the lane, on the other hand, is the province of the fixed camera system.

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I think the parking in the bus lane is more egregious. But in Boston, just parking wherever the fuck you want is completely allowed and unenforced, so good luck ever getting anyone to do this. Cameras are the only hope.
 
JeffDowntown said:
The purpose of enforcement is not just to catch the proximate offender to the bus -- it is to train Massholes not to use the lane.

And for every offender who is right in front of the bus (where it can be caught) there will be ten more ahead of that offender who cannot be captured on the bus cam.
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I do fully agree, but I would also say that perfect is the enemy of good: I think taking the steps to get real-time enforcement going via bus cameras is a great first step, and would end up sending a decent message to people in the bus lanes. That said, yes, we should also do general enforcement of the lanes outside of the buses themselves.

I'd also ask: could we lump littering enforcement out of cars in all of this? Given the amount of things I have to clean so much trash out of my driveway, that I am in favor of jail time on the first offense of the owner of a vehicle caught throwing trash out the window, and the death penalty on subsequent violations.
 
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