MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

[millerm277]

I don't think that's the right way to consider it. If you look at any short stretch of bus lane, you'd find it only saves seconds. But string those together, and it's real time savings. It looks like in the AM rush hour, buses saved a full minute going between Dartmouth and Berkeley -- just two blocks! That's pretty big. It was able to pull that off with a total lack of bus-only enforcement. I wish we could find ten more short stretches along these bus routes where we could save a full minute. I think it'd be hard to find time savings this good just about anywhere else.

The only bus traveling Boylston on the 2nd block is the #9, which in the AM rush hour is carrying no/almost no passengers on that stretch. (Primary travel direction in the AM is towards Back Bay, and anyone traveling inbound to that area got off at the stops on St. James Ave rather than spending minutes riding it all the way around in a circle to save 30 seconds of walking).

It's not nothing and obviously helps bus operations even if few passengers are riding that portion - less time in traffic is more trips a bus can operate in a shift. But I can also see why this could be viewed as less valuable than many other interventions.

 

[okin15]

The only bus traveling Boylston on the 2nd block is the #9, which in the AM rush hour is carrying no/almost no passengers on that stretch. (Primary travel direction in the AM is towards Back Bay, and anyone traveling inbound to that area got off at the stops on St. James Ave rather than spending minutes riding it all the way around in a circle to save 30 seconds of walking). It's not nothing and obviously helps bus operations even if few passengers are riding that portion - less time in traffic is more trips a bus can operate in a shift. But I can also see why this could be viewed as less valuable than many other interventions.

As you mentioned, the seconds a bus saves compound and affect every single passenger all day long. Faster trips mean more trips, and better reliability, which means leaving less buffer on your commute.

All that said, I'm OK losing a battle here and there if momentum can be maintained and the war can be won.

 

[ritchiew]

The only bus traveling Boylston on the 2nd block is the #9, which in the AM rush hour is carrying no/almost no passengers on that stretch. (Primary travel direction in the AM is towards Back Bay, and anyone traveling inbound to that area got off at the stops on St. James Ave rather than spending minutes riding it all the way around in a circle to save 30 seconds of walking).

The bus lane seems to have helped in the PM rush hour, too, when people do ride that stretch. The average hasn't changed much, at six seconds slower. But the worst times have gotten better, by 25 seconds. So the bus on those couple of block is more reliable. And again, that's what you get with zero enforcement (and a worsening culture of food delivery cars blocking the streets).

But before getting too far in the weeds with these details, though, all I'm saying is the bus lane seems to have worked. It's speeding up buses part of the day, and making travel times more reliable. There seems to be a separate question of whether the bus lane is "worth it," and so far I keep wondering "compared to what?" Like, if we turn this back into a car lane again, how many seconds does this save drivers? If we're getting to point of questioning how many riders might be on the bus block-by-block, then how many more people in cars would get through if this was a car lane? Without anything to compare to, this feels like we're just assuming that cars have some inherent right to street space, and anything else needs to jump through a lot of hoops to justify itself.