MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

CSTH said:
Nice. Thanks.

A couple of thoughts.

- Gap over chelsea river?
(kidding / not kidding)
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The gap over the Chelsea River for the under construction route is because there won't be a dedicated ROW or bus lanes there at that point the buses will be in mixed traffic. At least I'm assuming that is why there is a gap there.
 
sm89 said:
The one thing that bothers me about the 64 is that most people that I've talked to about it have no idea what/where "University Park" is.
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My experience with the 64 is that the rush hour trips and changes in stops served confuse any non-frequent rider, and lead to them not riding beyond Central inbound and missed buses and confusion trying to catch the bus outbound.

Whatever the utility of the two different routings is, I think it's less than the riders lost from confusion. They ought to pick one and just run that 100% of the time.
 
citylover94 said:
The gap over the Chelsea River for the under construction route is because there won't be a dedicated ROW or bus lanes there at that point the buses will be in mixed traffic. At least I'm assuming that is why there is a gap there.
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Yeah right on & I was suggesting to van that he include a new dedicated bus lane on the Chelsea St bridge to complement the under construction silver line row , and that he include the Meridien St bridge in his Meridien at bus lane proposal
 
CSTH said:
Nice. Thanks.

A couple of thoughts.

- Does your Marblehead BRT use the old rail ROW? What about BRT (/trunk) marblehead-salem-peabody-128 instead / also? Other trunks feeding salem and bev CR?
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Yes it uses the old ROW. And this proposal is just based on existing lines. This isn't Crazy BRT Pitches.

- What if the mystic-north BRT continued via lowell st through lexington to Rt. 3 / Burlington Mall? (especially in crazy pitches future world where redline goes to arlington center)
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Again, not Crazy BRT Pitches.

- Is there a gap on Rutherford Ave?
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Yes because all bus routes terminate at Sullivan Sq.

- Gap over chelsea river?
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Yeah, I didn't want to leave a gap but the streets in Chelsea are REALLY narrow and I don't see a good way to add bus lanes there.

- Summer st @waterfont, and the greenway?
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Summer St is a possibility. And a Waterfront/Greenway BRT line is also an idea.

- Also you forgot the cross-allston route via Alcorn St. and West Station (kidding / not kidding)
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Sure, I'll update the map in 2040.
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fattony said:
No love for Kendall? It has laughable bus service at present, so maybe that is why you overlooked it. The 64, 68, and CT2 get bogged down on Broadway outbound. I suspect auto traffic in the area will only get worse when Longfellow reopens. The EZ Ride is also an absolutely critical bus route for Kendall though it is not provided by the MBTA. It could use some help too.
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I thought about it but I guess I didn't understand how bad it is. I can see adding a loop around the square and down Broadway.
 
Hey Van, Here's something in your plan that looks really good: MVP (Rt 16) in Medford, between Meadow Glen and the State Police Barracks is over-wide (a super wide shoulder lane--an inner beltway vestige?-- just need some paint) and perfect for a bus lane / queue jump. (or even through the strange 4th lane eastbound through Wellington "circle" and almost to Kelly's roast beef) just before 16 flies over Wellington's northside tracks.
 
They ran the first test of a dedicated bus lane on Washington St. in Roslindale this morning, and quite frankly, it was amazing. I am seeing social medial completely light up with glowing reports, mine included. Aside from a few tepid expressions of anxiety about parking, it is already extremely popular. It's no exaggeration to say that it will save people 10 to 15 minutes on their commute time.

http://www.universalhub.com/2017/imagine-roslindale-square-forest-hills-just-six
 
Does anyone have a map of the old SL3 route as proposed (running on Broadway) and/or as implemented (running on 1st St) before it was cancelled entirely?
 
HenryAlan said:
They ran the first test of a dedicated bus lane on Washington St. in Roslindale this morning, and quite frankly, it was amazing. I am seeing social medial completely light up with glowing reports, mine included. Aside from a few tepid expressions of anxiety about parking, it is already extremely popular. It's no exaggeration to say that it will save people 10 to 15 minutes on their commute time.

http://www.universalhub.com/2017/imagine-roslindale-square-forest-hills-just-six
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Keep up the social media! It should be a huge and natural political win to eliminate all on-street parking between 6am and 9:45am on any street that has a bus running inbound (because most retail stores are closed then anyway).

Outbound will be hard (stores are open and think they need the parking). Finally gettting bus lanes on, say, the length of Congress St will be a lot harder, but a tradition of AM rush lanes will sure make it easier for all to see what is at stake.
 
How is there no demand for the Silver Line in South Boston? The SL2 route makes no sense at all either.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
How is there no demand for the Silver Line in South Boston? The SL2 route makes no sense at all either.
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If you're asking "why did the SL3 fail in South Boston?":

- Low frequency.

- Higher fare than local buses.

- At the time local traffic in the Seaport wasn't the disaster it is now, so while I never rode it, I doubt it ran any faster than the local buses.

And the T had (and has) limited numbers of buses for it, so it meant they could increase SL1/SL2 service.

If they had the equipment, I could certainly see it having potential now with the traffic issues hurting the local buses.
 
One of the few things I was happy to hear about incoming city councilor Ed Flynn is that he's interested in improving Seaport transit, specifically between Broadway and the Seaport down L / Summer street.
 
millerm277 said:
If you're asking "why did the SL3 fail in South Boston?":

- Low frequency.

- Higher fare than local buses.

- At the time local traffic in the Seaport wasn't the disaster it is now, so while I never rode it, I doubt it ran any faster than the local buses.

And the T had (and has) limited numbers of buses for it, so it meant they could increase SL1/SL2 service.

If they had the equipment, I could certainly see it having potential now with the traffic issues hurting the local buses.
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Also IIRC people in South Boston vocally objected to the extra large articulated bus traffic in the neighborhood.
 
Re: old SL3

Also, the routing where the only part of South Boston it served was a short stretch of 1st Street didn't exactly make it convenient to a lot of riders, and I'm under the impression that the mode change and perhaps the infamous light at D street may not have helped with time competitiveness.
 
Re: old SL3

If we did want to bring back South Boston to South Station busway service, would a routing along L St at least as far as 8th make more sense than the old 1st routing? And is there a practical way to turn the bus around at the south end of the route in that case?
 
Re: 85 to Medford Sq

If we end up extending 85 to Medford Sq, I've found myself wondering if the right outbound routing might be to stay on Summer all the way to Lowell St and then to turn right directly onto Lowell St. Because there's parking on the north side only of Summer St in the vicinity of Lowell St, the bus would be turning from what is in some sense the center lane of Summer St (it's one lane in each direction plus the parking lane), and with Lowell St being one way there it might be practical to eliminate parking on the west side of Lowell St for the first 100' or so just to the north of Summer St to create more space for a bus to turn. Perhaps it would make sense to introduce new far side bus stops on Summer St at Benton and Belmont in this direction, a near side stop at Crown on Lowell to facilitate trips to Somerville Hospital, and a stop on Lowell St at Highland (on whichever side of the intersection is less steep) to facilitate transfers to / from 88 / 90 / whatever Highland bus service might evolve to in the future.

The corresponding inbound routing might be Lowell to Highland to Benton to Summer, possibly with a new near (or far) side bus stop at the Benton / Summer intersection. There's an existing far side stop on Highland at Lowell used by 88 / 90 that the inbound extended 85 could serve. There's also an existing near side Highland at Benton stop (which in the Google Street View imagery seems to only have its rear sign and not its front sign) which might be usable if a bus is then able to turn right onto Benton from there.

To the north of there, the 85 would get stops at appropriate transfer points for the Green Line's Lowell St Station and for transferring to the 89, and probably a stop at Medford's Albion St. Somerville's Albion St could maybe also get a stop although that spacing would probably be closer than the T prefers, and maybe a stop at Somerville's Richardson St might make sense. And once the bus gets to Medford's Main St it would presumably continue by making stops at 101's stops.
 
Re: new buses

sm89 said:
Presentation to MBTA Control Board meeting on 12/04/2017 suggested MBTA hopes to exercise option with New Flyer for 194 hybrids in 2018 for 2018-2019 delivery if board approves later in 2018.
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Given that Proterra's press releases claim that purely battery powered buses without diesel engines would not be any more expensive, was anyone at the MBTA able to provide any explanation of what exactly they believe to be the advantage of buying diesel engines?
 
Re: new buses

Joel N. Weber II said:
Given that Proterra's press releases claim that purely battery powered buses without diesel engines would not be any more expensive, was anyone at the MBTA able to provide any explanation of what exactly they believe to be the advantage of buying diesel engines?
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It would be unwise for the MBTA to make a large scale order without testing the buses first. Also, the infrastructure for supporting a fleet of battery-electric buses does not yet exist at any MBTA facility.
 
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