Joel N. Weber II
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2015
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Re: Kendall bus service
If we really wanted to get aggressive about bus service to Kendall, perhaps it would make sense to have
I bet if the Kendall businesses wanted to lobby Cambridge to spend their property tax dollars on increasing Cambridge's payments to the MBTA to cover the costs of these services, the T could run these services. Also, it would be great if the Kendall businesses and Cambridge would push the T to comment on the accuracy of Proterra's claims that battery powered buses cost $0 more than buses with diesel engines, with an offer to consider paying whatever extra costs might exist with the battery-only buses if the T can demonstrate that they turn out to somehow be more expensive.
The EZride buses are sufficiently small that I'm skeptical they're all that valuable by raw number of people carried, although obviously canceling the service would not be a good idea; and it seems like a significant part of what EZride does is Kendall to north side commuter rail connections, which probably should be happening somewhere north of North Station.
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.
If we really wanted to get aggressive about bus service to Kendall, perhaps it would make sense to have
- 117 rerouted so that instead of crossing Chelsea Creek on the movable bridge (which probably dosen't help service reliability), it would take the Tobin to Community College on the Orange Line, then Lechmere, then Kendall, then maybe follow CT2's route to the BU bridge, and maybe continue from there to Coolidge Corner.
- 28 extended past Ruggles to Mass Ave, Kendall, Lechmere, Sullivan, the casino, and then maybe along 99's route to Malden Center.
- 85 extended to Medford Sq, maybe Winchester, and maybe even Woburn
- Maybe extend 70 to Kendall.
- Maybe some 73 trips could be extended along 68's route? I do want to see some of the current 73 trips be run as an extension of 1 (along with 1 being rerouted to serve UMass Boston instead of Dudley after extending 23 to Cambridge's Central Sq and maybe even Harvard Sq), but perhaps there's enough demand at rush hour on what is currently 73 for multiple route variations to be operated.
I bet if the Kendall businesses wanted to lobby Cambridge to spend their property tax dollars on increasing Cambridge's payments to the MBTA to cover the costs of these services, the T could run these services. Also, it would be great if the Kendall businesses and Cambridge would push the T to comment on the accuracy of Proterra's claims that battery powered buses cost $0 more than buses with diesel engines, with an offer to consider paying whatever extra costs might exist with the battery-only buses if the T can demonstrate that they turn out to somehow be more expensive.
The EZride buses are sufficiently small that I'm skeptical they're all that valuable by raw number of people carried, although obviously canceling the service would not be a good idea; and it seems like a significant part of what EZride does is Kendall to north side commuter rail connections, which probably should be happening somewhere north of North Station.