MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

Davis would be better than Alewife IMO, given how much of a disaster Alewife is these days traffic wise.
 
Re: 79 / 350 to Alewife vs Davis

Arlington said:
But in the area of useful advice, I can only think of send the 79 and 350 up Broadway to Davis (a faster trip, and 1 stop closer to most inbound destinations)
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Does the bus lane on Mass Ave in Arlington make a reroute to Davis less attractive?
 
Re: 79 / 350 to Alewife vs Davis

Joel N. Weber II said:
Does the bus lane on Mass Ave in Arlington make a reroute to Davis less attractive?
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At least somewhat. But the 79 & 350 still spend a lot of time in the super-painful traffic of Greater Alewife.
 
19 Watertown Sq to Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy

If you use the ``Measure distance'' tool in Google Maps to make a straight line as the crow flies from the Watertown Sq intersection to the Wendell Ave / Sachem St intersection in Quincy, it's just under 11 miles.

In trying to run a bus along streets that roughly follow that line, I think it would make sense to follow 57's route from Watertown Sq to the Washington St / Cambridge St intersection (parts of Washington St are almost half a mile away from that line is this segment), follow 65's route from the Washington St / Cambridge St intersection to Route 9 (much of this segment is less than 500' from the line), follow Route 9 to S Huntington (duplicating 66), then S Huntington (duplicating 39), then follow Heath St to Jackson Sq (duplicating 14).

The Jackson Sq to Grove Hall routing is unclear. Museum of NCAAA is quite close to the line, but is there a good route through bus compatible streets to get there? Does Ritchie St -> Marcella St -> Washington St -> Townsend St -> Walnut St -> Crawford St -> Warren St work? In the reverse direction, does Warren St -> Howland St -> Humboldt Ave -> Waumbeck St -> Crawford St -> left to Walnut Ave -> Cobden St -> Washington St -> reverse Dimock St -> Columbus Ave work?

Geneva Ave from Grove Hall to Fields Corner, 19's current route, is generally about 500' from the line.

I'm not sure what the best route is from the Fields Corner busway to Neponset Ave, but Neponset Ave is within a quarter mile of the line.

It might make sense to take Newport Avenue Extension to the North Quincy Red Line station, then perhaps W Squantum St, Hancock St, Hollis Ave, Faxon Rd, Rawson Rd, Gould St past Quincy House, then E Elm Ave to Wendell Ave.

This might be able to replace parts of 65, 14, 210, 212, and 217.
 
Re: 19 Watertown Sq to Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy

Google St View shows that, traveling to the northeast along Hollis Ave in Quincy toward Newbury Ave, there are some wrong way do not enter signs not reflected in any one way arrows on the map. It does look like there's some exception text or hours in effect that's too small to be readable in Google Street View; I'm not sure there's any compelling reason buses couldn't be allowed to treat that as a two way street.
 
12345 said:
This is interesting.




https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/Double-Decker_Buses_for_Southie__Could_be_-497909831.html
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Have to be an outside contractor with a substantial (emphasis) fleet if it's going to be used to feed on any Key Bus Routes. And while I'm sure there are a few double-deckers rolling around in testing that would do the job, the sheer number of vehicles needed to have any substantial impact on the 7's or 9's route performance is probably more than any outsourcer has ability to get hands on. I'm at a loss to figure how somebody with just a handful of these could work their way into the mix as a pinch-hitter on one of those routes, because it's mere drop in the bucket vs. vehicles necessary.

Obviously more possibilities for privately-run shuttles on BCEC convention surge days and the like...but big impacts require big fleets no private operator has yet accumulated.


T obviously isn't going to be investing in these because there's no double-decker capable garages and far too many routes that run into height restrictions somewhere to be able to non-constipatedly distribute them across the system from any garages that may be retrofitted for bi-levels. They can/will buy a crapton more 60-footers (lousy winter weather performance and all) if they can ever get a second garage for them bordering downtown. But that plan--convert the rear Wellington parking acreage into bus yard for ~200 buses in exchange for a compacted vertical parking garage, then unleash the 60-footers on any necessary Charlestown routes and downtown via I-93--has been sitting on the study pile for over a decade and now has to wait a while longer for the latest/greatest bus ops study to re-hash it before it gets a thumbs-up/thumbs-down.

That would be huge for taming per-bus capacity issues since the array of routes that could be fed with 60-footers expands exponentially when hooked into the Charlestown garage route pipeline, but it's an up-front investment the FCMB so-far has been hesitant to pull the trigger on despite Wellington having the in-house acreage (at no loss of Orange Line parking if equivalent-capacity garage gets stacked), zero abutters to satisfy about noise/emissions, and ideal road access for it.
 
Don't double deckers tend to have longer dwell times for a given number of passengers getting on / off than 60' articulated buses if the double deckers have only a single staircase and only two doors?

http://en.byd.com/usa/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/k11.pdf isn't terribly clear on which axle(s) BYD's 60' bus has motors on. (Is it possible that it's only the center axle powered, given that they're using in wheel motors?) https://cleantechnica.com/2018/07/2...new-orders-for-42-articulated-electric-buses/ says Oslo decided to order a bunch after a pilot.

I hope next time the T rolls out 60' buses on a route that didn't previously have them, they lengthen the bus stops first (which my understanding is wasn't done for 28).
 
Joel N. Weber II said:
Don't double deckers tend to have longer dwell times for a given number of passengers getting on / off than 60' articulated buses if the double deckers have only a single staircase and only two doors?
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Sure, if you create artificial constraints. Most double deckers have two stairs, and many have 3 doors.

BT_20161003_SEBUS1_2523849.jpg
 
Joel N. Weber II said:
Don't double deckers tend to have longer dwell times for a given number of passengers getting on / off than 60' articulated buses if the double deckers have only a single staircase and only two doors?
Click to expand...

I was in Dublin a couple of weeks ago and had the opportunity to ride the buses there and didn't notice that. What I did notice was the quick acceleration that the buses (all Volvo, per Wikipedia) Dublin Bus uses have. If the T could get some quick accelerating buses, that might help with timekeeping.
 
Arlington seems pretty happy with its BRT Pilot (which only covered the last few blocks of the 77/79/350 on inbound in the morning).

https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/sh...XzBh5EXhErOHqHjds0sL9szrZhq1Hc8-w8XpWVtrWqrGE
CONCLUSIONS
• Very positive feedback from bus riders and people bicycling
• Preliminary MBTA data extremely promising with significant
improvement in travel times and reliability
• Dedicated lane improves street function for bus riders (and
bicyclists)
• Low impact on vehicle traffic compared to typical conditions
• Low impact to on-street parking from bus lane due to low
utilization in 6-9 am timeframe

NEXT STEPS
• Post-Pilot survey open until November 30
• Review full set of MBTA data and feedback November-December
• Deliver report in early 2019 on recommendations for permanent bus lane
• Continue work at Alewife Brook Parkway intersection and signal modifications
• Investigate pedestrian safety improvements
• Add TSP to Mass Ave signals – also added to Jason and Mill Street intersection
• Consider level platform boarding
• Work with MBTA and Cubic to implement off-board fare collection system
• Explore BRT elements on Broadway and broader application of BRT elements
along other sections of Mass Ave
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BRT on Broadway = 87 (Arlington Center to Lechmere via Davis Sq)
 
Arlington said:
Arlington seems pretty happy with its BRT Pilot (which only covered the last few blocks of the 77/79/350 on inbound in the morning).

https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/sh...XzBh5EXhErOHqHjds0sL9szrZhq1Hc8-w8XpWVtrWqrGE


BRT on Broadway = 87 (Arlington Center to Lechmere via Davis Sq)
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That is almost word for word the analysis that came after the priority bus lane pilot in Roslindale. It's almost like, I don't know, better transit improves everything for everybody. Who'd a thunk it?
 
HenryAlan said:
That is almost word for word the analysis that came after the priority bus lane pilot in Roslindale. It's almost like, I don't know, better transit improves everything for everybody. Who'd a thunk it?
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I mean...

• Very positive feedback from bus riders and people bicycling
• Preliminary MBTA data extremely promising with significant
improvement in travel times and reliability
Click to expand...

HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE SEEN THIS COMING
 
FitchburgLine said:
BRT coming to Broadway in Somerville:
https://twitter.com/3deckerlaura/status/1063233280588288001
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Quite the tease. Where would we get details on this?

Outermost Broadway is perfect for a bus-and-bike lane. For Bus, it would be great to have a priority lane just for the climb from Clarendon Hill (the low point @ MVP where the 88 & 89 begin and where the 87 enters from Arlington in the AM rush) up to the crest at Teele Sq and past the Fire House there. That would speed the 87 & 88 on their way to Davis and would speed the 89 on its way to Sullivan.

For Bike, it would be a good climbing lane (already it serves this function since most--but never quite all-- of the parking isn't used (there's always "that one" car parked out of ~40 spaces?)

But then, yes, ALL of Broadway is important in the AM inbound to Sullivan Sq (the 89 shares Broadway with the 87/88 Clarendon-Teele, and then with the 80 Powderhouse-Magoun, and then with the 101 through East Somerville.)
 
jass said:
I mean...HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE SEEN THIS COMING
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People have terrible cognitive biases. It is just like bike paths where they have to trot out the Police Chief from ("nice places" like) Lexington to prove that bike paths aren't dens of thieves, or from Brookline/Newton to prove that the GLX won't crater quality of life and property values (and still people are skeptical).

Kudos to the Barr Foundation for funding this pilot--you'd have had a huge fight if local money had to pay for it.

As with bike paths, somehow superficially-rational people think "Oh, yeah, bus lanes work in Everett, but not in "normal" places like [my town]"

Between Everett and Arlington, Somerville hopefully has enough nearby proof points to <gasp> actually act from evidence in implementing AM Inbound bus segments on Broadway.
 
Arlington said:
Quite the tease. Where would we get details on this?

Outermost Broadway is perfect for a bus-and-bike lane. For Bus, it would be great to have a priority lane just for the climb from Clarendon Hill (the low point @ MVP where the 88 & 89 begin and where the 87 enters from Arlington in the AM rush) up to the crest at Teele Sq and past the Fire House there. That would speed the 87 & 88 on their way to Davis and would speed the 89 on its way to Sullivan.

For Bike, it would be a good climbing lane (already it serves this function since most--but never quite all-- of the parking isn't used (there's always "that one" car parked out of ~40 spaces?)

But then, yes, ALL of Broadway is important in the AM inbound to Sullivan Sq (the 89 shares Broadway with the 87/88 Clarendon-Teele, and then with the 80 Powderhouse-Magoun, and then with the 101 through East Somerville.)
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It's the portion between McGrath and Sullivan Sq. I don't know where it will start though. I don't think it's that full stretch. It's part of the casino mitigation.
 
I have a question for the more transit savvy posters - What do you think of the CT2 (as well as 85 and EZ ride) being routed down Ames Street in Kendall Square?

I didn't know it was happening until I noticed the floating island bus stop being constructed on Ames Street. That got me doing some digging and I found this:

https://www.cambridgeredevelopment.org/ames-street-development/ said:
Two new bus stops will be added to Ames Street for the CT2 and EZ Ride routes. These stops relocated from Main Street make the CT2 and EZ Ride buses more efficient, and will reduce the bus' running times by several minutes. One new bus stop will be located on the west side of Ames Street, and the second will be a "floating bus stop" on the east side of the street, meaning the stop will be separated from the sidewalk via the two-way bicycle lane.
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And I found that the new route is already shown on the MBTA website.

Is this a good move - shortening the bus routes, but missing the direct connection at the subway? I personally think it is a reasonable distance to walk for a transfer, but I wonder if theory agrees and if it is good transit planning overall? It certainly seems to support the concept of "transit worth walking to," as long as the rest of the route gets enough attention to make it dependable.

Abysmal bus service to Kendall is something I would really like to see change with the upcoming bus overhaul. I want a limited number of overlapping bus routes that all get quality treatment and establish a transit corridor. Moving CT2, 85, and EZ Ride to Ames Street establishes a precedent for routing buses away from Kendall Station. What will similar reasoning mean for the EZ Ride or any new MBTA route servicing the relocated Lechmere and Kendall Square? Will new Lechmere have a major bus stop or will people have to walk to bus stops that make the routes work better?
 
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