MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

HenryAlan said:
It was a survey about BRT, so they weren't going to ask train questions. They just wanted to know what train people thought about the presented BRT scenarios, and whether that was different from what bike people thought, and what bus people thought, and etc. The only issue I had with it is that I couldn't accurately describe my transit usage. It's not as frequent as 2-3 times a week, but it is more frequent than 2-3 time a month.
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I get its a bus survey, but thats not the question prompt.

The question says to answer from the point of view of your most used mode.
 
I was about half way through when I realized I was supposed to be viewing these pictures through the lens of my primary mode.
 
That lane was pretty much a pick-up and drop off zone for south station. They need to find a real designated place or else people will block the buses
 
jass said:
That lane was pretty much a pick-up and drop off zone for south station. They need to find a real designated place or else people will block the buses
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As part of this they've moved all the shuttles to Dorchester Ave which has helped and removed right turns from the intersection (which no one is listening to). The other side of the road directly in front of SS is worse for the pickup dropoff chaos.
 
The pictured lane is on the Evens side of Summer, whereas SS is on the Odds side. Is there a similar lane on the Odds/Station/Fidelity side?

My preferred SS kiss-and-ride spot (whether I'm the driver or the passenger) is "at the big shiny 245" in the gap between SS and Fidelity.
 
Looks like another change to the Harvard Bus Tunnel: the lower busway has reopened, but a second closure of the upper busway has begun.
 
This seems to have escaped notice, but very quietly there are now 19 brand spanking new 1900-series 40-footer hybrids in-service from the ongoing 194-bus New Flyer option order. All are currently assigned to Charlestown routes. By year's end there should be enough on-hand that we start seeing the decrepit 15-year-old Neoplans begin to get yanked from service for decommissioning and scrap.
 
fattony said:
What happened to extending the 70 to Kendall?? Grrrr.
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I think this was the right call for now. Reliability & on-time performance is so miserable on the 70/70A, and the average trip so long, that it would be operationally infeasible to extend the 70 right now.

This change will hopefully make the 70 more dispatchable, and therefore extendable, but I agree with this order of events:

Simplify route -> realize faster more reliable trips -> extend route

If something falters in step two and another adjustment is needed, that would be much more manageable to tackle before extending the route.

Full disclosure, I say this as a long-time near-daily 70/70A rider.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
This seems to have escaped notice, but very quietly there are now 19 brand spanking new 1900-series 40-footer hybrids in-service from the ongoing 194-bus New Flyer option order. All are currently assigned to Charlestown routes. By year's end there should be enough on-hand that we start seeing the decrepit 15-year-old Neoplans begin to get yanked from service for decommissioning and scrap.
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*BUMP*

...and apparently these new buses are getting accepted for service at a very brisk pace, because in the 15 days since ^this^ post--spanning a major holiday weekend to boot--the number of in-service newbies has jumped by another +10 to 29 total. Not bad.


BTW...the FCMB today voted to pad this ongoing 194-unit order of 40-footers by another +60 units, using some budgeting trickery where they're laundering an un-exercised State of Virginia option order for the same exact New Flyer XDE40 make. Since they were already 1:1 on replacements prior to this find and the oldest remaining buses in the fleet (the '08 New Flyer D40LF's...last non-hybrid diesels left) are only now getting ready to get cycled into an approved midlife overhaul contract, these end up being pure fleet expansion for the time being because there's nothing else old onhand that's near-ready to send to the chopping block. These new 'found' options slot for delivery June-Nov. 2020 right as straight-on continuation of the main 194-bus order.
 
MBTA is proposing a BRT route connecting North Station, South Station, and the Seaport, and then South Boston proper. It looks very similar to some of the things we've discussed here. Aside from capacity constraints for a route with likely high ridership demand, this seems like a very good idea. Ultimately, perhaps a green line branch could replace the bus lanes.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1204157539610439680
 
That was one of four "Demonstration Projects" that were presented last night:
  • Mattapan to LMA
    • Extend 29 to LMA (terminating @ Kenmore)
  • Broadway High Frequency Corridors
    • All day frequency on Broadway bus lanes (in Everett and Somerville)
  • 112 Improvements
    • Design and pilot improved service plan for the 112 to meet the needs of the community members in the corridor
  • Center City Link (aforementioned)
    • Creation of a central spine – potential to thread additional northside (92, 93, 111, 300 series), Silver Line (SL4/5), and westside (500 series) buses through corridor to create very high frequency, high quality travel experiences.
 
HenryAlan said:
MBTA is proposing a BRT route connecting North Station, South Station, and the Seaport, and then South Boston proper. It looks very similar to some of the things we've discussed here. Aside from capacity constraints for a route with likely high ridership demand, this seems like a very good idea. Ultimately, perhaps a green line branch could replace the bus lanes.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1204157539610439680
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Good. Its so f-ing weird that this was never done.

Even if the Silver Line downtown tunnel project had been built, that would not have provided connectivity with North Station and Haymarket to the Seaport
 
Very much a missing link that we've discussed here.
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The picture seems to suggest a contraflow on Congress south of and though Post Office Sq (rather than going north on Pearl)

Bus Lanes on Congress are key, and would boost the whole system (all the buses that terminate/originate on the Congress side of Haymarket)
Haymarket_Bus_Routes.PNG
 
jass said:
Good. Its so f-ing weird that this was never done.

Even if the Silver Line downtown tunnel project had been built, that would not have provided connectivity with North Station and Haymarket to the Seaport
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This is gonna do some amazing things for RL congestion through the core without needing to choke through to get to Silver. Can this entire corridor ever be turned into NYC's 14th street for commercial vehicles/buses/bikes only? That way maybe they can drop the SL-transitway loop & SL2, and devote more vehicles to SL1 and SL3.
 
The other proposals from last night are being buried beneath the "Center City Link" proposal, but I'm very, very excited about the prospect of the 29 running between Mattapan and LMA.
Mattapan_LMA.png

This would add a one-seat where one does not exist between:
  • Mattapan <-> Mission Hill
  • Mattapan <-> LMA
  • Mattapan <-> Fenway
  • Dorchester <-> Mission Hill
  • Dorchester <-> LMA
  • Dorchester <-> Fenway
  • JP <-> LMA
  • JP <-> Fenway
As a JP resident, I am well-versed in how much less convenient it is to travel between JP/Dorchester/Mattapan and LMA/Fenway via the T than it could be. I would ride this bus for every T trip to LMA or Fenway, which be a big improvement over my current options:
  • OL (to Back Bay) -> GL (from Copley)
  • OL -> 66
  • OL -> 8/47/CT2
  • 0.7 mile walk -> 39
  • OL -> 0.5-0.8 mile walk (depending on destination)
 
sneijder said:
This is gonna do some amazing things for RL congestion through the core without needing to choke through to get to Silver. Can this entire corridor ever be turned into NYC's 14th street for commercial vehicles/buses/bikes only? That way maybe they can drop the SL-transitway loop & SL2, and devote more vehicles to SL1 and SL3.
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Unlikely, given that Congress Street currently acts as an extension of the CAT on-ramp at the Congress & Purchase intersection. I'd love to see the City Center Link happen as shown in the concept map, but that City is going to have to sacrifice a good deal of vehicle queuing space on Congress Street to provide bus lanes in each direction (which would be needed). Also seems like it would be desirable to have the bus lanes (both directions) along the eastern side of Congress, as the southbound left-turn is what causes all of the queuing.

By comparison the rest of the propose route doesn't look too challenging. Definitely some areas where bus lanes and queue jumps will be helpful, but nothing anywhere near as bad as the daily cluster that is Congress St approaching the greenway.
 
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