When the Center City Link proposal says "potential to thread additional" Northside, Westside, & SL4&5 through the corridor, are they saying that they'd extend some of these to the seaport?
I can totally see where this would get its rolling stock "funded" through a combination of:
- Replacing some 4 & 7 runs (the 4 is such a sloppy mess)
- Generally moving the fleet faster through the core
I'd love to see the same basic fleets moving fast through downtown so as to extend to the seaport:
92/93 (Charlestown),
325/326 (Medford Expresses)
Do you think I hould I picture the SL4 & 5 going "up" to North Station via Congress, or "out" Summer St?
Same with the 500-series from the west: should I be picturing that they'd go to Haymarket and NS (to support new office space there)?
+1 all around. I love this idea (and love that they are doing something similar in Providence with the
Downtown Transit Connector) and I also have so many questions.
I would hope that the 4 would be entirely rerouted onto this corridor, except perhaps at the southern end in Southie, where it could keep the branch to Drydock....
...which feeds into my next hope, which is that SL2 would be retired altogether and have its rolling stock reallocated to SL1 and SL3 (and potentially to SLW).
I would imagine that the 7 itself would be extended up to North Station, and run, along with the 4, as the backbone of the service, as you suggest.
As for through-running other services, that's a really interesting question. I don't know what to think about the various suburban expresses -- I think it would depend on how fast buses really can move through the corridor. I'd be worried about them getting stuck in the core, as opposed to actually going out to the suburbs.
I am very confused what the heck SL4 and SL5 are supposed to contribute here. Unless those SL2 buses I mentioned earlier get reallocated to SL4 to support through-running, then the SL4's already-meh frequencies will just be tanked by extending the run.
My only other quibble with the plan -- from the slide, it looks like the South Station stop will be at Summer and Dorchester. I understand why they'd want to do that -- easier than screwing around with Atlantic Avenue -- but, while it's close-ish to the eastern edge of the Commuter Rail platforms, it's a bit of a ways from the rapid transit headhouses.
Looks like about 750 feet to me. By comparison, the Winter Street Concourse is 550 feet, while the distance from Winter/Washington/Summer to Washington/Milk (i.e. Red Line Downtown Crossing to Orange Line southbound State) is 760 feet.
I don't really see a good way around this, but it's a bit of a shame.