MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

HenryAlan said:
Granted, this isn't what the EJ groups want, but it is not going to be more polluting than the current circumstance. They are claim it will actually be worse than the status quo, which is why I asked the question.
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Not quite. Based on the agency's own data from the existing trial it's something north of 65% of the trip on-diesel. Battery is rationed strictly inside the tunnel, but the depletion from that power rationing keeps the engine on pretty much all times except during stop layovers (which are near-nonexistent with SL1). This is a lousy ratio vs. standard hybrids idling the engine on generic/non-tunnel routes, but with pricey luggage-bearing 60-footers more power-hungry than a generic route with pricey extended-range (over generic hybrid) battery that has not shown to be nearly as "extended" as advertised. They are not getting good ROI from that deployment.

Now...with generously moved goalposts you can say this is an improvement over the 16-year-old Neoplan dual-modes for "technically correct is the best kind of correct" bragging. But "worse-than-generic for 1-1/3 the price" is awfully weak sauce to be touting. This boomerangs right back into the insanity of cutting down the 600V overhead because extended-range TT's with in-wire charging *do* meet the reference route lengths affirmed by multiple adopting U.S. cities at lower unit cost.


It's not a lost cause; if they reclaim their common sense and order Silver TT's before the OCS gets cut down these new extended-range units should be fine for the 39 or 28X if their luggage racks are swapped out. Those non-tunnel routes should perform closer to reference spec by virtue of not needing to ration battery charges for the tunnel. They have indeed left themselves wiggle room for a way out of the sunk cost if these things just can't hack it on Silver.


But yes, intent-wise they are careening headlong into shitty resource allocation on pure N.I.H. don't-care stubborness ignoring every warning that it's going to suck. Whatever. I guess they prefer presenting a poor case for fed funding on anything bus-related for now or until the "Cutting Forward" dead-enders get tired of this gig and leave office.
 
I dont hnow if here or reasonable transit pitches is the place, but here I go. F-Line, you've discussed bus garage placement at Wellington in the past. Could you post a diagram or map of where exactly the site is? The description has left me confused.
 
Tallguy said:
I dont hnow if here or reasonable transit pitches is the place, but here I go. F-Line, you've discussed bus garage placement at Wellington in the past. Could you post a diagram or map of where exactly the site is? The description has left me confused.
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The giant station parking lot. They'd free up that acreage for the 200 60-footer bus yard and trade the parking vertical in a new garage abutting the parkway by the kiss-and-ride or KISS 108 office bldg. Bus Facilities Master Plan study of 4+ years ago verbalizes it at length. Not sure if there's a render included.

So basically land-neutral because of the parking lot-to-garage trade.
 
The I-93 "express lane" (Medford to Zakim) was being re-signed by work crews as HOV last night (9pm)

I didn't see whether the rules would be exactly as before, but this is good news for at least the 325 and 326 buses, (when they get restored post-covid) and indeed any Northside carpoolers, airport-bound TNCs and Logan Express

It had been converted to an express lane (no exit at Assembly, Sullivan or Leverett connector) and the flex posts removed during Tobin bridge construction when it was thought to be a good idea to give SOV motorists a lane to compensate for ones removed from the Tobin during construction

Then during covid traffic volumes fell and they decided that when the Tobin reopened it would have a bus lane (which I think is a very good idea)

Has anyone been on the Tobin and seeing whether the Tobin has gotten its new bus lane?

Does anyone know what the new rules for the i-93 North side inbound HOV lane will be?
 
Does anyone know if the bus frequency data (or similar summary level data) that is published in the system map is available elsewhere, in some sort of text form? (e.g. spreadsheet, csv, etc) I know in theory you could calculate the average frequencies based on the trip data exposed through the MBTA API, but that's a fair amount of wrangling (at least for me).

(In my experience, trying to copy-and-paste from the PDF is more trouble than it's worth.)
 
i've always had to create a XLS -- and can't seem to find one that i've used long ago.
 
Some people I know are very excited indeed about inductive charging/operation of busses/trolleybuses (embedding wires under the street like in the pilot linked below in Bremen), and think it's the future of trackless trolley operations. It seems like there would be serious efficiency drops/other disadvantages to this system, but I'll do some more research on this.

theworldnews.net

These electric buses can be charged while driving

ElectReon specializes in the development of inductive charging solutions. Image: ElectReon via AFP Relaxnews. A pilot section of inductive charging road for e
theworldnews.net theworldnews.net
 
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ra84970 said:
someone tipped me off about Brookline (!) considering bus lanes *on Route 9*! Looks like they've talked to the public about bus lanes in both directions on Washington Street all the way from the Jamaicaway overpass to the overcrossing of the GL/Station Street. Pleasantly surprised to see Brookline joining the regions' bus lane gang.

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That's great news. It's truly notable how far urban transportation is evolving in such a short amount of time.

Between the bike lane network, the bus lane network, the rise of Uber and Lyft, Hubway Bike network radiating all the way out to the suburbs, the incredible growth of the Harborwalk and pedestrian access throughout the city, etc........ I cannot remember another 5-year period where there has been such a rate of change.
 
shmessy said:
That's great news. It's truly notable how far urban transportation is evolving in such a short amount of time.

Between the bike lane network, the bus lane network, the rise of Uber and Lyft, Hubway Bike network radiating all the way out to the suburbs, the incredible growth of the Harborwalk and pedestrian access throughout the city, etc........ I cannot remember another 5-year period where there has been such a rate of change.
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Vassar cycletrack was 2003.
Hubway was launched 2011.
Uber and Lyft was founded 2014.
Everett's pilot is the process lane was 2017.
Cambridge Street flex post lane was 2017.

It's more like a 20 year process. But it is nice to see the results of 20 years of work come to fruition in the past 3 or so years.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
The new Courthouse station headhouse which seemed dead for awhile with COVID has reappeared and is out to bid: https://bc.mbta.com/business_center..._and_construction/construction_bid/?cbid=1378
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Interesting. The plan I'd heard was for the headhouse to be incorporated into the proposed building on that site (where the temporary skating rink was last winter), including an underground connection into its parking garage. That building isn't getting built anytime soon, so apparently the T got tired of waiting.
 
Arlington said:
I like the way that bus lanes "advertise/promise" bus service the same way that rails advertise/promise rail transit.
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Are building developers any more frank/honest in their renders? Damn, I'm still waiting for all those beautiful trees on the terraces of those high rises we've been expecting for the past 20 years.......
 

Quincy Bus Facility Virtual Public Meeting | Events | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
www.mbta.com www.mbta.com

Virtual community meeting yesterday on New Quincy bus garage. Zoom recording and meeting materials not yet posted for archiving.

Recap:
www.patriotledger.com

MBTA: Quincy bus depot will open with partial electric fleet

MBTA officials outlined updated plans and gave a new timeline for the construction of a modern bus facility in Quincy on Wednesday.
www.patriotledger.com

Maddeningly, the article doesn't state whether the land transaction for the ex-Lowe's site is actually near closing or if T and Quincy are still circling around on any issues. Kind of critical to give an update on that, no, when the design firm has already been hired?
 
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