Why does Bus 39 need to continue into Back Bay, paralleling E line service? Why is it not terminated at Heath Street? Why clog Huntington Ave. with the duplicative service?
And I am asking a real transit purpose question, not the historical "there used to be street car service" question. There used to be street cars (and El's) a lot of places.
The short answer (in my opinion): because the ridership demand is there. Check out the (pre-covid) ridership map from the Better Bus Profile:Why does Bus 39 need to continue into Back Bay, paralleling E line service? Why is it not terminated at Heath Street? Why clog Huntington Ave. with the duplicative service?
And I am asking a real transit purpose question, not the historical "there used to be street car service" question. There used to be street cars (and El's) a lot of places.
LRT in the Transitway notwithstanding, airport service should run via Summer St directly into downtown. Very few SL1 riders disembark in the Seaport, so there's no particular priority in serving the Transitway, but a combination of Summer St and Congress St bus lanes could provide a one-seat link between the Airport, the Seaport, South Station, the Financial District, Haymarket, and North Station, and provide direct transfers to all commuter rail lines, and all rapid transit lines.
I'm not saying that it isn't a moronic statement but transportation improvement without some legislature that prevents rents from increasing in the communities that are benefitting from the improvement will lead to people of color and long term residents being kicked out. Access to public transportation is desirable and will lead to higher demand which will increase rent, pushing low income families out, of which, will have a greater impact on people of color.Anyone who claims that transportation improvements is a ways to "kick people of color out" is a fucking moron. This isn't the days of taking homes for highways, we are literally making the one form of public transportation these very people rely on better. These are the same fools who shot the X28 down a decade ago. It's not about race, it's about power. They want a seat at the table for their neighborhood, and they SHOULD have one! But the knee-jerk reactionism race card play is so fucking transparent. It does the residents of these underserved neighborhoods more harm than good.
At least the city is listening to riders and residents now, but still. The argument that black folks don't ride bikes is also so fucking racist that it makes my very white head spin. These are not the people we need to be listening to.
I'm not saying that it isn't a moronic statement but transportation improvement without some legislature that prevents rents from increasing in the communities that are benefitting from the improvement will lead to people of color and long term residents being kicked out. Access to public transportation is desirable and will lead to higher demand which will increase rent, pushing low income families out, of which, will have a greater impact on people of color.
This wasn't much of an issue in the past when people were more car-centric but with today's environmentally conscious generation who also happens to be the most in-debted generation, there just isn't enough affordable rental housing near transit connections to go around
Build more affordable housing too. Right along the corridor. Linked mitigation projects. You cannot "rent control" your way out of a supply and demand problem. Rent control suppresses supply.I'm not saying that it isn't a moronic statement but transportation improvement without some legislature that prevents rents from increasing in the communities that are benefitting from the improvement will lead to people of color and long term residents being kicked out. Access to public transportation is desirable and will lead to higher demand which will increase rent, pushing low income families out, of which, will have a greater impact on people of color.
This wasn't much of an issue in the past when people were more car-centric but with today's environmentally conscious generation who also happens to be the most in-debted generation, there just isn't enough affordable rental housing near transit connections to go around
Every expansion should require linked TOD and affordable housing on the expansion. Flood the supply along the new line to mitigate rent increases. (It is how they do it in the Chinese mega cities.)The answer (I truly beleive) is to always, constantly be doing ongoing/incremental transit system improvements and expansions so that such becomes normal and expected. No more grand announcements that "In 10 years a gazillion dollar later, [insert color] transit line extension is now going to serve [neighborhood]." In such a "grand and rare" system improvement mode, the speculators are always going to swoop in like moths to a flame and break things. No more political dog and pony shows and hyperbolistic press releases about what we should just expect to be happening as a matter of course. It's about just always being in the mode of extending and improving so that it's not a "special feature" of a neighborhood, but as expected as any other public utility or service. No more waiting to extend a route by x more stops; rather, everyone should always expect that any line could grow in any direction at any time, stop by stop, year after year. Same with bike lanes, bus lanes, street improvements, etc. Always growing, always expanding. It would become as mundane as seeing a roadwork zone as you drive down the pike.
Essentially, we would be treating transit, bike, and pedestrian improvements the same way that we have always treated street improvements. This should not be a radical concept.A key answer (I truly believe) is to always, constantly be doing ongoing/incremental transit system improvements and expansions so that such becomes normal and expected. No more grand announcements that "In 10 years a gazillion dollar later, [insert color] transit line extension is now going to serve [neighborhood]." In such a "grand and rare" system improvement mode, the speculators are always going to swoop in like moths to a flame and break things. No more political dog and pony shows and hyperbolistic press releases about what we should just expect to be happening as a matter of course. It's about just always being in the mode of extending and improving so that it's not a "special feature" of a neighborhood, but as expected as any other public utility or service. No more waiting to extend a route by x more stops; rather, everyone should always expect that any line could grow in any direction at any time, stop by stop, year after year. Same with bike lanes, bus lanes, street improvements, etc. Always growing, always expanding. It would become as mundane as seeing a roadwork zone as you drive down the pike.
You do understand that this is a part of Boston that had the fabric of their neighborhood destroyed for a failed I-95 connection, right? I’m multi-ethnic/multi-racial and the skepticism for anything that has to do with us is going to be real.Anyone who claims that transportation improvements is a ways to "kick people of color out" is a fucking moron. This isn't the days of taking homes for highways, we are literally making the one form of public transportation these very people rely on better. These are the same fools who shot the X28 down a decade ago. It's not about race, it's about power. They want a seat at the table for their neighborhood, and they SHOULD have one! But the knee-jerk reactionism race card play is so fucking transparent. It does the residents of these underserved neighborhoods more harm than good.
At least the city is listening to riders and residents now, but still. The argument that black folks don't ride bikes is also so fucking racist that it makes my very white head spin. These are not the people we need to be listening to.
You do understand that this is a part of Boston that had the fabric of their neighborhood destroyed for a failed I-95 connection, right? anything that has to do with us is going to be real.
The later. Blue Hill Ave.Maybe I'm misunderstanding the project area, but I'm not aware of any SW Expressway clearing having taken place in Mattapan or Dorchester. It was all Roxbury, JP, and a little bit of Roslindale. Or do you mean that people displaced from those clearings migrated to the Blue Hill Ave. corridor? That's probably a good point, just what to be sure I understand what you are saying.
Its interesting because my great grandmother was actually kicked out of her home along Canterbury street through eminent domain for the highway and moved to Mattapan near Blue Hill Ave.Maybe I'm misunderstanding the project area, but I'm not aware of any SW Expressway clearing having taken place in Mattapan or Dorchester. It was all Roxbury, JP, and a little bit of Roslindale. Or do you mean that people displaced from those clearings migrated to the Blue Hill Ave. corridor? That's probably a good point, just what to be sure I understand what you are saying.