MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

I'm excited to see these lanes, but the lack of a transfer between the 22 and 66 isn't great.
 
The EGE said:
I'm excited to see these lanes, but the lack of a transfer between the 22 and 66 isn't great.
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Screenshot 2023-05-31 at 8.48.45 PM.png


They're probably assuming that by the time this is implemented, the 22 would take a left on Tremont by RX station, which is what's included in the final bus network redesign map. That would mean the 66 and 22 would overlap there at RX and repeatedly again along Tremont in Mission Hill.
 
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Gotcha, that makes sense. So this is really two different projects - Jackson to RX serving the T22, and RX to Ruggles serving the T15 and T23.
 
Teban54 said:
Notice it was mentioned in the design that Malcolm X Blvd will be redesigned as a separate project.
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This is so good to hear. Malcolm X Blvd will have the highest bus frequency of any corridor in the system under the BNRD and is plenty wide enough for center running bus lanes.

Also of note: this plan puts the Columbus Ave corridor as Boston’s first BRT corridor that meets the BRT Standard.
 
One thing I've noticed with the bus operator shortage is that the T seems to prioritize running the schedule over maintaining consistent headways.

For example, if this is a schedule that requires 4 operators:
10:00
10:15
10:30
10:45

If they only have 3 operators they'll do this:
10:00
10:15
10:30
10:45

instead of:
10:00
10:20
10:40

I get that there are drawbacks and benefits to each approach (as well as union rules), but for routes that are supposed to have walk-up service levels it seems to me that maintaining consistent headways instead of schedule adherence might be a better approach to dealing with lower frequencies.
 
This is a side topic, but why do we continue buying buses that burn natural gas? Why don't we fit them with a reformer and fuel cells instead, to improve efficiency and reduce emissions? In addition to offering much lower emissions, higher efficiency and reduced noise, fuel cell buses could also run on hydrogen when that becomes more widely available. Fuel cells also eliminate the production of oxides of Nitrogen, which contributes to acid rain emissions. Natural gas or propane is an intermediate step on the way towards the conversion to hydrogen as a fuel, and while it still produces carbon dioxide, carbon emissions are much lower than when the fuel is burned in an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), either of the Diesel, gasoline, or Natural Gas varieties.
 
737900er said:
One thing I've noticed with the bus operator shortage is that the T seems to prioritize running the schedule over maintaining consistent headways.

For example, if this is a schedule that requires 4 operators:
10:00
10:15
10:30
10:45

If they only have 3 operators they'll do this:
10:00
10:15
10:30
10:45

instead of:
10:00
10:20
10:40

I get that there are drawbacks and benefits to each approach (as well as union rules), but for routes that are supposed to have walk-up service levels it seems to me that maintaining consistent headways instead of schedule adherence might be a better approach to dealing with lower frequencies.
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This was the topic of discussion for Summer 2023 service changes during the MBTA board meeting on May 25th. There will be a public meeting on June 12th about these changes starting July 2nd.
 
Seashore Trolley Museum got one of the T's retired trackless trolleys. . .



Also...there's only 3 dual-modes left on the Silver Line as they continue to be retired for the new 60 ft. hybrids. Next couple weeks will probably be your last shot at riding a bus under wires in Greater Boston.
 
Does the Seashore have the equipment to run their trackless trolleys?
 
RandomWalk said:
Does the Seashore have the equipment to run their trackless trolleys?
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They have some, but not much, overhead with a return wire for driving them around. They actually have a pretty large collection of vintage diesel buses, too...and are building a new display area for their bus and TT collection because right now they're all stuffed in nooks and crannies on the premises while the railcars are the main visitor attraction.
 
Per NETransit. . .

The last-ever active trolleybus in Greater Boston is dual-mode 1120, currently assigned to SL1. Will probably be yanked from service in the next week or so, since the full fleet of new replacement Silver Line hybrids are now in-service. At which point the overhead will be de-energized and the TT era will be over in Boston.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Per NETransit. . .

The last-ever active trolleybus in Greater Boston is dual-mode 1120, currently assigned to SL1. Will probably be yanked from service in the next week or so, since the full fleet of new replacement Silver Line hybrids are now in-service. At which point the overhead will be de-energized and the TT era will be over in Boston.
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Per TransSee, 1120 hasn't been in service since June 29. Can't help but wonder if we've already seen its last revenue trip.
 
All the DMAs have been officially retired. However, 1120 will be sent to a museum.
 
I think that means the whole fleet is New Flyer now. Was it last homogeneous with the RTS fleet in the 90s?
 
MBTA DMA said:
All the DMAs have been officially retired. However, 1120 will be sent to a museum.
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Yep. NETransit was updated today showing that.

RandomWalk said:
I think that means the whole fleet is New Flyer now. Was it last homogeneous with the RTS fleet in the 90s?
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Not totally. The RTS's were sourced from a few of different manufacturers (GMC, TMC, and NovaBUS), even though they were pretty much identical under the hood. And the trackless trolleys were 1976 Flyer makes.

The T still has 2 active Neoplan diesels in the work fleet (Railroad Incident Coordination Buses), though those will probably be swapped out for retiring New Flyers for parts commonality with the rest of the work fleet.


There's now 64 retired New Flyer D40LF straight diesels as the ongoing order of XDE-40 hybrids churns along. That order will cut the straight diesel roster in half to 155, and the option order on that contract will purge all of the straight diesels in favor of a uniform roster of hybrids and CNG's.
 
I guess the CNG are the next ones to be yeeted off the premises. Their tanks can’t have too much more time before they start expiring.
 
They need to add at least a couple more buses on the Route# 65 bus line, especially during non-rush hour periods. Waiting for that bus to get back home from an appointment yesterday took a whole damn hour to get back home!!! That is so freaking ridiculous!! Saw the same bus on the other side of the street going back to Kenmore Square. Went over back in front of Beth Israel to go to Kenmore Station, went downstairs & took the B Line trolley home!! Seems a lot quicker to go back home THAT way!!! :mad:
 
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