MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

Charlie_mta said:
If any more transportation projects are to be built, including this one, then this dysfunctional process of one or two special interest groups holding up entire projects has got to end. We've gone from the one extreme in the 1950s wherein virtually no public input was solicitated at all, and the government just bulldozed whatever and wherever it wanted (for highways, urban renewal, etc.), to what we have now wherein just a few vocal people can stop a project dead in its tracks, a project that would have benefitted the greater good..
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This is a case where the project agency should be held responsible to recruit a representative sample of the population affected for these meetings. It cannot be just whoever shows up. This is horrible research practice.

If you were a commercial company doing market testing, you never let a few vocal people dominate your research.
 
JeffDowntown said:
This is a case where the project agency should be held responsible to recruit a representative sample of the population affected for these meetings. It cannot be just whoever shows up. This is horrible research practice.

If you were a commercial company doing market testing, you never let a few vocal people dominate your research.
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We also don’t want direct democracy on every inch of road usage. Transportation planners know better than the gen pop and we have elected officials for a reason. There is a middle ground.
 
I think the issue with the angle of the article is also assuming that public meetings are the "most important" form of engagement? If the city has also talked with hundreds of bus riders outside of public meetings, isn't that also good? Isn't all that feedback legitimate?
 
I was on the Tobin Bridge inbound last evening, watching the dozens of drivers ignore the bus lane and zip ahead of the stalled traffic. Obviously zero enforcement.

Then the T doubled down on my sense of "why bother" with the bus lanes. For the first time using the Tobin I saw a 111 bus in the bus lane, then a second 111 (in service). then a 3rd 111 (also in service) all nicely bunched together. With such well regulated service timing by the T, I guess the best use of the bus lane really is for cars.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I was on the Tobin Bridge inbound last evening, watching the dozens of drivers ignore the bus lane and zip ahead of the stalled traffic. Obviously zero enforcement.

Then the T doubled down on my sense of "why bother" with the bus lanes. For the first time using the Tobin I saw a 111 bus in the bus lane, then a second 111 (in service). then a 3rd 111 (also in service) all nicely bunched together. With such well regulated service timing by the T, I guess the best use of the bus lane really is for cars.
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Camera enforcement is the only effective way to ticket the illegal usage of bus lanes. Put up some strategically placed cameras, and grab 'em.
 
Charlie_mta said:
Camera enforcement is the only effective way to ticket the illegal usage of bus lanes. Put up some strategically placed cameras, and grab 'em.
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In NYC, they recently started putting cameras right on the buses, so it can snap the license plate of any car blocking it. It's their Automated Bus Lane Enforment (ABLE) cameras project. Hard to get more strategically placed than that.
 
lainpimicaja said:
"'In the first 10 days of August, we have seen [a] 129% increase in the applications for bus operators.'" Hopefully this trend continues: https://www.boston.com/news/local-n...ns-following-new-contract/?p1=hp_featurestack
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Important to note that the MBTA has lost 70 bus operators in the last month, and getting the number back takes much longer. https://www.mbta.com/news/2023-05-2...vice-schedules-update-key-change-bus-operator.

In May 2023, the MBTA announced schedule changes that would mean a headcount of 1,622 would provide 86% of pre-COVID service. Now, with only 1,548, the MBTA is only able to run 82% of pre-COVID service. The MBTA has lost 5% of its bus operators in the past 30 days, or 1 in 20 operators. At the moment 19% of all positions are vacant, or nearly 1 in 5 unfilled.

Bus service levels will decrease again this fall. There's no way around it. The MBTA bus service hasn't hit rock bottom yet. It's still ahead of us this fall. It's possible to see a 5% service cut across the board on average for all routes aggregared this fall. We should know by the week of August 24th or 25th what the changes actually are.

Because of the lag time, we won't see the effects of any increases until winter at the earliest, but it will probably be spring 2024 before we start seeing if there is any meaningful change. The fiscal cliff and budget shortfall seems to still be projected to arrive summer 2024.

Board Meeting | MBTA Planning, Workforce, Development & Compensation Subcommittee (Virtual) | 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

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The Malden City Council is taking up a resolution tonight that would seek to "put the brakes on bus and bike lanes" in the city --

https://www.reddit.com/r/malden/comments/165yhay

www.change.org

Sign the Petition

Keep Malden Moving - Put The Brakes On Bus And Bike Lanes
www.change.org www.change.org

But, the Malden Council previously endorsed a retrofit of Centre Street/Route 60 to add bus and bike lanes and eliminate auto lanes, so it's difficult to see this really going anywhere --
mass.streetsblog.org

Malden City Council Endorses More Bus, Bike Lanes for City Center - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The current Centre Street is a four- to five-lane street built in the late 1970s, shortly after the city's new Orange Line station opened, over the buried headwaters of the Malden River.
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
 
Wow, it's from Jadeane Sica. The same woman who been on the news for several other events. I guess certain policies and ways of thinking really do tend to go hand-in-hand.

Note: I'll note that I do think Rt.60 was a bad job. But my vision on how to fix it is emulating streets like Comm Ave or Huntington Ave, not the 4-lane speedway where both sides ends as 2-lane streets and the speedway is parking garages, parking lots, and Bank-tier strip malls tenants.
 
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JeffDowntown said:
For the first time using the Tobin I saw a 111 bus in the bus lane, then a second 111 (in service). then a 3rd 111 (also in service) all nicely bunched together. With such well regulated service timing by the T, I guess the best use of the bus lane really is for cars.
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About this: I wish the MBTA would employ the tactics used to avoid bus bunching of the PVTA but I want to know how others would feel about this as it’d be a bit of rider inconvenience in some ways.

At the PVTA when buses bunch up they will do one of a couple things to attempt to restore regular service.
- Front bus goes express to the stop it’s supposed to be at and transfers passengers stopping in between to the rear bus that caught up
- Time checks where buses stand by to leave at scheduled times from certain stops on route

The latter strategy is more for bunching prevention but works better for route that are lower frequency (>20min). It ensures you don’t have two buses on a low frequency route basically running the same route time and leaving a gap double the length between them like what happens on the 47.

The first strategy is the one I’m wondering most about rider input. Would it be worth it to you to reduce bunching if you may have to get out and move to another bus? How this works is similar to Green Line express trains except the bus thats going express doesn’t have to follow the route to skip to a certain stop, it can take a different lower traffic route to get there faster.
 
Smuttynose said:
The Malden City Council is taking up a resolution tonight that would seek to "put the brakes on bus and bike lanes" in the city --

https://www.reddit.com/r/malden/comments/165yhay

www.change.org

Sign the Petition

Keep Malden Moving - Put The Brakes On Bus And Bike Lanes
www.change.org www.change.org

But, the Malden Council previously endorsed a retrofit of Centre Street/Route 60 to add bus and bike lanes and eliminate auto lanes, so it's difficult to see this really going anywhere --
mass.streetsblog.org

Malden City Council Endorses More Bus, Bike Lanes for City Center - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The current Centre Street is a four- to five-lane street built in the late 1970s, shortly after the city's new Orange Line station opened, over the buried headwaters of the Malden River.
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
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FWIW this council vote failed, so it's not moving forward - the bus & bike lanes stay.
 
Smuttynose said:
The Malden City Council is taking up a resolution tonight that would seek to "put the brakes on bus and bike lanes" in the city --

https://www.reddit.com/r/malden/comments/165yhay

www.change.org

Sign the Petition

Keep Malden Moving - Put The Brakes On Bus And Bike Lanes
www.change.org www.change.org

But, the Malden Council previously endorsed a retrofit of Centre Street/Route 60 to add bus and bike lanes and eliminate auto lanes, so it's difficult to see this really going anywhere --
mass.streetsblog.org

Malden City Council Endorses More Bus, Bike Lanes for City Center - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The current Centre Street is a four- to five-lane street built in the late 1970s, shortly after the city's new Orange Line station opened, over the buried headwaters of the Malden River.
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
Click to expand...

FWIW this council vote failed, so it's not moving forward - the bus & bike lanes stay.
 
Tobin Bridge inbound bus lane pilot showing tremendous time-saving results - faster, more reliable trips for bus riders but also slightly faster trips for car drivers based on this analysis: https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/0...fter-buses-got-their-own-lane-on-tobin-bridge

"'The Tobin Bridge bus lane are speeding up bus trips for over 9,000 bus riders per day on Bus Route 111 (May 2023, typical weekday),' wrote Wesley Edwards, the MBTA's Acting Chief of Operations Planning, Scheduling, and Strategy, in a June 14 email to colleagues at MassDOT and the MBTA. 'Before the inbound lane was installed, buses took 16 minutes on average to cross the bridge at peak times, and up to 5-10 minutes more on top of that due to congestion (90th percentile running times),' continued Edwards. 'With the lane today, buses cross the bridge in about 5 minutes.'"

Strange that this is still a pilot (it's been practically 3 years in effect) and not permanent - the markings were totally worn away the last time I crossed on that part of the Tobin.
 
lainpimicaja said:
Tobin Bridge inbound bus lane pilot showing tremendous time-saving results - faster, more reliable trips for bus riders but also slightly faster trips for car drivers based on this analysis: https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/0...fter-buses-got-their-own-lane-on-tobin-bridge

"'The Tobin Bridge bus lane are speeding up bus trips for over 9,000 bus riders per day on Bus Route 111 (May 2023, typical weekday),' wrote Wesley Edwards, the MBTA's Acting Chief of Operations Planning, Scheduling, and Strategy, in a June 14 email to colleagues at MassDOT and the MBTA. 'Before the inbound lane was installed, buses took 16 minutes on average to cross the bridge at peak times, and up to 5-10 minutes more on top of that due to congestion (90th percentile running times),' continued Edwards. 'With the lane today, buses cross the bridge in about 5 minutes.'"

Strange that this is still a pilot (it's been practically 3 years in effect) and not permanent - the markings were totally worn away the last time I crossed on that part of the Tobin.
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I wonder how carefully this analysis was done.

Every time I have seen 111 buses in the Tobin bus lane, they have been bunched 2 or 3 together. So 111 trip time over the Tobin might be fast, but door to door for passengers could be horrible (bunching means huge schedule gaps).

Does the average car travel time account for all the scofflaws using the bus lane?
 
lainpimicaja said:
Tobin Bridge inbound bus lane pilot showing tremendous time-saving results - faster, more reliable trips for bus riders but also slightly faster trips for car drivers based on this analysis: https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/0...fter-buses-got-their-own-lane-on-tobin-bridge

"'The Tobin Bridge bus lane are speeding up bus trips for over 9,000 bus riders per day on Bus Route 111 (May 2023, typical weekday),' wrote Wesley Edwards, the MBTA's Acting Chief of Operations Planning, Scheduling, and Strategy, in a June 14 email to colleagues at MassDOT and the MBTA. 'Before the inbound lane was installed, buses took 16 minutes on average to cross the bridge at peak times, and up to 5-10 minutes more on top of that due to congestion (90th percentile running times),' continued Edwards. 'With the lane today, buses cross the bridge in about 5 minutes.'"

Strange that this is still a pilot (it's been practically 3 years in effect) and not permanent - the markings were totally worn away the last time I crossed on that part of the Tobin.
Click to expand...
I wonder how carefully this analysis was done.

Every time I have seen 111 buses in the Tobin bus lane, they have been bunched 2 or 3 together. So 111 trip time over the Tobin might be fast, but door to door for passengers could be horrible (bunching means huge schedule gaps).

Does the average car travel time account for all the scofflaws using the bus lane?
 
I wonder if the automobile throughput across the bridge was also helped by the fact that what was 3 through lanes entering the bridge with the on-ramp traffic forced to merge in a pretty short stretch is now two through lanes entering the bridge with the on-ramp given its own dedicated lane, which then transitions into a bus lane a few hundred feed up, giving drivers plenty of time to enter and merge over.
 
Idk, y'all - bus lanes aren't rocket science - overwhelming majority of the times you prioritize transit on roadways, it results in better conditions for providing service. Not gonna fix everything, but it's a no-brainer start. Still don't understand why so many of the pols around here favor so many pilots and half-measures when it's not mystery what works - figure it helps the cover their asses with cranky constituents, but those voices are getting fewer and fewer as time marches on and the emergencies mount.
 
I do suspect the ability to sidestep any lengthy public engagement process about a permanent change is what's driving a lot of these "pilot" decisions. Not everyone is as brave as Jay Monti in Everett (Mr. "The Pilot Is the Process" regarding the Broadway bus lanes) but the sentiment is there. Run the pilot and gather data along the way so at some point, you can issue a report validating the decision and change the bureaucratic designation from "pilot" to "permanent" the next time the road needs resurfacing.

I've wondered if this has (negative) implications for enforcement, though. The Washington Ave. bus lanes in the North End seem like a prime example. Any time it's a heavy traffic day or a rain storm, drivers all seem to think the red paint doesn't apply to them anymore -- possibly because the right-turn lane onto Atlantic Ave. might be backing up. By not making them a big production (and center-running a la Columbus Ave, as they should be on North Washington IMO), is it harder to get BTD and BPD to take enforcement seriously?
 
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