"Missing" Bus Routes

C

cozzyd

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What bus routes do you guys think should be there but aren't? (I realize the irony of having this discussion when the MBTA may cut routes.)

I think there ought to be a bus connection between Charlestown, Lechmere, Kendall and maybe Central, perhaps something like this:

bus_proposal.png
 
Harvard Square to Alewife via Garden and Sherman Streets. That's a pretty high density part of Cambridge without any bus service at all.

http://g.co/maps/x6wsd

Lexington Center to Waltham Center (this used to exist)

Arlington Center to Belmont Center and Waverley

Harvard Square to Wellington via Winter Hill, something like this:

http://g.co/maps/scfj5

(once Assembly Square Orange Line is open, that would be a more logical place than Wellington to end this route)
 
I think the 69 (currently Harvard-Lechmere), should actually terminate instead at Community College on the Orange Line (with- a stop at North Point). North Point is a far-flung part of Cambridge without *any* public bus transport to the rest of Cambridge. (except of course for EZ Ride.)

The 68 bus currently Harvard-Kendall should be combined with the 74 to Belmont Center. I emailed the G.M. and he said said the 74+68 are two routes now with low ridership, and can't be sustained, but a merger of both routes would not only free up buses but would allow one bus to cover the entire length of Cambridge with, about a mile or so of the town of Belmont? Cambridge is only 3 miles-long, and yet no matter what, everything requires a transfer? (Highly annoying) This would also connect the Alewife area tech/innovation park with the Kendal Square area, meaning if a company wants to have facilities at both locations there's a connection to facilitate both. The route could also be an alternative into Boston when the Red Line is broken down.
 
I'd like to see a few more buses provide through service at 'T stations. Over a dozen buses terminate at Forest Hills, which is great if you want the subway, but what ortho want to go from Rozzie Square to the Centre St. Business district? That's a transfer. Why not have the 34 and 39 overlap for a bit?
 
Alewife-Watertown or somewhere Davis/Porter-Watertown. North Cambridge and Watertown Sq. are pretty close to each other, but you have to backtrack all the way to Harvard to get there on public transit. Very inconvenient for people in Somerville, Arlington, and North Cambridge to have to go Red-70/Red-64 via Central or 77-71 for the malls and Waltham, or Red-Green-57/Red-71-57/77-71-57/Red-86/77-86 to get anywhere in Brighton. It would be faster too to cut across North Cambridge than going anywhere up the gut of Mass Ave. or Mt. Auburn through the congested-most heart of Cambridge.

That's a pretty big "cahn't get theya from heya" hole in the connections.
 
The Alewife busway seems to be designed to serve many more buses than actually use it today. Was there a big cutback of bus service just before it opened in 1985, leaving it half-empty?
 
Ron Newman said:
The Alewife busway seems to be designed to serve many more buses than actually use it today. Was there a big cutback of bus service just before it opened in 1985, leaving it half-empty?
Click to expand...

Don't think so, but it was designed thinking the Red Line was going to Arlington and Lexington so it would've gotten an ass-ton more traffic from Arlington from people who'd otherwise be riding the 77. And that would've provided ridership for many many more bus routes fanning out than it currently serves. I bet there would be those connections to Watertown, etc. if that happened.
 
Winchester has some kind of invisible bus barrier. The turkey hill bus, 77 and others do everything they can to not serve winchester.
 
Notice to people thinking of the of using that road for a bus (Gilmore bridge is the name on google maps), the bridge goes from Bunker Hill Community College to the O'Brian Highway alongside the Green Line:

The bridge is cluster***. I guess no one here uses it, but the cars there back up all the way back to route 99 many times. It takes 5-10 minutes to get over it. I don't even think it's poor traffic timing, just two highways crossing each other.

In short, a bus from Charlestown to Cambridge is useful, but unless it takes some cars off the road (I'm not sure it would, not sure where the cars come from on that bridge), it will get stuck on the bridge a lot. That what happens when it's the only connector from Cambridge from the east for miles around.
 
Porter Sq to Inman Sq via Beacon, Inman Sq to Kendall Sq via Hampshire, Kendall Sq to Bowdoin Sq via Longfellow, Charles Circle/Station and Cambridge St, and Bowdoin Sq to Haymarket Sq via New Chardon.


IMO, Inman Sq needs more accessibility, as does all of that region of Cambridge, and Cambridge St needs a bus.
 
Also, there should be another bus between Harvard Sq and Sullivan Sq via Union Sq, but it goes all the way into Charlestown doing a bit of a loop.

Perhaps some buses terminating at Lechmere could continue across the Gilmore and sweep through different sections of Charlestown.
 
What does everyone think about expanding trolleybus service? I think the 66 would be a good candidate, as would the 86 Harvard-Sullivan route.

On the subject of the 66, I want to add that I detest the Union Square Allston detour. Yes, I understand there are connections there, but how many people actually do make a bus connection there? Staying straight along Harvard Ave between Cambridge St and Brighton Ave would easily shave five minutes off the route. It's unpredictable and inefficient kinks in the route like this that deter so many bus riders.
 
I've never understood that detour. What connection is there that isn't already available elsewhere on the route? You can connect with the 57 where Harvard St. intersects with Brighton Ave., and you can connect with the 64 where Harvard St. meets Cambridge St. What am I missing?
 
Shepard said:
What does everyone think about expanding trolleybus service? I think the 66 would be a good candidate, as would the 86 Harvard-Sullivan route.

On the subject of the 66, I want to add that I detest the Union Square Allston detour. Yes, I understand there are connections there, but how many people actually do make a bus connection there? Staying straight along Harvard Ave between Cambridge St and Brighton Ave would easily shave five minutes off the route. It's unpredictable and inefficient kinks in the route like this that deter so many bus riders.
Click to expand...

The only proposed extension of the TT's is 71 to Newton Corner where it would tie into a bunch more routes and offer better Waltham and Pike express bus coverage. It's rated in the 2003 PMT from Boston MPO: http://www.bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/pmt-old/PMT-5.pdf. $1.5M to build (price includes 1 extra bus, so infrastructure alone with the current fleet numbers that's more like $600K-$750K). Adds 800 new 71 riders and +600 riders taking no current transit.

The 71 and Watertown Carhouse are still powered by the old Green Line A-branch underground power cable, which is a FY2016 unfunded line item on the budget for replacement for state-of-good-repair and bumping the juice a little on the Watertown end. That's all the infrastructure needed to handle this extension. So it boils down to running the 1/2 mile of extra overhead down Galen to loop around the Pike rotary, and plugging it into the same spots where the underground cable powered the Green Line overhead until it was shut off in '94.


I think they should wait on this one until there's commuter rail stations added at Newton Corner and Allston with some high-frequency Worcester Line service in the inner 'burbs. Then this is a really high-value connection where CR at Fairmount-like headways can replace the Pike express buses and the 71 gets kicked up a notch as a very big-deal connecting route.


Other one I could see is simply extending the 77A wires to Alewife Brook Pkwy. and the proposed Alewife busways. Another small addition that doesn't require much upgrade whatsoever to the central power draw, and makes it so both the 77A and 79 each bolster half of the 77 coverage to the midpoint. And...if they bought more Silver Line dual-modes you could run the articulated buses under the wires on the full 77, turn out at the Route 16 stop, and power-switch to/from diesel in Arlington. Cambridge would definitely go for that. Think in the interim though there's a lot more they can do to improve the 77-proper before they need this. If the Green Line were extended someday from Union to Porter, then that transfer and downtown rapid-transit bypass would flush enough new 77 ridership (esp. out of Arlington) to merit this TT flesh-out handily. But not before then. I'd rank the officially-proposed 71/Newton Corner run a lot higher.
 
This sounds a little “Crazy Transit Pitches” worthy. In addition to cozzyd’s acknowledgement of the awkwardness of having this discussion in light of the T’s current financial state, the focus on adding new bus services in middle or upper class neighborhoods north of the Charles that already have decent rail options and bus routes that for the most part have plenty of capacity, seems a little misplaced. What about Roxbury/Dorchester where 7 of the T’s 11 highest ridership routes are? Or Chelsea?
 
HenryAlan said:
I've never understood that detour. What connection is there that isn't already available elsewhere on the route? You can connect with the 57 where Harvard St. intersects with Brighton Ave., and you can connect with the 64 where Harvard St. meets Cambridge St. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

Last year, during the route 66 studies, many people brought up this bullcrap.

The T said they studied it, but "too many people rely on the transfer"

Except heres the thing. Yes, perhaps 1,000 people transfer there....but the study did not include the most important basic math.

1) Number of people who would stop riding if transfer was made more difficult (ie, one block walk)
2) Number of people who would start riding if 66 became so much better.


They also didnt look at the "no shit" math behind sending the 66 into the harvard tunnel, like the 86 does.
 
Forest Hills to Kenmore via the "-ways"
The Greenway/Congress Street/Causeway Street loop
Kendall to Watertown via Mem Drive
 
I don't think buses will ever run on the DCR parkways.
 
Busses on the J-way? That would be a trip.
 
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