Novartis Campus | 181-211 Mass Ave, 22 Windsor Street | Kendall Square | Cambridge

SeamusMcFly said:
Talking at work this morning about this project and all the others in this area, made me posit, what the potential would be to add an intermediate red line stop between Kendall and Central to serve all the new workers in this corridor.

There are already a number of people right there, and centralizing Pfizer, Novartis, and Millenium/Takeda all within a few blocks will be adding thousands more. It looks like there is about a mile between the two existing stations, so putting one halfway would be about the distance from South Station to Park St., so it wouldn't seem too close.

Should work one right into 610 North since that is on hold....

I know it really belongs in the build a better boston thread or whatever, but the 2,000 employees moving to this campus would be the largest influx and possible impetus for a move like this.
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Seamus -- that sounds like something that should be broached to the groups meeting with the MIT real estate folks planning the next few Million Sq. ft. as part of Kendall 2030

I'll bet that post the Assembly Sq. and Brighton Landing that a developer / user funded new station might get a positive hearing

That is much more likely than Green Lines or Crazy T pitches concerning the Grand Junction Line
 
SeamusMcFly said:
Talking at work this morning about this project and all the others in this area, made me posit, what the potential would be to add an intermediate red line stop between Kendall and Central to serve all the new workers in this corridor.

There are already a number of people right there, and centralizing Pfizer, Novartis, and Millenium/Takeda all within a few blocks will be adding thousands more. It looks like there is about a mile between the two existing stations, so putting one halfway would be about the distance from South Station to Park St., so it wouldn't seem too close.

Should work one right into 610 North since that is on hold....

I know it really belongs in the build a better boston thread or whatever, but the 2,000 employees moving to this campus would be the largest influx and possible impetus for a move like this.
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I dislike the idea of a T stop that benefits only a few companies (no matter how big) while slowing things down for everybody else moving between Alewife and Downtown, but if they did put one around there it should be closer to Lafayette Square, where it would be serving far more businesses and residents. Someplace like the Uhaul building or Tootsie Roll factory, though I doubt it's feasible. Park Street and South Station are big transfer destinations in denser areas of activity serving far more people, you can hardly compare the areas.
 
It's not about comparing the locales. Park St. and SS have DTX between them plus Gov. Cen. Chinatown, Boylston, State St, and Aquarium all really serve the downtown FiDi.

It's also not about benefiting companies, but about benefiting commuters, and hopefully the residents. etc.

Not sure what it would slow down as of now, there is almost always a backup from Kendall to Park. That just means cars waiting on the tracks or at platforms.

It's called mass transit or public transit for a reason, to move the public in masses from place to place. If masses of people need to get to a central destination that is currently a 10 minute walk in either direction..... not sure how that is bad.

Far more businesses? Perhaps, but would it be more people. Not too mention it is too close to Central. I just spitballed a location almost directly in the middle of the existing stations which makes much more sense to my walking sensibilities.

Include the companies and people at Tech. Sq. and One Kendall, and you have many thousands of commuters who are not super close to either existing rail stop.
 
I'm skeptical. I'm sure it would get used and be appreciated, but not in a way that justifies the cost.

What is the purpose other than decreasing the walking distance to/from the existing stations? Since it is an infill station at a point that already has acceptable station spacing it doesn't add many new riders, just makes life better for existing riders. It also doesn't add any bus connections or improve ops in anyway. It does, however, slow the trip to/from downtown for everyone.

I think any spending on the T is going to have to offer new riders via expanding the catch-basin or by increasing throughput of a line or the network as whole. Red-Blue does that. GLX does that. BLX to Lynn does that. New signals do that. N-S link does that. DMU service does that. Cambridge infill station doesn't come close to any of those.
 
They should spend that money fixing the line so it doesn't take me 45 minutes to go three T stops due to disabled trains and or switching problems, three times a week.

Sorry, this winter, the red line has soured me.
 
I've always felt Kendall is too close to the river to serve its area well. Moving it northwest of the grand junction would be a better location, IMO.
 
They won't be building an infill Red Line station (like at Lafayette Square?). Someday a GJ routed, LRV Urban Ring will link the Kendall areas - probably with stops at Binney, Main and Mass Ave.
 
mdd said:
They should spend that money fixing the line so it doesn't take me 45 minutes to go three T stops due to disabled trains and or switching problems, three times a week.

Sorry, this winter, the red line has soured me.
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Right there with ya. Probably on the same trains. getting on at Kendall at 5:30 should not result in me missing a 5:57 train home from SS. My fault I guess that it has happened multiple times.

Also, just threw it out there as something that would improve the area that is really an expansion outward from Boston. And, would not want the public to foot said bill 100%. I get the arguments against, and again just threw it out there without cost considerations. Saw a potential to add a platform on an existing line that could be tied into a new development, which might allow it to be done for cheaper.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
They won't be building an infill Red Line station (like at Lafayette Square?). Someday a GJ routed, LRV Urban Ring will link the Kendall areas - probably with stops at Binney, Main and Mass Ave.
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With GJ light rail, you probably do need an infill station between Vassar and Albany for the connections. I wouldn't worry too much about the close spacing since trains get stuck waiting over the bridge anyway.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
It's called mass transit or public transit for a reason, to move the public in masses from place to place. If masses of people need to get to a central destination that is currently a 10 minute walk in either direction..... not sure how that is bad.

Far more businesses? Perhaps, but would it be more people. Not too mention it is too close to Central. I just spitballed a location almost directly in the middle of the existing stations which makes much more sense to my walking sensibilities.
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I guess in my view "mass transit" is not just the number of people but the diversity. Putting in a transit stop solely to benefit certain employees of some big pharmaceutical companies, it just sends the wrong message as to who the city is going to divert resources towards, especially if it's only going to be really utilized at certain times a day. I also don't think the location you mentioned (610 Main, I think, around Portland?) is in between the two stops but closer to Kendall. Not by much but that just sorta illustrates how close the Central and Kendall stops are anyway.

As for backups I rarely notice slowdowns from Kendall to Park, unless it's peak travel time. An extra stop would certainly draw out the red line ride out noticeably for those coming from Alewife/Davis/Porter. Something that might work better for the area would be a Grand Junction stop with an underground/indoor pedestrian link from Kendall to shield people from bad weather. Don't know how much more economically feasible this is though.

That said, what I would
 
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Cambridge is blowing up. We know where the Economic engine is coming from. Cambridge and Somerville rents are out of control

2-Bedroom apartments in Cambridge are running 3500-4000
2 Bedroom Apartments in Somerville are running 2000-2400

Crazy
 
There should be very frequent 10-20 story residential buildings up and down all of Mass. Ave. on both sides. What's crazy is activists yelling for "housing justice" at the same time they are yelling "too tall, too dense". They make about as much sense as the Flat Earth Society.
 
^ Yup. They don't understand the contradiction in whining about both rising prices, and increased density. They're crying for a past that no longer exists.
 
Brad Plaid said:
There should be very frequent 10-20 story residential buildings up and down all of Mass. Ave. on both sides. What's crazy is activists yelling for "housing justice" at the same time they are yelling "too tall, too dense". They make about as much sense as the Flat Earth Society.
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Funny, that is exactly what is recommended by the K2C2 study. That is the study that NIMBYs demanded, didn't like the conclusions of, and now are trying to have thrown out.
 
I'm not a height fetishist, but I wish Cambridge would get an itch to compete with Bostons skyline instead of hiding in it's shadow. Other then the shell sign and MIT's dome, the Cambridge side of the river is gross.

Harvard I was just thinking how I like how squat it is: there are still a decent amount of colonial properties and they don't look too out of place with everything low.

Midrises by Central Square, which historically trended that way anyway.

South from Central Square, it should get taller and taller, with a few 600 footers around Kendall.

BUT, it will never happen. Because Cambridge.
 
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