You beat me to it. I had just found these maps to prove my suspicion. It's so much bleaker to see that change in pictures, though.
Red Line Extension to Mattapan
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Equilibria
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Milton isnât a ârapid transit community,â no matter how many times the state says it is - The Boston Globe
The requirement that Milton zone for thousands of new housing units is based on a false premise.
www.bostonglobe.com
Sounds like she'd be in favor...
That said, it is absolutely reasonable to compare Milton to Brookline, whose light rail service differs only in the required transfer (and the far greater number of singnalized crossings).
Java King
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Milton isnât a ârapid transit community,â no matter how many times the state says it is - The Boston Globe
The requirement that Milton zone for thousands of new housing units is based on a false premise.
Sounds like she'd be in favor...
That said, it is absolutely reasonable to compare Milton to Brookline, whose light rail service differs only in the required transfer (and the far greater number of singnalized crossings).
Totally! Plus, I believe the plan is to eventually have the Type 9 Green Line vehicles run on the Mattapan High Speed Line. In my humble opinion, saying Milton doesn't meet the requirements of a rapid transit community is just an insane argument. Yes, the line runs on the far northern edge of the town, but it's well within the legal boundary. Using that logic, Somerville shouldn't be included pre-Green Line extension because they only had 1 station on the Red Line barely over the border from Cambridge. There must be some other examples of a town that has only 1 or 2 transit stations barely over the border. Braintree maybe?
I reiterate my previous suggestion: if Milton thinks the Mattapan Line isn’t rapid transit, they should pay commuter rail prices to board it within their borders. Capen St and Valley Road should close, and most trains should express through Milton and Central Ave stations — if it’s not rapid transit, then the 45 minute headways of the nearby Fairmount Line should be more than sufficient. Hyde Park sees, IIRC, 60-min headways during peak, and limited service off-peak — that could provide a similar model for service to the remaining stations in Milton. (The stations within Boston would of course maintain today’s frequencies, such as they are.)
And if it’s non-rapid transit rail, then probably there should be protected crossings with quad-gates at the remaining grade crossings. Combined with most trains skipping Milton and Central Ave, and closing the other Milton stops, this might actually finally allow the “High Speed Line” to live up to its name.
^^ Mostly these suggestions are tongue-in-cheek. It’s patently absurd to argue that Milton doesn’t receive rapid transit. (And, note that all of my suggestions above involve changes to the status quo, in order to bring it closer to being “not rapid transit”; the status quo itself still definitely qualifies as RT.)
And if it’s non-rapid transit rail, then probably there should be protected crossings with quad-gates at the remaining grade crossings. Combined with most trains skipping Milton and Central Ave, and closing the other Milton stops, this might actually finally allow the “High Speed Line” to live up to its name.
^^ Mostly these suggestions are tongue-in-cheek. It’s patently absurd to argue that Milton doesn’t receive rapid transit. (And, note that all of my suggestions above involve changes to the status quo, in order to bring it closer to being “not rapid transit”; the status quo itself still definitely qualifies as RT.)
bigeman312
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While I agree with the spirit of your argument, the facts are off. Somerville had two heavy rail stations pre-GLX (Assembly and Davis), not one.
While I do not buy Milton’s argument that they are exempt from the housing law, it’s also true that their level of service is absolutely below the level of Somerville receives. The Red Line and Orange Line are both superior services to the Mattapan Line by any metric (speed, capacity, frequency, connectivity, accessibility, etc).
Is this relevant to their compliance with the housing law? Absolutely not. They are a rapid transit community and they should comply.
Is your argument truthful and do Somerville and Milton have comparable transit service (pre-GLX or post-GLX)? Also, no.
If you disagree, then it follows you’d think a Red Line extension past Ashmont into Milton wouldn’t represent an increase or improvement in transit for Milton. I’d imagine you’d recognize that’s untrue, though.
At the end of the day, I wish Milton officials used the fact (and it is absolutely factual) that their service is unquestionably inferior to the heavy rail system as leverage to push for a Red Line extension to Mattapan. That would be progress. Unfortunately, they use this information to keep the inferior transit status quo and prevent housing development. That’s a lack of progress.
TheRatmeister
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Just to put myself in the position of God-King Emperor of all Dunks and the Lands surrounding them, I'd give Milton 3 options:
Option 1: Status Quo. The trolley gets modernized with new vehicles but is otherwise largely unchanged. Milton is made to comply with the rapid transit housing standards. Any future rapid transit conversion is an issue for a later date.
Option 2: Commuter Rail Housing in exchange for no MBTA service within Milton's borders. Capen St and Valley Rd close, Milton/Central Ave are replaced by a new Baker Sq stop located behind and not accessible from Eliot St, and MBTA buses no longer make stops in Milton. In exchange Milton is only required to comply with the housing standards for Commuter Rail towns.
Option 3: Temporary housing exemption in exchange for RL extension. Milton can maintain its current zoning laws for the shorter of either 10 years or until the opening of a Red Line extension to Mattapan via Milton Village, at which point zoning must be updated to fully comply with their status as a rapid transit community. The state formally commits to funding an RL extension to Mattapan.
bigeman312
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Option 1: Status quo.
Option 2: If I may push back on the god-emperor, I believe you are making the world a worse place by presenting this option, your highness and exalted one. If Milton’s leaders were to choose that option, it only hurts the most vulnerable citizens and employees of Milton, while further enriching the most wealthy. Guess what? They may choose it. The powers that be may not give a shit that their favorite restaurant’s staff can’t get to work as easily or that their kid’s less wealthy classmate’s mom can’t commute to their job in Boston as easily, as long as their home keeps appreciating. This option is regressive and should absolutely not be on the table.
Option 3: Are you powerful enough, oh mighty one, to change the fact that there is absolutely zero will in the state to commit to such an extension?
Java King
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Thanks! I was just quickly thinking of communities that only had 1 station near their border. You are totally correct, I forgot about Assembly. (It wasn't around when I lived in Somerville.) I wasn't trying to equate the heavy rail with light rail as the same service level. I suppose a better example is Brookline or Newton, but they have multiple stations, and the line runs roughly through the center of those towns. I can certainly agree the Mattapan service is inferior to probably all other non-commuter rail services in the Boston region, but I don't think that lets Milton off the hook. I think we both agree here.
TheRatmeister
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You're right, I made this option too appealing. Perhaps a better 'bad option' would be to require Milton to fund more housing units within a half mile of Milton town borders than would be required to be zoned for within Milton. Some financial penalty combined with increasing road traffic within Milton to drive up their maintenance costs and increase travel time for residents.
Teban54
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I mean, I'm sure @TheRatmeister (or anyone else here) did not seriously want Option 2 to be implemented. But let's not forget that 54% of people in Milton -- a majority -- voted to overturn upzoning. I'm not sure how many of the 54% are restaurant staff or poor commuters, and if they are, why they would somehow have an incentive to oppose more housing. But a majority is a majority, and they didn't just come from Milton's leaders.
Thus, I view @TheRatmeister's Option 2 as a vivid rebuttal against the idea that "Milton doesn't have rapid transit". Anyone who opposes it (which necessarily include the restaurant staff and poor commuters) should clearly see why they do have rapid transit, and therefore should stop thinking they can have their cake and eating too. If it's really the case that a whole 54% of Milton are okay with Option 2, honestly, they're beyond redemption and deserve it.
Whether it's worth overlooking 46% of people's opinions is a question about democracy that's far beyond this case of Milton.
Delvin4519
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What about Medford?
Medford only has 2 (or 3) rapid transit stations within it's borders, Medford/Tufts and Wellington Station, as well as Ball Square at the Somerville border. There are NO high frequency key bus routes in Medford, and on Sundays, all Medford bus routes run hourly or worse service to access the 3 rapid transit stations on the edge of town.
Wellington Station is cut off from the rest of Medford by the Wellington Super Collider circle, rail yards, and highways. Medford/Tufts is barely in Medford and its walkshed is almost all university campus and not Medford Medford proper, with a large athletic field covering a third of the walkshed in the NE. Ball Square doesn't have an entrance from the northern Medford side of the border and can only be accessed from the southern Somerville side.
michaelw37
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Everett and Chelsea are also great examples. They are rapid transit communities but boast no service as good as the Mattapan trolley. The law is very clear that a "rapid transit community" is not just a town with a rapid transit stop according the FTA definition of heavy rail. It is about fixed transit assets and 7-day, all-day service. If anything, Everett and Chelsea have an even better case than Milton for being reclassified, but no - they complied. This is why I think it is very unlikely the state accedes to the town's demands for reclassification. Nor should they.
The EGE
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While I still place the blame 99% on the NIMBYism of Milton, the MBTA didn't do the state any favors. They let the main stairs to Milton station deteriorate, kept them closed for 5 years, then demolished them rather than repair.
In a sane world, the town could have used the poor Mattapan Line/Red Line performance to push for better service. Immediate upgrades to Milton station, timed connections at Ashmont with better dispatching, non-shitty frequencies, commitment for the timing of the LRV conversion. "We want the MBTA to run actual rapid-transit-quality service so this upzoning will work" would have gone over a lot better than what they're now doing.
In a sane world, the town could have used the poor Mattapan Line/Red Line performance to push for better service. Immediate upgrades to Milton station, timed connections at Ashmont with better dispatching, non-shitty frequencies, commitment for the timing of the LRV conversion. "We want the MBTA to run actual rapid-transit-quality service so this upzoning will work" would have gone over a lot better than what they're now doing.
bigeman312
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I think we’re mostly in agreement here that Milton complying with the zoning law would be a good thing for the region.
That being said, and looking more closely at community designations, Milton does have a point that their level of service more closely resembles those in other categories. It’s clear that these classifications were made in a bit ham-fisted of a way.
For example, Arlington is classified as an “Adjacent Community” which is the same designation as Wareham. This is technically correct, as neither have an MBTA passenger rail station inside their borders, and both border a municipality that does. But this designation does ignore the larger context. Arlington has bus service that frankly is at least as good as Milton’s “rapid transit” service, and not to mention much of the town is in the walk (or bike) shed of Alewife. Wareham, on the other hand, has far less MBTA service. The closest commuter rail station is 10+ miles from town limits and has very limited service. I’d argue Arlington’s level of service is far more in common with Milton than with Wareham.
In the tier between them “Commuter Rail” we have communities like Waltham, with robust rail and bus service, and communities like Freetown, that will always have marginal service.
I would argue that a sane tiered approach doesn’t look like this:
That being said, and looking more closely at community designations, Milton does have a point that their level of service more closely resembles those in other categories. It’s clear that these classifications were made in a bit ham-fisted of a way.
For example, Arlington is classified as an “Adjacent Community” which is the same designation as Wareham. This is technically correct, as neither have an MBTA passenger rail station inside their borders, and both border a municipality that does. But this designation does ignore the larger context. Arlington has bus service that frankly is at least as good as Milton’s “rapid transit” service, and not to mention much of the town is in the walk (or bike) shed of Alewife. Wareham, on the other hand, has far less MBTA service. The closest commuter rail station is 10+ miles from town limits and has very limited service. I’d argue Arlington’s level of service is far more in common with Milton than with Wareham.
In the tier between them “Commuter Rail” we have communities like Waltham, with robust rail and bus service, and communities like Freetown, that will always have marginal service.
I would argue that a sane tiered approach doesn’t look like this:
- Milton, etc
- Freetown, etc
- Arlington, Wareham, etc
- Core Rapid Transit Communities: Served by multiple heavy rail stations or have very robust light rail service, or enough of a combo of light rail and heavy rail to put them over the edge: Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Malden, Revere, Quincy, Brookline, Newton.
- Edge Rapid Transit Communities: Don’t fit category 1, but have a high frequency (T-) BNRD route, light rail service, or a single heavy rail station: Weymouth, Braintree, Milton, Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, Arlington, Everett, Chelsea, Lynn.
- Commuter Rail Communities: All other municipalities with a Commuter Rail station within their borders.
- Adjacent Communities: All other communities with a 30-minute-or-better bus route within their borders or a rail station (CR, heavy rail, or light rail) within five miles of their border.
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Charlie_mta
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The Red Line tunnel actually extends into Arlington, but no station.
Teban54
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I feel the previous two comments are downplaying the current service quality on the Mattapan Line. As of the Winter 2024 schedule, the line runs 6-min frequencies on weekdays during rush hours, or roughly 9.5 tph. Middays still see 7-8 min frequencies. That's slightly better than each individual Green Line branch (7 tph in 2022 during peak).
Sure, the Mattapan line doesn't through-run into downtown Boston, and the lack of timed transfer at Ashmont hurts (though that's primarily a problem with the Red Line right now, and should have been seamless if RL worked properly). But given that Milton is much further away from downtown than the B/C/E branches, I'd guess Milton still gets a faster trip per mile than Boston College, Cleveland Circle and Heath St. When comparing to services that do not through-run into downtown, the Mattapan Line's service levels should blow away even the vast majority of Key Bus Routes (if not all), which do not have 6-min peak frequencies, and which run on streets with no grade separation, no signal priority and sometimes even no bus lanes.
I don't know what exactly makes the Mattapan Line not "very robust light rail service" or having "shitty frequencies". This is before considering that it serves areas that are much less dense than either the GL branches or Key Bus Routes, so its riders are already disproportionately advantaged.
kdmc
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While I do find the debate above to be thoughtful and interesting, I've got to say that we're looking for fairness in something that isn't meant to be fair.
Milton's existence as a wealthy low-density suburb immediately adjacent to Boston is the result of weath inequality and unsustainable zoning policies. That's not "fair", but it's how it shook out.
The MBTA Communities Act was passed by the General Assembly. They were the ones who decided whether it was fair enough to be law. And now that it's law, any concession given to be Milton will be a degradation of MA's power to enforce the law, and would definitely be unfair to all the communities that complied, esp Everett and Chelsea.
EDIT: I realized later that this is the Mattapan Extension thread, not the general MBTA thread, so I guess it make sense we're talking about changing the line.
Milton's existence as a wealthy low-density suburb immediately adjacent to Boston is the result of weath inequality and unsustainable zoning policies. That's not "fair", but it's how it shook out.
The MBTA Communities Act was passed by the General Assembly. They were the ones who decided whether it was fair enough to be law. And now that it's law, any concession given to be Milton will be a degradation of MA's power to enforce the law, and would definitely be unfair to all the communities that complied, esp Everett and Chelsea.
EDIT: I realized later that this is the Mattapan Extension thread, not the general MBTA thread, so I guess it make sense we're talking about changing the line.
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bigeman312
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To be clear, the one thing we all appear to be in agreement about is desiring Milton’s compliance with the zoning law.
You’re right, the discussion is more centered around the level and quality of service in Milton.
Good service is not just frequencies. When you require a two-seat ride to get anywhere, and one of those seats is on inaccessible 80-year old vehicles that are very often out of service (and thus very often unable to meet the scheduled frequencies), and a low percentage of the town is even in the walkshed of that service, those are factors that should be mentioned in addition to the scheduled frequencies.
It’s hard to make the argument that Milton has such better MBTA service than Arlington, that it warrants a classification of two tiers above them. The (T)77 has comparable frequencies to the Mattapan Line, and Alewife is barely over the border. A far higher percentage of Arlington is walkable to high-frequency, high-capacity service than Milton.
Milton does not have anywhere close to the MbTA service and coverage as Somerville or Cambridge. Not that they have the density to warrant it, but that is part and parcel with this zoning law, isn’t it? The Mattapan Line is not a high-capacity line equivalent to a heavy rail line. Isn’t this zoning law all about adding humans to spaces that have the infrastructure to move many humans efficiently?
Extend the Red Line to Mattapan and upzone Milton and we’ll be in agreement. That’s way better than status quo.
It’s less than ideal that the state is trying squeeze a one-size fits all law that treats Milton like Somerville and Arlington like Wareham. The law is a huge step in the right direction, but the state had some blunders on the margins with classifications on this one.
All of that being said, this is a critique of the state’s classification tiers, not a defense of the status quo or an opposition to Milton’s compliance.
Upzone. Invest in transit expansion to bring high-capacity transit to more areas. I believe that’s what we all want.