Silver Line - Phase III / BRT in Boston

lexicon506 said:
If they want to keep it as a bus, make a PHYSICALLY separated lane down Wash. St. for silverline and let the buses have COMPLETE control over traffic lights along their route. Last, let them use the emergency lane in the TWT with a direct connection to the tunnel from silver line way. Then I would be more than happy. BRT works just as well as a subway in Curitiba, Brazil because they make the buses the priority on the road. If Boston follows its example, then I'd actually prefer BRT to adding another branch to the green line.
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Of course, I agree that a separate lane would be better. Although it would be the same thing if the line were light rail. As for control over traffic lights, the Green Line doesnt have it, nor does the system in Curitiba. However, the Curitiba system doesnt allow left turns by cars except in very few cases, and has less through-roads.

And if the Silver Line is so successful, they could start looking at larger buses for the future, although Im not sure that would be possible if the tunnels had awkward turns.
 
...

buses suck. the last thing we need is bigger buses clogging boston's roads.
 
And the last thing I want to do is wait for a green line trolley for an hour in Coolidge Corner during January or some other crappy surface stop.

Buses suck.

Trolleys suck.

What's left?
 
...

but trolley's don't have to suck; money spent on buses could be put to better use improving real public transit.

More buses or more trolleys? wich is better?

best is proper underline subways. slow yet steady and continuous expansion of rapid transit would be a boon to the city and region. Why isn't this happening?
 
Build a ramp onto the pike west bound and send the buses down the Pike

Shouldn't the MBTA be maintaining these abandoned tunnells. what happens if one of them collapses would the roads and building above collapse with it.
 
Subways, of course!


ZenZen said:
And the last thing I want to do is wait for a green line trolley for an hour in Coolidge Corner during January or some other crappy surface stop.

Buses suck.

Trolleys suck.

What's left?
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ZenZen said:
And the last thing I want to do is wait for a green line trolley for an hour in Coolidge Corner during January or some other crappy surface stop.

Buses suck.

Trolleys suck.

What's left?
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BigRock said:
Subways, of course!
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Oh. I thought the answer was a monorail!


From perhaps one of the best Simpsons episodes ever (written by Brookline's own Conan O'Brien ... and think "Trouble" from "The Music Man" if you've never seen this episode ...):

Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail! ...
What'd I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
Patty+Selma: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!
[crowd chants `Monorail' softly and rhythmically]
Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...
Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.
Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?
Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley: You'll all be given cushy jobs.
Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?
Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level.
Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.
Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.
I swear it's Springfield's only choice...
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
All: [singing] Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
All: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: Once again...
All: Monorail!
Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...
Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!
All: [singing] Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[big finish]
Monorail!
Homer: Mono... D'oh!
Click to expand...
 
Re: ...

Merper said:
but trolley's don't have to suck; money spent on buses could be put to better use improving real public transit.

More buses or more trolleys? which is better?

best is proper underline subways. slow yet steady and continuous expansion of rapid transit would be a boon to the city and region. Why isn't this happening?
Click to expand...

Trolleys offer a smoother ride, yes. But if anything gets in the way of the tracks, theres nothing they can do. A bus can go around and sue a detour (such as being done in the TWT with the Silver Line). If one trolley derails....the line is bustituted.

Underground heavy rail will always be the best option. But when it comes to a trolley and a bus, both on their own dedicated road, I see no difference/
 
cityrecord said:
I'm sure this will make all the Silver Line haters really happy: there apparently were plans in 1948 to replace the Washington Street elevated with a subway tunnel to Cedar Street in Roxbury. You can read about it here:

http://bostonhistory.typepad.com/notes_on_the_urban_condit/2006/08/how_soon_is_now.html
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Very interesting.

However, it does help to show that the silver line can have its own dedicated lanes in the middle of the road, like those seen in successful BRT projects the silver line is supposedly modeled after
 
I dunno ...

What's the difference between light rail and heavy rail? Is the Green Line heavy or light rail?

The more I learn about the history of Boston's subway system, the more infuriated I get.

I don't like the Silver Line, I think it's stupid. It's mostly stupid going from South Station to the Airport, since it takes 45 minutes when you could walk it in twenty, but I digress.

I want a light-rail line from Dudley Square down Washington Street, above ground, the entire way, right down the middle of the street, at street level (no elevators for disabled access - no need for any of that high-cost stuff).

After it passes through the South End, past East Berkeley, I want it to go a couple more blocks, then incline to bridge level, turn left on Herald Street, above the traffic, then right on Shawmut Ave, over the Mass Turnpike, where it becomes Tremont Street.

Or, alternately, I want the train to stay straight on Washington Street, past East Berkeley, then incline to bridge level, go straight over the Mass Turnpike, return to street level, then turn left on that silly road that no one uses (Marginal Road?).

After a block, I want the train to turn right, and go straight down Tremont Street, until it gets close to the CitiCenter (w/e) and Shubert, then submerge into the old Pleasant Street Tunnel (apparently, still there).

By the way, where was Pleasant Street, and where was the Pleasant Street Incline?

Inside the tunnel it would then stop at Boylston Station, where you could transfer to the Green Line, which you could take one stop to the Red Line at Park Street (and connection to the Orange Line), then on to Government Center where you could switch to the Blue Line to the Airport.

What's so hard about that???????????????????????????????????????

(And, while we're at it, can we continue the subway from Boylston Street so that it goes underground to the old Essex Street station, then re-open the tunnel from there to Summer Street (hitting the Red Line / Orange Line at Downtown Crossing) and on to the State Street stop, where it meets up with the Orange Line and Blue Line?)
 
$

The T could get money for either the South Boston Transitway (Phase II) or the Washington St Replacement (Phase I) but not both SO someone thought up the great idea to combine them, thus killing two birds with one stone.

This is what happens when the government doesn't give a shit about public transit.
 
What's up?

What's the latest on the Silver Line Phase III? Anyone?

I'm furious over the lack of progress and lack of consensus on what will be done, here.

There are so many rails in the area (and so many roads, for that matter), that it seems crazy to me that we can't figure out a way to get the Silver Line completed without a massive amount of time and money.

Here's a novel idea (although someone else suggested it ...): At Washington Street and Herald Street, have a ramp to the Massachusetts Turnpike Eastbound, straight out to the airport, bypassing South Station.

(Um, so there'd have to be power lines the whole way??? I know. I haven't thought that part out, yet.)
 
A high-tech 'Keep Out'

Wayward SUV no match for security at MBTA tunnel
By Megan Tench, Globe Staff | April 14, 2007

It was a little after 10 p.m. Thursday when the late model Jeep Cherokee burst through the yellow gate marking the bus entrance of the Silver Line portal in South Boston.

And then it happened.

The ground in front of the wayward SUV started to rise, and a metal barricade was suddenly blocking passage through the tunnel, protecting the portal, which allows buses to enter and exit South Station.

The unidentified SUV driver threw the car into reverse, hitting a wall, before speeding off, MBTA officials said.

Transit police are viewing videos from five surveillance cameras to get a license place number and track down the driver.

"Theoretically the car could go all the way to the South Station underground," said Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas. "But the metal plate in the floor lifts itself up as a wall before anything gets through there. The folks that designed it said you could drive a tank at 40 miles per hour" and not be able to break through the barrier.

When the SUV arrived at the yellow gate, the system immediately recognized it as an unauthorized vehicle, Grabauskas said. And when it entered the tunnel, which is 1.1 miles long, Grabauskas said, alarms alerted the transit police.

According to officials, the Jeep was white or silver, had a roof and ski rack, and a transponder affixed to the windshield, say officials.

Grabauskas applauded the security system. "In December 2004 when we opened that tunnel, it was the first tunnel to open in the US after 9/11," he said. "We invested $3 million in intrusion detection devices and a barrier system to not allow any unauthorized vehicles into the tunnel.

"It is good to know the investment is paying off," he said.

? Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Maybe it's a colossal waste of T money that could be better spent elsewhere, but that's pretty damn slick. 8)
 
Does the T one work just like that Manchester one?

Also, couldnt anyone who wanted to go underground walk down a green line inclie, make their way to Park, go to the red line, walk along the tracks to south, and the magically arrive at the silver line tunnel?
 
Sure...but then that person would magically arrive in jail immediately thereafter. :twisted:
 
The barrier is worth the money if it keeps some splodey-dope from parking a U-haul directly under South Station during a peak time.
 
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