T?s Route 28 ride isn?t so smooth
New hybrid vehicles haven?t quelled discontent with transit service
By Meghan E. Irons, Globe Staff | September 14, 2010
When the MBTA recently rolled out 25 new hybrid gas-electric buses on Route 28, the agency said they would make commuting easier for riders in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, where residents have long clamored for quicker, easier rides to points across the city. The 60-foot buses were billed as quieter, safer, and more fuel efficient. Plus, they can pack on more people.
But since the buses began their daily journeys this summer, some residents are complaining that the vehicles are falling short of what is needed and saying that, once again, the T has tried to thrust upon them a plan without getting enough community input.
The latest dust-up is highlighting a divide among neighborhoods that share that stretch of Route 28, lingering distrust of the T, and leftover angst from the failed community process involving the proposed Route 28x.
The T had unveiled a plan last year in hopes of tapping millions in federal stimulus money to bring rapid transit to the route. The plan included erecting a designated bus lane, but residents rejected the proposal and denounced the T for failing to first get their input.
Mattapan community leaders are largely pleased with the bigger buses, but Grove Hall leaders are again blaming the T for shutting them out of the process and failing to discuss their transportation plans before unveiling the buses. City Coun cilor Chuck Turner even asked the T to yank the buses one month after they hit the road, T officials said.
?There were a lot of us who participated in the community process for 28x and the MBTA is pretending that discussion had not taken place,?? said Michael Kozu, a Grove Hall activist. ?They went ahead and implemented these buses anyway without having a meeting in Grove Hall ? the community that is most impacted by the move.??
MBTA General Manager Richard Davey said that no changes have been made to the route and that the buses are meant as a short-term solution until a longer-term plan can be hammered out. He also noted that the T polled 500 riders along the route and found that 91 percent favored the new vehicles. The T also held a community meeting at Mattapan Branch Library that Kozu attended in June, Davey said, and most of those in attendance supported the immediate installation of the hybrid buses.
Davey said the T is reaching out to residents in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury to serve on an advisory board for a study examining their neighborhoods? long-term transit needs. T officials met with community leaders and lawmakers three times since July and are planning another a meeting in Grove Hall next month, he added.
?I am sensitive to the poor community process related to 28x,?? Davey said. ?As we go forward with improvements for the corridor, I want a robust community process. In this instance all we did was put safer, cleaner, bigger buses on the route. We did not make any changes to the route. . . . And I felt riders overwhelmingly asked us to do this.??
Route 28, the fifth-busiest bus line with more than 10,000 daily passengers, serves three neighborhoods that have distinct transportation needs. Some riders have called it ?The Snail,?? for the old buses? slow pace from Mattapan to the bottleneck of Grove Hall and the narrow stretches along Warren Street.
Such transportation problems hit a raw nerve, especially near Grove Hall, where 23 years ago the state took down the elevated Orange Line with a promise to one day return speedy service. It never happened, leaving many residents dependent on buses to get them back and forth.
For the most part, the bigger buses, bought with federal stimulus money, have received strong support among those who use them. One rider likened them to limousines, with passengers sitting in comfort without being crammed together.
Mattapan leaders call the buses an added advantage for riders and praise the buses for being greener, more efficient, and roomier than the old ones.
?The bottom line is that we are interested in improving the quality of life for the people who live and work in Mattapan,?? said Spencer DeShields, who heads the Mattapan Community Development Corporation. ?People want faster service, they want more frequent service, and they want the added benefits of having new equipment that has state-of-the art technology.??
In Grove Hall, which straddles the Dorchester/Roxbury line, residents say their transportation needs are vastly different from those in Mattapan, which they perceive as benefiting more.
?The real key issue is to make sure that people are reminded that no one has any more weight than anyone else,?? Roxbury resident M. Daniel Richardson said at a recent meeting with transportation officials. ?The reason we are here is that people felt that Grove Hall . . . was left out.??
But even in Grove Hall, blame is all around even from residents who support the new buses.
?There has been a lack of communications getting the information to residents,?? said Charles Clemons, general manager of TOUCH 106.1 FM. ?But the community also needs to be more engaged and . . . accept responsibility.??
