Silver line update meeting on 7/23/08
I attended this meeting and I was very unimpressed with the presentation. There was a woman from the T and a rep from I believe the engineering firm. I'm not sure on that because he spoke with a very heavy Indian accent. That is one on my gripes about the meeting, he was very hard to understand and frequently did not answer the questions he was asked.
Question: where will the funding come from?
Answer: this is not a new project, or maybe he said it was this is a new project.
Question: Why don't our buses run on a wire like in South Boston, or as he called it south point.
Answer: Batteries are only good for 40 miles.
The woman from the T who was expected, Karen Burns, the chief operations manager
, did not show and it was pointed out 'this is the second time she has blown us off'.
I asked if what I read was true, that even after this billion dollar plus project is completed there be no improvement in time for the South End and Roxbury riders and the answer was that after this project we will be able to go directly to South Boston and the airport.
There will be a turn around under Boyloston Street at Charles and they expect to use this to turn some vehicles around to serve the seaport and airport only.
Some buses will run still run to Temple Place. I stated that this meant that if we wanted to go downtown and if there are no additional buses then our service will in effect be cut in half. The response was something about being able go to the airport and South Boston.
They were asked that if they do increase the number of buses to offset this then noise will become a bigger issue along Washington Street. The response was that we don't know what kind of technology will be available then. Remember that these buses are like a dog whistle, residents can hear the loud rumble but the MBTA cannot.
I always thought the reason for having a Boylston Station and a Chinatown station instead of one Station connecting Boylston St and Washington St, and the Green and Orange lines was that the inbound and out bound tracks would be on the same level and there was not enough space between buildings. Their plans show the inbound and outbound on different levels. I asked why then they didn't make one station because this would result in faster service and a pedestrian connection like at Park/Downtown Crossing. The answer was that their studies show that a combined station would not result in any additional riders. I had given up arguing by then. Some one asked that if there is no addition ridership then why spend the millions on two stations. The answer again was that their studies had shown there would be no additional ridership from one station.
This project requires taking lanes from the roads on either side of the turnpike for dedicated counter lanes(Marginal and Herald). They were asked if they have talked to the group planning new ramps for the turnpike and the answer was no. Part of Charles St in Bay Village will have a open trench serving as the subway entrance and exit, requiring part of the current road.
People brought up that if you remove lanes from existing roads then the traffic will spill over onto other roads, but of course the T's studies say no. I expect this spill over traffic will also impact the Silver line buses that will still heading to Temple Place resulting in a longer ride.
Many people said when they ride the Silver Line they see a lot of people get on for free. From my experience it's young women being waved on by male drivers. The T spokesperson suggested contacting the T. She also said she rides the Silver Line all the time and has never seen this happen.
There was no time to discuss the recklessness of the drivers.
Test borings are underway.
Construction late 2010 to early 2011.
Start service 2016.
It was very clear that the fact that there is a very short window to get and use this federal money and that this is what's driving the project. My personal opinion is this project is designed to connect the Back Bay to the airport and the South End and Roxbury portion was tacked on to appease people. I doubt that the part of the tunnel from Boylston/Charles to the exit near the Church of All Nations will ever get built. If there is no time savings from this leg they can't justify the cost. The free transfer to the Orange and Green lines already provide this service. When the Silver line goes to Boylston Street the free transfer will provide the same benefit as building that leg of Phase III. For one thing there already is a tunnel from Boylston directly to the Church of All Nations. From the Boylston/Charles turnaround there is already an extremely wide tunnel to the Arlington St Green Line Station. My personal belief is that this this the real objective, connect to Arlington St and someday beyond.
I think connecting the Back Bay with all the office space, hotels and Hynes Convention Center to the Seaport, new convention center and airport is a good thing, but don't pretend this meets the Orange line replace meant goal of equal or better service.
I think Silver Line service along Washington St will actually get worse.
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=48384&start=0
