Silver Line - Phase III / BRT in Boston

I have to admit, I've never encountered the walk away driver. Whenever I ride the Silver Line, the bus shuts down briefly for the switch from overhead power to internal combustion, but that's it. The real annoyance at that station is the stop light, which is so long, it could certainly seem that the driver abandoned the bus.
 
gooseberry said:
That's my favorite part. After bumping along at walking speed through the tunnel, you get to sit there for no reason. I guess the driver needs to regroup after the brutal 1 mile journey from South Station?
Silver Line = Biggest waste of money ever.
Click to expand...

They have to get out and make sure the trolley poles actually come down off the wire correctly.

But yes, SL was a ginormous waste...
 
BostonUrbEx said:
They have to get out and make sure the trolley poles actually come down off the wire correctly.

But yes, SL was a ginormous waste...
Click to expand...

It's supposed to be a fully automatic power switch, but didn't end up working so well in practice. Hence, the driver getting out and making sure he isn't accidentally ripping down 50 feet of overhead.


I give it 2 more winters before the speed restrictions start in earnest from the pothole "feature" of the underground, water/weather-shielded tunnel.
 
Since the Silver Line isn't actual BRT, at the very least, it could someday have frequencies similar to Stockholm's Bl?busslinje system. A number of lines on that system have frequencies below 10 minutes.

Busslink_6378_Handelshogskolan_2008.JPG

http://medlem.spray.se/mikaelsbussar/hpbimg/Fler_bilder/Busslink_6378_Handelshogskolan_2008.JPG

2011_v7_073.jpg

http://www.askjoh.se/2011_v7_073.jpg
 
manrush said:
Since the Silver Line isn't actual BRT, at the very least, it could someday have frequencies similar to Stockholm's Bl?busslinje system. A number of lines on that system have frequencies below 10 minutes.
Click to expand...


Scroll up. SL has the best frequencies in the entire system. A bus every 2 minutes.
 
gooseberry said:
Ya, that never actually happens.
Click to expand...

Sure it does. Are you a regular rider? Two buses are frequently berthed at each stop, and because they're buses, and not rail, society is totally ok with them being bumper to bumper. Meanwhile, heavens forbid two trains get within 100 feet of each other*.



*Only the most inpatient of green line drivers attempt to squeeze into park street when another train is in front. I believe it's no longer officially allowed.
 
jass said:
Sure it does. Are you a regular rider? Two buses are frequently berthed at each stop, and because they're buses, and not rail, society is totally ok with them being bumper to bumper. Meanwhile, heavens forbid two trains get within 100 feet of each other*.
Click to expand...

See also: The huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge North Station platform where it's still very much a one-train-at-a-time operation.
 
Arborway said:
See also: The huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge North Station platform where it's still very much a one-train-at-a-time operation.
Click to expand...

That one is especially bad. I think government center inbound is the only place elft in the system where the MBTA allows two trains to share a platform, just absed on how often it happens. At other time, the 2nd train waits in the tunnel, even when they fit.
 
One would think that the Silver Line would have been more suitable as an inner-suburban connector network, rather than inner-city transit.
 
I propose a way to build an essentially grade seperated Silverline Phase 3 with minimal tunneling. The only tunnel would be a short one under Atlantic Ave, to connect to the end of the existing Silverline tunnel at South Station. The only other structure needed would be one new bridge over a Mass Pike on-ramp. The rest of the route would follow an existing service road that runs through the Mass Pike/Central Artery interchange.

ssphase3.jpg
 
That....that looks like it works extremely well.

:O
 
How could you tunnel under Atlantic with the artery right there?

Also, I think when it comes time for a light rail upgrade, there will be a push to link up the GL (or urban ring?) so not sure if this busway helps in the long run...
 
Hmm, looks possible, but... would it be able to come out of the portal and ascend rapidly enough to make it over the ramps without a ridiculous grade?


As for the tunnel under Atlantic Ave, the Silver Line loop and highway are already stacked on top of eachother. If the SL is under 93, it should be no problem. But it might be on top of it, leaving clearance concerns further south.


This is really good though, it's nice to see something new. I would have never even thought of this.


EDIT: What about the connections with the Green and Orange Lines?
 
It would be cheaper and easier to just build that proposed connection as a two lane elevated roadway with the existing tunnel connection portal located next to the bus station. It isn't like one more curved elevated roadway in that highway spaghetti is going to wreck urbanity here.
 
Shepard said:
How could you tunnel under Atlantic with the artery right there?

...
Click to expand...

I'm thinking the Central Artery northbound tunnel dives under Atlantic Ave deeply enough at its south end to squeeze a bus tunnel above it.

If that's not possible, then the bus tunnel portal could be moved one block north to be on Atlantic Ave, along the east side of the street next to the parking garage.
 
Charlie_mta said:
I'm thinking the Central Artery northbound tunnel dives under Atlantic Ave deeply enough at its south end to squeeze a bus tunnel above it.

If that's not possible, then the bus tunnel portal could be moved one block north to be on Atlantic Ave, along the east side of the street next to the parking garage.
Click to expand...

The bus terminal foundation is plopped on top of the underground ramps. Plenty of clearance for shallow surface construction. Tunnel could easily go under that linear park the length of Atlantic. It would only need to swerve under Atlantic around the South Station building foundation and then make the hard right into the Transitway.


I mentioned in some other post I can't find that the time to do this is when the North-South Rail Link is built, because there's going to be a long and deep portal tunnel constructed from SS to about Washington for trains going to/from the NEC and Worcester Line. If you do a bi-level tunnel in one single build it saves a LOT of money over doing either project separately. Pretty much a 2-for-1 vs. doing two separate surgeries under the NEC and potentially having one project block the other.

Although I think this should be a light rail tunnel from Day 1 because it's then only 2-1/2 blocks more tunneling under the Pike and up Shawmut Ave. to the end of the unused Tremont St. tunnel to link the whole shebang--Washington St. and the SS/Transitway link--up to the Green Line. It wouldn't fly with the SL plan to not have the downtown transfers because that was the whole point of it, so you're still looking at another half-billion dollars ripping the living crap out of Tremont St. with a bus tunnel and loop at Boylston just as unworkable as the current proposal. Whereas trolleys have that perfectly preserved tunnel already stretching two-thirds the distance.

Also, if you were to do this combined build with the Silver Line Phase III tunnel plopped on top of the North-South Link RR tunnel it would be much better as LRT because the tunnel footprints would be a 1:1 match on both levels and a single set of slurry walls can get poured to frame both tunnels (much much more $$$ savings than building an awkwardly wider upper tunnel). Not to mention vastly faster ride than some slow-ass Transitway II. The existing Transitway can be configured to handle both trolleys and buses simultaneously...tracks buried in the concrete, dual-mode trackless trolley and pantograph overhead, passing turnouts. Not a new or at all radicalidea...Harvard bus tunnel used to operate like that in the 50's and other transit systems pool their modes this way.


LRT and the easy Green Line connection are the only (important) change I'd make. Otherwise Charlie's map pretty much nails what has to be done on the SS leg.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Hmm, looks possible, but... would it be able to come out of the portal and ascend rapidly enough to make it over the ramps without a ridiculous grade?
Click to expand...


Look again, theres already a road under those ramps.

Also, eelctric buses handle grades much better than trains.
 
jass said:
Look again, theres already a road under those ramps.

Also, eelctric buses handle grades much better than trains.
Click to expand...

There's a road under 93 south, but there's no access road where it comes out of the portal. It looks like a pretty brief length to make it up and over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top