Silver Line - Phase III / BRT in Boston

BostonUrbEx said:
Ladies (if we have any at all, anymore) and Gentlemen: I present to you, the most sophisticated mode of rapid transit in the 21st century! Zap! Zip! Zooommmm! There it goes now! Bus Rapid Transit!

SL4: Dudley Station - South Station at Essex Street, SL5: Dudley Station - Downtown Crossing at Temple Place experiencing 15-20 min delays due to traffic 3/9/2011 9:38 AM
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ZOOOOOOOMMMMM!

SL4: Dudley Station - South Station at Essex Street, SL5: Dudley Station - Downtown Crossing at Temple Place experiencing 15-20 min delays due to traffic 3/11/2011 9:35 AM
 
That explains why I was waved on for free at downtown

PS I couldn't believe how depressing downtown is. Maybe we've hit bottom. And I don't blame it on Filene's.
 
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Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

The Silver Line is fine if you want to go the South Station. But getting to the Back Bay is a pain in the ass! Silver to Red to Green. To make the Seaport more T-accessible build a ramp from the South Station loop up to Essex (or whatever street you hit), then run trackless trolleys on Kneeland and Stuart Streets to the Copley Square area.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

Ron Newman said:
And the Silver Line, whatever its faults, runs as frequently as the subway rail lines.
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More than any other line actually. The schedule shows a bus every 2 minutes during rush hour. Every 5 minutes in the evenings, and 7 minutes late at night.

That fits with what Ive seen, with two buses regularly loading at the same time.

The orange line maxes out at 5 minutes...which is a recent improvement because of the one operator system. Used to be every 8. Late night on the blue is 13 minutes. Orange used to be 15, I think, but is now 10.

http://mbta.com/uploadedFiles/Documents/Schedules_and_Maps/Subway/frequency-schedule.pdf

Meanwhile, it's not unheard of to arrive at a station in DC and see "25 minutes" until the next train.

And Im not talking about 2am either, but 9pm!
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

The MBTA schedule has nothing to do with when your train arrives.

You can wait 20 minutes for a red line almost any Saturday at 5:00 PM. You can wait 30 minutes for a downtown bus on a weeknight at 6:30 PM. You can board a Silver Line bus and wait 5 minutes for it to leave.

If you can walk and the weather is decent, there is no reason to board the Silver Line at South Station and wait for the bus to to go the Waterfront. It's only a 10 minute walk to the Convention Center, maybe a few minutes more to the ICA.

If they haven't already, it would be wise to post signs about the walking distances and approximate times in the Silver Line boarding area at South Station.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

jass said:
You mean sort of like Newbery street? Because its the same distance to the green line as the waterfront is to the silver line.
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The Green line is underground heading towards Newbury St so in the Winter time you can somewhat stay warm why waiting for the T.

So Newbury St is a bad example.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

and the Silver Line is also underground at WTC and Courthouse.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

Ron Newman said:
and the Silver Line is also underground at WTC and Courthouse.
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WTC has the portal right there, though. It will shield you from rain and snow, but I don't know about cold and wind. And Courthouse is pretty cavernous, so I'm not sure that would be warm either.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

I was amazed the first time I saw the Courthouse Silver Line stop. It's unbelievably extravagant for what it is.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

Courthouse station was built to be the centerpiece of a large development that didn't happen on McCourt's land. There are supposed to be two more headhouses at the east end of that huge lobby.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

TheRifleman said:
Actually did not know that.
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So you're hating on a line youve never been on?

We're not exactly talking about a post and a bench on the sidewalk.

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Silver005.jpg


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And these days, the station gets a lot of people. Youd have to stop by Sundays at 5am to find it empty like this. Although WTC stop probably gets more.

Now, silver line way? Thats a crappy stop.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

jass said:
Now, silver line way? Thats a crappy stop.
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I was under the impression that there were to be air rights sold here. Anyone know? Would be sheltered a little more that way.
 
I haven't been in Boston for about a year. Have they done anything about the crumbling, uneven pavement yet? It made the ride quality atrocious.
 
Arborway said:
I haven't been in Boston for about a year. Have they done anything about the crumbling, uneven pavement yet? It made the ride quality atrocious.
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In the fall/early winter is was still the same... I assume there's been nothing done yet, probably would have heard...
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

BostonUrbEx said:
I was under the impression that there were to be air rights sold here. Anyone know? Would be sheltered a little more that way.
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No clue. But it was idiotic to not build it underground, and have the portal there, instead of having the king of all idiotic traffic lights.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

jass said:
No clue. But it was idiotic to not build it underground, and have the portal there, instead of having the king of all idiotic traffic lights.
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My dad works out of a place close by. He said there was strong opposition (I don't know if it was by residents or the city) to continuing the tunnel under D St. There were slogans like "No digging under D" around. I have no idea why.
 
Re: Madison Seaport Hotel

BostonUrbEx said:
My dad works out of a place close by. He said there was strong opposition (I don't know if it was by residents or the city) to continuing the tunnel under D St. There were slogans like "No digging under D" around. I have no idea why.
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I'm going to assume the answer is something along the lines of... cuz people are dumb.

I'm assuming it had more to do with running out of funds no matter what any officials may claim to the counter.
Courthouse station is quite the looker, but it still only hides an underground bus.
The first time I used the Silver LIne I was blown away to find out that it was a bus. This was before I started working in town. I was further amazed when it becomes a surface bus after WTC. Then "everytime" you get to silver line way, they driver gets out and walks away....

Still is a very easy way to get to the airport. Kinda sucks to take back from Logan, especially when you land at Terminal A, and then have to wait trhough all the others.... picky picky.
 
Arborway said:
I haven't been in Boston for about a year. Have they done anything about the crumbling, uneven pavement yet? It made the ride quality atrocious.
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I rode it last Thursday to the airport -- the surface continues to deteriorate.
 
I was further amazed when it becomes a surface bus after WTC. Then "everytime" you get to silver line way, they driver gets out and walks away....
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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.
 
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