Silver Line to Chelsea

Baker thinks the silver line has has access to the silver line on ramp this whole time:

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/t-notes-baker-confusion-on-silver-line-ramp-access/

With the whole safety thing, why not have the HOV lane merge earlier if that is a worry. The HOV lane is rarely used anyway since people don't know it's there when staring at their GPSes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.346...q7sGIY-l50VC8Wf23Mwg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

There's a ton of space. The whole safety issue is a cop out.

Also even with the HOV lane left is the buses are going downhill, so they could easily get up to speed before the merge.
 
Also bring the 112 bus down the Silver Line bus ROW to airport station.

The 112 should be thoroughly rethought. The Admiral's Hill deviation is probably not remotely cost effective and should probably go away. Maybe the folks on Central Ave could just walk to the Eastern Ave SL3 stop or to the 111? Quigley Hospital could be served by a Wonderland to Sullivan route that goes past it. And the Everett Ave segment could potentially be covered by a Malden Orange Line to Ferry St to Chelsea St to Everett Ave to Meridian St to Maverick Blue Line to airport terminals bus.

Also this would be hard, but does the Chelsea River NEED to be a navigable waterway. Could we turn it into something similar to the Fort Point and ban all taller ships from going through. I don't think that the oil tanks need to be in such a dense central location. Other oil tanks are in Weymouth, could you move all of the boston area oil shipments to there?

To the extent that we use oil in the urban core, offloading from ships in/near the urban core probably saves trucking costs. But offloading just west of the Chelsea St bridge or in Everett along the Mystic might be a better alternative to going under the Chelsea St bridge.
 
That's the difference between SL3 is the best option most of the time vs it's the best option every time. Whose campaign do i have to donate to to get them to buy 2 more buses?

I thought I'd read that there was a contract the MBTA signed with New Flyer a few years ago that includes some pure battery electric 60' buses along with some extended battery range diesel hybrids that should be able to keep the diesel engines turned off while they're in the transit tunnel, so the answer may be to just wait for New Flyer to deliver. On the other hand, maybe the T should buy some BYD articulated buses; BYD seems to have a lot more experience building purely battery powered buses than New Flyer. (And Proterra does not seem to have built anything significantly longer than 40' thus far.)
 
The 112 should be thoroughly rethought. The Admiral's Hill deviation is probably not remotely cost effective and should probably go away. Maybe the folks on Central Ave could just walk to the Eastern Ave SL3 stop or to the 111? Quigley Hospital could be served by a Wonderland to Sullivan route that goes past it. And the Everett Ave segment could potentially be covered by a Malden Orange Line to Ferry St to Chelsea St to Everett Ave to Meridian St to Maverick Blue Line to airport terminals bus.

As a 112 rider.. yeah not a fan of any of this. You should come ride the 112 sometime, you'll see it's more of a service route for the elderly than anything else.

Everett Transit Plan has the 112 remove the deviations and have it go from Wellington to Airport (they move it from Wood Island)

Good luck with that. The folks on Admiral's hill have a lot of power in the city (and they vote too) so removing that deviation would be met with a stiff opposition. As is, prior to the complex being there, the 112 never stopped there. It was a public push to get the 112 to go there.

Same with Quigley Hospital.. which I may say its a veterans hospital, so again. hard to push to take away the only direct service from veterans. It's also on a hill so making so other route go up there is a non starting.. the minute we get any sort of snow or ice, 112 goes into a snow route.

My plan was to take the 112 and make it into two routes that converge at Chelsea Station. If people want BL service, take the SL3 instead. But I am pretty sure the Everett Transit Plan will dictate what happens.


To the extent that we use oil in the urban core, offloading from ships in/near the urban core probably saves trucking costs. But offloading just west of the Chelsea St bridge or in Everett along the Mystic might be a better alternative to going under the Chelsea St bridge.

I wish anyone trying to tell these folks this the best of luck. See how Boston Sand and Gravel worked out for the Big Dig. Yeah, these oil companies have deep pockets and lawyers who like money... not gonna happen. All we can do is try to work with them or get a waiver.
 
I thought I'd read that there was a contract the MBTA signed with New Flyer a few years ago that includes some pure battery electric 60' buses along with some extended battery range diesel hybrids that should be able to keep the diesel engines turned off while they're in the transit tunnel, so the answer may be to just wait for New Flyer to deliver. On the other hand, maybe the T should buy some BYD articulated buses; BYD seems to have a lot more experience building purely battery powered buses than New Flyer. (And Proterra does not seem to have built anything significantly longer than 40' thus far.)

No, Regional RTA's are testing them.. WRTA and Foothills transit have them

Problem: Charging Stations
Problem #2: Batteries aren't quite right for cold weather

So its coming. I really think battery buses are the wave of the future for the Silver Line rolling stock.
 
The folks on Admiral's hill have a lot of power in the city (and they vote too) so removing that deviation would be met with a stiff opposition. As is, prior to the complex being there, the 112 never stopped there. It was a public push to get the 112 to go there.

Would a minibus shuttle from Admiral's Hill to Market Basket end up providing more frequent service more cost effectively? How many boardings does Admiral's Hill actually get?

Same with Quigley Hospital.. which I may say its a veterans hospital, so again. hard to push to take away the only direct service from veterans. It's also on a hill so making so other route go up there is a non starting.. the minute we get any sort of snow or ice, 112 goes into a snow route.

Folks who live along Broadway along the 117 bus route north of Quigley Hospital might appreciate a one seat ride from there to Sullivan where they could transfer to buses that go to Cambridge job centers.

I wish anyone trying to tell these folks this the best of luck. See how Boston Sand and Gravel worked out for the Big Dig. Yeah, these oil companies have deep pockets and lawyers who like money... not gonna happen. All we can do is try to work with them or get a waiver.

Are you sure the oil companies wouldn't be interested in selling their waterfront land to luxury apartment developers?
 
No, Regional RTA's are testing them.. WRTA and Foothills transit have them

Problem: Charging Stations
Problem #2: Batteries aren't quite right for cold weather

So its coming. I really think battery buses are the wave of the future for the Silver Line rolling stock.

In Worcester's case, I thought the first charging station was sufficient for four buses but they got six buses, and then they decided they needed a second charging station (which I think is supposed to have been installed by now?). It almost seems like maybe Worcester thought 1/3 of their Proterra buses were going to be broken at any given time like the T's bus fleet is, and then were surprised that the Proterra buses were more reliable?

And it's possible to get batteries with enough range for once or twice a day charging instead of relying on en route charging at this point, which wasn't really the case at the start of Worcester's Proterra bus usage.
 
Would a minibus shuttle from Admiral's Hill to Market Basket end up providing more frequent service more cost effectively? How many boardings does Admiral's Hill actually get?

¯_(ツ)_/¯ I don't work for the T.

But like many bus routes in this system, it isn't about boardings or making money, it's about providing a public service. This what makes public transit public.....

Would a minibus work? Maybe but remember its not just old folks going to the grocery store, I have two coworkers who live in AH and use the 112 every day to get to work.

Folks who live along Broadway along the 117 bus route north of Quigley Hospital might appreciate a one seat ride from there to Sullivan where they could transfer to buses that go to Cambridge job centers.

Broad assumption here. Again, you missed my point.... ITS A HILL. Please look at a 3D map of that hospital. There's no way a bus would go up there on a regular basis. As stated before, a dusting of snow and the 112 is a snow route and avoids AH and QH.

Are you sure the oil companies wouldn't be interested in selling their waterfront land to luxury apartment developers?

I am sure those oil companies make more $ off the oil than they ever would off the land.

There's also a reason why the Chelsea waterfront isn't developed, Much if is managed by MassPort. Its MP that says what is there. Its why its nothing but parking lots...
 
So how's the first week gone?

It depends on who you ask. I've had some success but I had one bad snarfu on Thursday with the tunnel. I also didn't ride friday (day off).

But mornings its been pretty good. ~27-30 minutes as advertised. For me its about 40 minutes door to door, which is slightly less than my old way (111 or 116/117 to a subway like and a walk after), which was ~50-55 mins if I made my connections and walked fast)

I guess a good way to put it is "when it works, its great, but when it's bad, its very bad"

I got stuck in traffic Thursday afternoon in the tunnel going home, and I know people have complained about the bridge (as expected). I'm hoping over time we can all work together (residents. city, state, fed) to work out some of the kinks.

It's a nice service. Even in traffic, it's far better than the 111. (at least for me it is). With the 111, I'd get there, after a long walk, and waiting there with a sea of people for a single bus that pulls up. Then wait for god knows how long (20+ mins) trying to get from Haymarket to the onramp to the Tobin on said sardine canned bus.

The 111 itself can take up to 40 minutes or more sometimes, just in waiting and in traffic. So compare the 111 issues to the SL3's with it's own issues, the SL3 not too terrible by comparison. Especially since its a one seat ride vs a walk and/or few connections. That's really what is key here.

Even using the 116/117 and the BL wasn't any better before. Again typically 45-50 minutes door to door. But this was a bus, a train, and a 20 minute walk. So again, with the SL3 being a one seat ride, it comes out on top.

My only real complaint is just station location. I live off Central Ave, so until the walkway at Bellingham Sq is opened, Box District is the closest station to me. It's a 9 minute walk to Box District, vs a 3-6 minutes to nearby bus stops (6 minutes being the inbound 111, 116/117 bus stop, 3 being the 112 to Wood Island stop on Central Ave). Again not too far away, but still a walk. But again, trade off is one seat ride.

However, coming home this is appealing. Don't laugh, but I like that I walk by Family Dollar now every day (cheap groceries and cleaning products). And I do like that I can take a detour coming home and hit up Market Basket. Makes picking up a few things easier (vs going to Roche in DTX).

On a related note, Friday I went to Market Basket. I took the 114. Easier, and I had bottle return. I didn't bring my grocery cart (granny cart) because I was only getting a few things (and intended on taking the SL3 to Box District and stopping at Family Dollar). But it started to rain and I bought too many heavy items. So walking over to the SL3 then walking from Box District to my house just.... was too much in the rain and I was better off waiting for a 112 or 114. It was fine, I ate my cheeseburger and pot stickers I bought at the store while I waited.

Ironically, there were at least 30 or so people waiting under the overhang at the bus stop next to Market Basket. Sure some people were waiting for cabs (there were none), but many were waiting for the 114 or the 112. (and yes both were late due to the bridge). The irony is.. less than 500 feet away is a new rapid transit line, not one person there waiting, except for a MBTA official who was directing traffic. *shrug*

But I digress. Getting back to the the new service.

As far as ridership.. from what i can tell, it's building. Monday and Tuesday AM were sparse. Evenings were better. Thursday afternoon was the busiest I've seen so far, but then again people had been waiting for a SL3 for a while at WTC & Airport so it was pretty packed by the time we got to Chelsea.

But we'll see, it may take some time for service to build. I remember when the SL1 and SL2 opened, it took a bit. But also keep in mind that MassDOT on Friday released its first of many tobin bridge detours so the 111 is about to get screwed. So service may build after that.

And finally, I've been.. and going to, keep track of SL3 times for a bit to see how well it performs. I'm keeping them in a Google Sheet, If you'd like to see them you can click here.

Let me know what you think!
 
Yah 26 mins to get from Silver Line way to Airport Station in the afternoon is unacceptable, that's why the state desperately needs to give the Silver Line the state police ramp. I'm sure it would save at least 10 mins or more.
 
Yah 26 mins to get from Silver Line way to Airport Station in the afternoon is unacceptable, that's why the state desperately needs to give the Silver Line the state police ramp. I'm sure it would save at least 10 mins or more.

Yeah we drove right by it just to sit for several cycles at that light to get into the tunnel ugh

And I agree.. I tweeted while I was stuck to #freetheramp
 
The state of the Silver Line tunnel is just plain embarrassing:

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I know it's beating a dead horse but come on MBTA make that happen. I can't think of an easier and cheaper improvement. That's a 15 min savings, and would also have the affect of making it easier to keep the schedule.
 
So how's the first week gone?

My wife and I took it on Saturday - I actually used it 4x that day. I visited my dad in Eastie and was pretty happy with how quickly it gets me to Airport station. I got to my dad's place in 17 minutes door to door, and the bus was about 3 minutes of that.

My wife and I took it to the South Boston Waterfront. It took a while for it to arrive at Eastern Ave, but once we caught it, it was about 12 minutes there. If we timed it right, it would have taken us under 20 minutes to get there. Pretty damn good!

--

I took it again a few times during the workweek. It takes me about 6 minutes to walk to the Eastern Ave stop, and around 17-20 minutes to walk to Wood Island depending how fast I'm walking. I notice how it actually goes faster than the Blue line when approaching Airport.

It would be great if there were Blue Line arrival signs in the busway. It would also be great if the SL stops had headway timers (or had live updates in the Transit app).

Basically, if I was armed with information, the SL3 would routinely save me about 10 minutes off my commute. The 112 is probably my best option overall, but until that thing starts coming more often, it's just not reliable.

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I had some pretty terrible experiences with it on Wednesday and Thursday coming home. I tried to be ballsy and take the Commuter Rail from Back Bay (where I work) to South Station, and then South Station to Eastern Ave.

The MBTA NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDS to introduce more buses. Are they all that expensive? I thought the tradeoff of not spending billions on track is you spend millions on buses and staff. I spent way too long waiting for an SL3 at SS, and frankly it should come as often as any other rapid transit line. Once we got on our way, we got bogged down in traffic, and then we caught the end of the bridge descent. With all of that said, it only took as long as my commute normally does at its longest.

On Thursday, I was pretty frustrated with service. I took the Orange Line to State and then the Blue Line to Airport. I hit all my connections just right and I was making great time. Once again - I can just get off at Wood Island and walk home in about 20 minutes, but I would love to save some time and walk a little less. I used the Transit app and it said I had a couple minutes before the SL3.

I go outside at Airport and wait for about 15 minutes - the absolute longest it should take for a bus to come in any situation, period - and call it quits. I hop back on the Blue line and walk home. I kept my eyes on the commercial bypass to see if the SL3 was coming. I made it to Eastern Ave before an SL3 ever did. By my math, no SL3 came for about 25-30 minutes, which is unacceptable.

--

So all in all, when it works, it is great. Signal priority, the TWT onramp, and more buses and frequent service can turn it into probably the best BRT in the country. You get the TWT onramp, you save probably 3 minutes. You get signal priority, you save probably another 3 minutes. Suddenly it's not 18 minutes from SS but a little over 10 - that's damn impressive and something not even the subways can compete with. You add service equal to say, the Blue Line, and there will be jealousy.
 
https://www.preflightairportparking.com/reservation/bos/boston-logan-international/airport-parking/7

And is the waterfront parking owned by Massport? When I searched it this is what came up, it is airport parking but I don't believe it's owned by the state.

There will be plenty of development around Eastern Ave.

- Here's a recently announced 66 apartment building: http://www.chelsearecord.com/2018/0...t-first-silver-line-based-affordable-housing/

- The Innes St Apartments are getting a $300MM redo. I really hope it brings restaurants and retail, or else it would be a wasted opportunity. There are a lot of commuters and airport workers, not to mention residents, who would benefit from more options on Central Ave.

- It's likely that recreational marajuana shops and/or cultivation facilities end up there, as Chelsea is requiring that they be placed in Industrial zoned areas.

- The Waterfront Visioning Plan sets up some pretty cool ideas, but until the actual waterfront is dedesignated as a Designated Port Area, any new permanent construction will need an obvious marine purpose. The properties across the street from the waterfront, however, are fair game. In the meantime, non-permanent structures (think pop-up shops, shipping crate buildings) are fine.
 
The MBTA NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDS to introduce more buses. Are they all that expensive? I thought the tradeoff of not spending billions on track is you spend millions on buses and staff. I spent way too long waiting for an SL3 at SS, and frankly it should come as often as any other rapid transit line. Once we got on our way, we got bogged down in traffic, and then we caught the end of the bridge descent. With all of that said, it only took as long as my commute normally does at its longest.

Buying buses that are compatible with the South Station bus tunnel is a bit challenging right now; Neoplan USA promptly went out of business as soon as they finished manufacturing the last of the MBTA's 60' trolleybuses that are used for SL3, somewhere around 2005. I think the T has placed an order with New Flyer for some 60' buses with longer range batteries that New Flyer doesn't seem to be in a huge hurry to deliver. Perhaps we should be looking at BYD.

But also, using The Ramp and transit signal priority would help the existing buses to run more frequent service.
 
There will be plenty of development around Eastern Ave.

Are we going to set aside space somewhere near the Box District or Eastern Ave station that could be used for a Green Line yard if we ever have Green Line service that starts at the Eastern Ave SL3 stop, follows the busway to Market Basket, then continues along the commuter rail ROW to Sullivan?
 
BOSFUEL

http://www.aviationpros.com/article/10388352/consolidating-fuel-delivery-at-logan has some background about the Logan Airport fuel system.

If you go to Google Maps and search for BOSFUEL, you'll see that the tanks are on Prescott St.

https://news.wgbh.org/2017/11/21/news/boston-harbor-dredging-underway says

The first phase of the project began in September and involves digging a massive hole underwater in Boston’s inner harbor, near the confluence of the Chelsea and Mystic Rivers. Boston’s Port Director Lisa Wieland says this will permit ships to deliver oil, road salt and jet fuel for Logan Airport more efficiently

which would seem to confirm that Logan fuel deliveries currently involve a dock along Chelsea Creek.

Why don't Logan fuel deliveries happen somewhere near the Logan ferry dock or near the south end of Harborside Drive?
 

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