Waltham Mayor Proposes Monorail

[HalcyonEra]

But where is the Gondola going to take you? Where is this dense "home" end that frequent aerial pods are going to?

I agree that any mode if it is on 20 to 30 minute headways can be frustrating (particularly if it doesn't keep a schedule).

But the physical layout of the 'burbs, with activity nodes spread out around 128's perimeter, still favors a "line"...linear transit with evenly-spaced stops along the line (even if it snakes a bit).

The problem with almost any 128 circumferential route is that there's no natural "anchor end"...or if there is, it is either Alewife or Brandeis and these suggest either linear extensions of the modes we have (HRT or CR), or a "light" mode like LRT or shuttle bus than can stop at busy nodes all along its line.

Modern (Las Vegas) monorails are driverless, so they prefer to have shorter trains (4 cars) on shorter headways (5 minutes), and so ends up being pretty useful urban transit....but you'll still have to pick serious endpoints for it (like Downtown Waltham and Dassault Systems or Burlington.

The endpoints of a "Waltham" system are *so* far apart (and suggest so many stops) that a linear mode is going to make more sense than a "Gondola Line". It may be that Gondolas can do intermediate stations, but I suspect that if you actually need intermediate stations badly enough, you always end up going with a more traditional linear mode.

Zero, or at least poor at best, regional planning and consensus has made any public transportation solution impracticable along the 128 belt. It's all but impossible to get even a simple rail trail built, let alone trying to build something new. The stigma of buses, for whatever reason, does not seem to be going away anytime soon. It's a shame the car companies killed the trollies as it was a very effective system combined with rail back in the day, but that horse too has left the barn. Meanwhile, 128 office parks are growing capacity at a steady pace.

Unbuilt highways, namely the middle circumferential loop from Scituate to Gloucester and the original plan of running 290 to 128 exacerbates the congestion of today, but I'm sure there would have been unintended consequences of both. Not that any new highway will ever be built in Mass again, of course. I'm not sure what can be done, but at least some out of the box ideas are surfacing for discussion.

 

[matredsoxfan]

It is one of the dumbest Ideas she has ever had. Believe me she has been in office since 2004. She's not that smart. My proposal is something that was brought up in the last 128 corridor study.

1) Build a intermodal transit center at Rte 128 & Rte 20. The center would contain a park & ride, bus stop and a station on the Fitchburg S. Acton CR Line.
2) Widen the breakdown lane for bus on shoulder service
3) extend the 70 bus to the new transit center

 

[cbrett]

I know this sounds crazy, but what about a Personal Rapid Transit System? Rather than make multiple transfers from the cr to the central monorail to the bus/zipcar/google cars suggested operating the last mile into the office parks, lets cut out the middleman and opt for a driverless PRT system. The PRT podcars could operate utilizing either a central ROW guideway with branches off to each cluster of parks, or dual flanks on either side of the proposed ROW with loop connections at either end.

For the uninitiated, PRT is more or less a google car which runs on a central guideway. Cars wait at each station for either a single, or group of passengers with similar destinations, and then travel from point to point along the system. Rather than make every stop along the ROW, the cars travel only to its passengers destination, as every stop is located on sidings off of the mainline. While far fetched and relatively unproven, it could serve as a connection between the office parks, the CR, and several other of the monorails proposed stops.

Operating like google cars, there would be extremely high capacity for such a system, as the cars can travel in very close proximity. Also the smaller cars would likely require a much smaller elevated structure, and wouldnt have the same complexities as a monorail. Plus the system can always be upgraded to a larger, more traditional people mover styler setup if demand becomes high enough. Also, despite probobly violating a dozen other safety requirements, the inclusion of an emergency system shut off and cars with front/rear emergency exits, could bypass that emergency egress clause by allowing passengers to enter the ROW and travel between stopped cars.

I havent really been keeping up with its progress, but I remember a similar system being constructed at Heathrow Airport and several others proposed around the world. It would probobly be even more of a freakish unicorn system than the proposed monorail, but with 128 becoming a shitshow everyday and other transit options limited by gridlock/awkward ROWs, it seems like something so crazy it just might work.

 

[Digital_Islandboy]

I swear to God, if any of you mention the Simpsons...

Monorail is a good idea. They're far more cost effective than heavy/light rail which must be high-quality steel (no cost savings there based on global steel prices) That costs a LOT of money to manufacture and constantly needs to be changed due to usage/friction. Monorail, all it requires is new car tires underneath the train-cars which runs along a concrete beam.
Two wheels on the left, and two on the right of the beam and the two on top. FARRRR less wear and tare than steel-on-steel train wheels and GRINDING against eachother constantly. I'm all for converting the entire system to monorail if we could. I think it would be far less costly in the long run if MBTA were all monorail. Monorail beams can be put casted offsite, trucked in, drop a pylon into the ground. Hoist the track above it, tighten some screens and add the electric rail along the side of the beam. FAR quicker to build than any light rail which may require taring up the street to lay track. And business and customers along the route get fet up during construction and businesses will fail along the light rail route. Monorail can be cheaper. Some land owners may pay for a stretch of track if a station is agreed to be built (integrated) into their building as a sky lobby. And since monorails are electric they can drive into buildings directly and idle in there since there's no CO2 fumes causing carbon monoxide.

NOTE: I am a proud member of The Monorail Society. ( www.Monorails.org ) and have been since my days over at Amtrak, Summer Street office.

P.S. I wish there were something to connect Logan Airport and Worcester airport since Worcester is so under utilized. A high-speed train link that took under a half hour might work.

 

[Digital_Islandboy]

@bigman
Yeah, seriously. Keep working on CR frequency, and talk to the MBTA about some sort of 128 corridor commuter bus, and BAM, you've solved your problem for a fraction of the cost.

The Route 128 Business Council ( www.128bc.org ) does have a bus along the Route 2 -- Waltham portion of Route 128. I used to work for a company out there that was a member and rhode it daily. It goes from Alewife. (express) to busiesses in Lexington along Route 2.
Then it crosses over Route 2 and stops in several parking lots at businesses on both sides of Route 128. It shuts down in badd snow and holidays though. They need something more dependable than a bus that would tie all the outer spokes of the commuter rail. A "Suburban Ring" or the "Knowledge-Belt ring" would be nice thoungh. Rather than re-invent the wheel, the MBTA should enter into a private-public sector relationship IMHO.

 

[Digital_Islandboy]

How could any linear transit - whether monorail or light rail - serve the various business parks on either side of 128 without doing some bizarre zigzag?

Have aerial stations along the median of route 128, with pedestrian bridges to either side of the highway. (And include extra bridge length on either side of the highway incase there's a future plan to widen the highway in between.
Somewhat similar to the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago...

Also one point of order. WickedLocal said the line would extend to Westwood? Is that as-in Westwood, Massachusetts? If so, Westwood, MA isn't served by the Fitchburg Line. Westwood, MA is the Providence, RI/Stoughton,MA Line, and the Franklin, MA Commuter Rail Line....

Japan Monorail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbDT4lw_LXo