Watertown Yard

[Norumbega]

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[cozzyd]

RE the 70/70A, it could be split into a local Watertown short turn and an express that goes non-stop (probably via the MassPike) to Watertown then continues local to Waltham.

 

[winstonoboogie]

The Watertown carhouse building is still used to house the emergency wire crew (they respond to trackless trolley, Green Line, and Blue Line wire problems) and is also used as a warehouse for "capital spare" items (there are spare fiberglass front ends for a Red Line car in there if I recall). It was last used for vehicle maintenance around 2004, when Neoplan used the facility to prepare the then new trackless and dual-mode buses for service and later did warranty repairs on diesel buses. The MBTA still did repairs to Green Line equipment there through 1994, even though the Green Line branch closed in 1969.

Watertown carhouse was modified around 1973-74 for use as a joint trolley/trackless trolley maintenance facility. The plan was to replace the Bennett St. trackless trolley repair facility near Harvard Sq., which had to move to build the Charles hotel complex. But Watertown objected to the frequent left turns that trackless would have to make coming in from Galen St. after crossing the bridge. The MBTA built a new facility at North Cambridge in 1979/80, and that replaced Bennett St. Watertown was briefly used for trackless trolley storage in 1979/80 during the transition from Bennett to North Cambridge. The MBTA only has 28 trackless trolleys, they don't need two maintenance facilities for them. The 72 (when its running with trackless) only uses 2 coaches, while the 77A only remains as a way to get Route 71/72/73 trackless to/from the storage yard to begin/end assignments. The extension of the Red Line in 1984 took away most of the 77A ridership that had existed and service on the route was gradually reduced to the small amount that still exists.

The Route 70 was two routes before 1972, a private carrier route that ran from Waltham-Watertown Sq. and an MBTA (ex MTA) route from Watertown to Central. The two were merged when the MBTA took over the private carrier (the M&B) after a dispute about subsidies. The ridership surged on both route segments with the route merger, and although it has been 40+ years since then, I think the number of passengers riding through Watertown Sq. on the 70 between the two segments is greater than you might think.

 

[winstonoboogie]

With the Watertown Carhouse still in modest use as a home for the wire crew and for storage, it seems any new construction that happens at the yard will have to leave that building standing. I would imagine that precludes the possibility of building a bus storage facility on the site.

I would think-- if the environmental mitigation issues aren't too great-- that the property would be ideal for residential development. There are several new developments along nearby Pleasant Street. The yard is right on the river, close to the square, the arsenal corridor, the pike, and the river roads, has good public transit connections, and is convenient to Cambridge, Newton, Chestnut Hill, Brighton, etc. If the yard itself isn't serving a critical need, why not sell it? (I'm assuming the wire crew and storage could be moved somewhere else without too much difficulty.)

In any case, I hope the T does make plans to enhance the passenger areas of the bus stop at the Yard-- it's a very busy terminal and I think the T can do better than dropping riders off essentially in a driveway with no sidewalk and not a lot of lighting. The pick up area with it's two small shelters is better. Though it could be a little friendlier, it does the job adequately.

I don't think the existing use of the present building would preclude building any new MBTA facility there. A home base for the wire crew could be incorporated into a new facility, and the warehouse function could be moved to leased storage space. That's an added cost the MBTA would probably want to avoid if they could still use the warehouse space at Watertown they already own, but it would not be an unreasonable cost to pay if it was part of a package to expand bus storage space. The primary use of the land for the MBTA in recent years has been for commuter parking for the express buses. They paved over the tracks to build the lot, around 20 years ago. The MBTA's parking data from MBTA.com states that the 200 space lot has about a 49% availability rate. Not the greatest usage rate, but not the worst either. If there was a serious proposal to build a multi-level bus facility there, commuter parking could theoretically be included. A layout could perhaps include commuter and employee automobile parking in a below ground level, bus maintenance and parking on a ground level, additional bus storage on a second level. It would be a complicated design to squeeze all that onto the land that is there, might be very expensive on a per square foot basis to build, but might be an option to consider since it is hard to find areas willing to host a transit vehicle maintenance facility.

Slightly related, but here is a link to a video showing the facility in use with streetcars: