tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post8045964634640791660..comments2024-03-29T03:02:00.140-07:00Comments on The Amateur Planner: Going in circles on the Silver Line. Or, how the T could save $1m tomorrow.Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-40854191097885295262015-07-23T06:53:43.172-07:002015-07-23T06:53:43.172-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Joel N. Weber IInoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-61230757639529479002015-07-18T17:07:26.371-07:002015-07-18T17:07:26.371-07:00In the inbound direction, why not have SL1 skip WT...In the inbound direction, why not have SL1 skip WTC, and have a middle fork for traffic coming from I-90 westbound in between the Congress St exit and the path to I-93 southbound which would pass under is the intersection of Congress St and B St and enter the bus tunnel?<br /><br />How would the stray private automobile issue here be any worse than at the existing D St portal?Joel N. Weber IInoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-11835037732524550412015-04-28T11:31:27.166-07:002015-04-28T11:31:27.166-07:00And, you could run this service 24/7, maybe with 3...And, you could run this service 24/7, maybe with 30 minute headways overnight. The SL could have service to BMIP and Southie via the tunnel, with transfers at the surface. You'd have to have a better terminal for these passengers to make it an easy transfer at South Station (perhaps with ADA facilities, covered boarding, etc). And you might have traffic issues at rush hour.Arihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-56025221968082225912015-04-28T11:29:58.246-07:002015-04-28T11:29:58.246-07:00Oh, the State Police don't give a crap about a...Oh, the State Police don't give a crap about anyone, bus riders and <a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2015/04/17/state-trooper-bike-lanes/" rel="nofollow">cyclists</a> certainly included. But the State Police is a state agency, and they should be made to play nice with other state agencies. This would take some political will, but if the right person said "these buses are coming through here whether you like it or not" it could happen. I don't have my hopes up, but it's at least worth point out that if the governor is so concerned about revenue-saving reforms, he should look beyond specious sick time complaints.<br /><br />The SL III is dead, and good friggin' riddance. We learned the hard way that buses should not be put in tunnels, because they just don't have the capacity. The Urban Ring project touts how the capacity will be so high with a bus every 3 minutes and up to 2700 passengers per hour. Or two Red Line trains. If you're going to spend a billion dollars on a tunnel, put rails in it and build it to a wide enough grade that you can put in equipment that can carry 500 (three car set of LRVs) to 1200 (six car set of Red Line cars) passengers. The Silver Line is over capacity, which is a good, but very expensive, problem to have.<br /><br />The something big and powerful might be Massport. They are funded by parking, so they don't want it to be too easy for people to be able to get to the airport. But, again, this is the usual interagency squabbles which makes Massachusetts not work. So far we have the following players:<br /><br />MBTA<br />BTD<br />MassDOT<br />Massport<br />Mass State Police<br />MCCA<br /><br />If they were all put in a room and said "we're locking the doors until you come out with a policy that saves 5 minutes of running time for the Silver Line" they could work something out. But because every agency is its own little fiefdom, no one cares what happens anywhere else. So if the Governor is serious about reforms, he'll look beyond the T. Somehow I doubt he isn't.Arihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-45016998563896672522015-04-28T04:46:17.661-07:002015-04-28T04:46:17.661-07:00And there are only a limited number of dual mode b...And there are only a limited number of dual mode buses. Given current levels of service, there are a few that can be spared for Chelsea service without having to cut anything else, but if the service proves unexpectedly successful, at some point they're going to need more buses. I'm actually a bit less worried about tunnel capacity: the Chelsea service will probably replace SL-Waterfront trips since their peaks are in opposite directions.crzwdjkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394805356595604336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-26869855670737545582015-04-27T14:39:57.740-07:002015-04-27T14:39:57.740-07:00I honestly think they'd be better off having M...I honestly think they'd be better off having Massport create a (free for T riders) Airport shuttle to/from South Station (similar to the one they run to/from Copley now) and eliminate the SL1. Most people going to/from the airport aren't going to/from the Waterfront and the T needs the hybrid bus capacity for the people who are.Charlie D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12894581357760437121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-14636106024815169902015-04-27T10:55:52.884-07:002015-04-27T10:55:52.884-07:00The State Police doesn't give a crap about bus...The State Police doesn't give a crap about bus riders. That's my guess. We already know how much contempt they feel about anyone not rich enough to own a car.<br /><br />For the record, I included the ramp suggestion in comments to the South Boston Waterfront mobility plan sponsored by ABC, along with signal priority for D Street. They included signal priority in their final report, but not the use of this ramp. They even included Silver Line Phase III in the report, the insanely expensive and unfeasible plan to connect Silver Line on Washington Street to the Transitway with a new tunnel. But not the simple and easy use of the ramp, which would save money, as you point out.<br /><br />Someone big and powerful does not want the Silver Line to function well. Could also explain why there's no signal priority yet at D Street, even though that would also be a simple, easy, money-saving change.<br />Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02027332620204904993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-2834094901973082882015-04-26T20:07:04.408-07:002015-04-26T20:07:04.408-07:00Yes, Arcady, but that's harder to solve. There...Yes, Arcady, but that's harder to solve. There's not an unused ramp right there ready to be put in to use if only people would screw their heads on straight (or get their heads knocked together). That is a much less traffic-prone part of the route (although not entirely traffic-free) and less frequently causes long delays and service gaps. And the only easy solution would be turning the buses right on to D Street and putting the power switch in the WTC station or something. Fun fact: If you get off a SL1 on the surface level, you can often go down the stairs and catch an SL2 ahead of it.<br /><br />This is a much more structural issue, inasmuch as the roadway was built without any direct access between the Silver Line and the Ted. On the outbound, it could be fixed, but not so much inbound. Of course, one really wonders whose bright idea it was to build it like that: was it originally supposed to be connected and they didn't have the money so they built this half-assed system and said "eh, good enough"? <br /><br />Imagine if buses transitioned directly from the busway tunnel to the highway. That would be something. It would be harder inbound, it would seem, to keep stray cars from entering the bus tunnel, so you'd probably have to have buses slow down for a gate to open, and have some escape route for cars (a nice waiting area where MSP could meet them and inform them of their transgressions. However, with the inbound I-90 exit ramp right next to the Silver Line incline at D Street, it would be conceivable to build a bus connection inbound, although I can't imagine it would come cheap (any time you dig holes in the ground, costs go up). Of course, the operational savings would certainly not be negligible.<br /><br />If only they'd built it the right way in the first place. I can't imagine it would have cost that much more to build direct ramps. The whole project cost north of half a billion dollars, so what more would $50 million have been? It would have paid for itself. But, again, we saddle these sorts of projects with bizarre routings, and then complain that transit doesn't make money. Arihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06058285362842737187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293100068373105830.post-12799284148786570642015-04-26T15:48:05.221-07:002015-04-26T15:48:05.221-07:00The inbound routing is even more ridiculous: it ac...The inbound routing is even more ridiculous: it actually stops at the front door of the World Trade Center station before crossing D Street so it can get to Silver Line Way and wait to cross D Street again before stopping in the World Trade Center station. Fun fact: I found a pre-Silver Line MBTA map and it showed the "Pier Transitway (Under Construction)" as a dotted line connecting straight to the harbor tunnel without the crazy loopy loops that the actual Silver Line has to make.crzwdjkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394805356595604336noreply@blogger.com