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Boston will extend morning bus/bike lane further down Washington Street in Roslindale
By adamg on Fri, 10/28/2022 - 9:25am
BTD will add a shared bus/bike lane along the inbound side of Washington Street from Albano Street to Corinth Street in Roslindale Square, a BTD planner told the Roslindale West Village Neighborhood Association on Wednesday.
Parking would be banned completely in the lane between 5 and 10 a.m. on weekdays, as with the existing inbound bus/bike lane from the Square to Forest Hills, to speed up the commute a bit for both bus riders and bicyclists.
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Comments
Awesome! Hopefully they will
Awesome! Hopefully they will ticket the folks that park in it or are "just running in for a second."
Maybe not so useful any more...
Bus lanes require frequent service. However, the MBTA's bus redesign significantly cuts service on the 34 and 34E, while keeping service levels roughly the same on the 40 and 50.
Right now, the 34/34E run every 15 minutes throughout the day, Monday-Friday, with additional service during peak: a bus every 5-10 minutes. Under the redesign, the 34 will go to every 30 minutes, and the 34E will go to every 60 minutes, which is a very substantial drop in service on a highly-used corridor that somehow, no one is talking about. Meanwhile, the sparsely-used 55, with loud Fenway politicians and well-resourced English-speaking residents and advocacy groups (as opposed to the many non-English-speaking riders of the 34), is getting a lot of service added compared to today under the same plan...
Another bone to pick is that neither the 34 nor 34E will go into Dedham Mall under the T's revised network. It's easily a 10-minute walk from Washington St to the Stop & Shop, not to mention how hazardous the ramp is in general (narrow sidewalk, fast moving traffic, and entirely impassable when it snows).
To be clear: very supportive of the bike/bus lane, and very opposed to the T's planned cuts to the 34.
Great News!
The backups on that one block are substantial. It's possible to miss the bus at the Albano stop, then walk to the Square, get a coffee at PS, and still catch the same bus at the Corinth St. stop. This will be a huge time savings for the thousands of people who depend on routes 34/34E, 40, and 50.
good
there’s always a stupid amount of congestion leading into the square on Washington (that I happily zoom past on my bike). I’m not frequently there in the morning, but it’s awful in the afternoon. The one time I’ve driven that way, it took me 3 or 4 cycles of the light to get through. Feel like it should be at minimum both rush hours. And honestly, the city should just do it instead of wasting time with these coffee hours and telling the local feudal lords, excuse me neighborhood associations about it. The existing lanes work well (if no one is parked in them) and this change is for literally 1000 feet of road. Buses should not be waiting for multiple light cycles with private vehicle traffic.
somewhat related, Washington seems like a good candidate for dedicated bike infra, especially south of W Roxbury Pkwy. Definitely wide enough there, and could provide a solid bike connection between dedham and boston. bit hilly, but still doable
Washington to Dedham
Literally rode Washington from Forest Hills to Dedham on my e-bike TODAY. haven’t ridden that stretch in years.
I must have been more of an adrenaline fan in my 20s because it was scarier than I remember. There the average traffic flow in the westie stretch of Washington was easily 45-50mph.
All I could think about was how the area is such low hanging fruit for more housing density and a big increase in bus service/infra!