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Collins vows to fight proposed changes to South Boston bus routes
By adamg on Tue, 06/07/2022 - 11:57am
Caught in Southie reports state Sen. Nick Collins is vowing to fight a proposal by the MBTA to end 11 service at Broadway, which would force people who now use it to get to Tufts Medical Center and nearby areas to take a bus and two subway lines to get to work, and to double the length of the 7 route.
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Comments
Please keep the Hyde Park
Please keep the Hyde Park changes. We need them!
My favorite change
Stretching the 24 over to the Dedham Mall. That opens up a lot of opportunities. My only fear is that Dedham might oppose it, but I'm being optimistic about its chances.
The West Roxbury changes, on the other hand, are annoying. Rerouting the 36 away from Millennium Park (and housing and business nearby) and getting rid of the 37 just as it started serving that transit desert on the other side of the cemeteries are bad moves.
For what it's worth, the 37...
Has not been serving the apartment buildings on the other side of the cemeteries for 2.5 years (since December 2019), at least not in any meaningful way: https://www.mbta.com/projects/better-bus-project/37. Clearly, there is either (a) minimal ridership, or (b) some ridership that is not loud enough, at least nowhere as loud as the crowd that wants frequent all-day service on the 55.
Absolutely agree on the 36 to Millennium Park, whether it's about retaining access to green space or to the Boston City Archives. However, service does need to be executed better. The southbound approach to the Spring St/VFW intersection (i.e. on VFW, coming from Home Depot and going toward Spring St) is persistently jammed, and as it is today, each bus from Millennium Park tends to rack up 6-10 minutes' worth of delay in that small section alone.
You must not live in
You must not live in Georgetown is you like the proposals for Hyde Park
Huh?
Under the new proposal, the 40 will still keep on service Georgetown. The only difference is that it won't do that weird diversion in the middle of the development.
The people living down Turtle Pond Parkway, on the other hand, may have a slight gripe, but I've seen longer walks through worse places.
I live in Wolcott Square and
I live in Wolcott Square and there will be 3 buses that end in Wolcott and we will get around a lot easier.
sigh
This is why we can't have nice things.
I'd love to see the supporting ridership numbers to support leaving the line as is and end at Tufts Medical Center. Cuz often it doesnt support things like this.. but you know, people who scream the loudest get what they want in these cases.
Remember some of these changes are to eliminate bottlenecks (i.e. traffic) so the buses can move faster, or in this case, go outbound faster so inbound will be faster. Its all cause and effect.
But alas, I am sure the T will rescind any complaints about the changes it gets like this one, and we'll be left with a half baked idea and pol's who interfered with progress because someone complained to them, regardless if as a whole things would be better.
I've seen this happen far too many times.. a handful of people say no, complain to the right person, and they get what they want.
This is why our bus system is bastardized as it is.. so many "lets route and/or build stops that slow down service cuz someone/business/complex wanted a stop near them" in the system. And if you try to remove/change it.. ppl complain.
Route 11 Bus Route
The route 11 does have a solid ridership to Tufts Medical Center. The proposed changes would force seniors and people with mobility issues to make two changes on the subway to get there. That's ridiculous. Not everyone rides a bike.
It's not a handful of people complaining. The people reaching out to Sen. Collins and the other elected South Boston politicians need the bus to remain going to Tufts.
I look at it this way. I go there for care. If the bus ends at Broadway Station, I'm driving in. That's it. Have a great day everyone!
All the way to Tufts?
I haven't been an 11 rider for some time now, but when I was, it was SRO inbound in the morning all the way to Broadway, where most people offboarded, but not so much after that. In the evening, the 11 was a veritable shitshow from South Station until about Dorchester St. That's it. The 7 works the same way. Nuts to butts at rush hour but empty otherwise and the T knows this. Hence the SL3 was cancelled and the SL4 never came into play although now it's going to the T12, which makes up for not having a route on A St., I'm guessing.
Nick likes to make noises about a lot of things so no doubt this is going to earn him the five votes that ride the 11 all the way from City Point to DTX, but in terms of real, daily, sustained ridership it makes no sense to maintain the illusion that every route and stop is sacred.
Yes, we need increased frequency at busier times, more express routes and the elimination of a number of stops. There is no need for 26 separate stops on the 9 for the 3 miles from City Point to Copley Sq.
Exactly this!
Chances are that every bus with a reroute or service elimination is used by somebody. For myself, I am disappointed to see the 14 will no longer serve Rozzie Square. But big picture, I don't ride it that often, nor do I tend to see many other folks boarding in the Square. And the proposed change will significantly improve service for Cleary Square riders, which unlike Rozzie Square, is severely underserved for bus transit. I can find alternative routes for the times I would otherwise take the 14. Yes, those routes will involve a transfer, but the options will now involve greater frequency, which really is a bigger win than the specifics of one particular route over another.
buses on time vs. people
I get what you're saying, and I agree with you that interference can make things worse. I also don't use this bus and have no knowledge of the data. But something I'm hearing from people across multiple neighborhoods is that many trips that were one seat rides will now be multiple. The buses may be more likely to be on time, but the people may not, as more trips will require transfers. Even with faster bus routes, transfers almost always adds to trip time.
And we can't forget that one of the ways to make traffic less an issue for the buses, is to make public transit more desirable.
The MBTA's own data from 2019
The MBTA's own data from 2019 shows about 325 people getting off Route 11 at Tufts Medical per day. That seems like a resonable number, don't allows assume that "experts" know more about what is best than the people that actually use the bus.
Not sure why Collins is against the changes
proposed for the 7, which would see greatly increased frequency as the new T7 route (at least every 15 minutes from 5 am to 1 am, 7 days a week), as well as expanding to serve both North Station and Charlestown/Sullivan Square.
I can see an argument for being against the 11 terminating at Broadway, which also would eliminate the return service on A Street, but the increased service with T7, boosting the 9 to the T9 with the same high-frequency, and the creation of the T12 (also high-frequency from Seaport down D St, to Andrew, Longwood Medical Area and Brookline Village) are huge improvements for Southie.
Route #s not correct
Adam you wrote:
"...vowing to fight a proposal by the MBTA to end 7 service at Broadway, which would force people who now use it to get to Tufts Medical Center."
It is the #11 bus that now goes to Tufts Medical Center - and the proposal is to double the length of the #7 route, extending it from its current route: City Point- Downtown to go to North Station and possibly Sullivan Square (I have to take another look at the proposal...).
Requiring a transfer for the
Requiring a transfer for the downtown leg would make sense...if the subway ran at the frequencies it should. When there are 10-12 minute waits off-peak most days, a bus-subway trip becomes a waste of time.
Also, Adam, you swapped the 7 and 11. The 11 is what would be cut back from Tufts Medical to Broadway, and the 7 would be extended up to Charlestown. The latter seems pretty strange, since it would add a lot of traffic and unpredictability to a route that already has big issues, for a small number of people who need a one-seat ride from Southie to Charlestown.
Wins and losses
There's a lot of good in the new plan but parts of it are headscratchers. Some of it seems punitive.
For example, after eliminating the express buses, they then took three or four local bus routes in Medford, Stoneham, and Malden and strung them together in totally wacky ways that add 45 minutes to a commute into the city.
Oh, sure, they promise 15 minute intervals but that doesn't mean shit if it takes 45 minutes to get to a mass transit station or if you are a chair user and need to change busses three times - and they end it 1/3 mile short of a commuter rail line that could easily be looped in.
Some people were thinking, others were dropping acid. That doesn't mean the whole program should be scrapped or that most changes aren't beneficial but there needs to be a bullshit filter applied. It shouldn't take 1hour 15 minutes to get six miles into the city because they won't configure the lines for both local connectivity and commuting needs. This just forces people to drive.
You've got the numbers reversed.
The 11 is to be truncated at Broadway, while the 7 ends up going through downtown and replacing the 93 through Charlestown.
I think the big issue with the extended 7 is that schedule reliability will suffer with the bus traveling through often-heavy congestion between the Charlestown Bridge and South Station. And I suspect the number of people who actually travel between Southie and Charlestown by bus is pretty tiny.
Stupid mistake fixed
Thanks for spotting that; my apologies for mixing them up.
"Schedule reliability will suffer"
Not nearly as much as the proposed smorgasbord, the T39: Forest Hills-LMA-Central-Union-Porter. At rush hour, easily 25-35 minutes for Forest Hills-LMA, then 20-30 minutes for LMA-Central, then another 20-30 minutes for Central-Union-Porter. That's 65-95 minutes each way...
For fun, add in an extra 5 minutes to account for the longer 60-foot buses making their way through the narrow streets of Cambridge.
connects north and south railway stations
There are a lot more work places and attractions at the Seaport that need coverage.
MBTA put this out as a draft
They've expressly said they are looking for feedback from riders, so I don't see anything wrong with Collins lobbying the MBTA for his constituents. If people think they're getting screwed by a change, they should say so.
This also means if people are excited about changes, they should let the MBTA know as well. This is the first time that I can remember that the T is actually planning to INCREASE service instead of cutting it.
Go here for the proposed maps and contact info for comments: https://www.mbta.com/projects/bus-network-redesign
Many of the changes are good, but a few questions
Charlestown - Eliminating the 92 under the rationale that the new T7 (93 replacement) stops are mostly less than 1/4 of a mile away…. The 92 runs by all of the shops in Charlestown and for most of the people who live near the 92, the 93 is up some very steep hills. Not sure how that’s going to work for all the elderly and disabled who live in the Mish. Let’s see how those stairs on Mead St. work in the winter.
Southie - I’m all for eliminating stops on the 9 (which I take every day to/fro work). The frequency is insane.
The 7…so the way to deliver high frequency…is to double or triple the length of it through one of the most congested parts of the city? The N. Washington St. bridge is going to be one way in each direction when it’s done and I humbly invite anyone who hates his or herself to head to Charlestown over that bridge at rush hour.
Overall, while a lot of the bus route changes seem to be an improvement, they also scream “We need significant rail based rapid transit investment ASAP.”