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Boston looking at how to make the 39 and 57 buses run faster, better
By adamg on Tue, 07/11/2023 - 9:09am
The Boston Transportation Department has decided this is the year of the 39 and 57 buses - and has launched studies to see how to improve their routes to get people to and fro faster - and let them "wait comfortably at their bus stops and board the bus safely."
In both cases, BTD planners will look at such things as changing traffic signals to give buses priority at intersections and fixing whatever is causing delays at specific points along the routes - between Forest Hills and Back Bay for the 39 and between Watertown Yard and Kenmore Square for the 57.
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Comments
Here's an idea
What if, and I know this sounds crazy, they split the B line trolley and sent a spur down Brighton Ave, basically following the route of the 57?
They could call it the b# line or maybe the F line.
/S(ad)
If you want to get crazy, you
If you want to get crazy, you might as well propose running the E trolleys all the way down Centre Street to Forest Hills.
From your comment box to the
From your comment box to the ears of any deity that may be listening. Absolutely absurd that this is not a trolley service. Insane how many people ride this line and how stuck up in traffic they are.
Stuck in traffic
Trolleys or any other LRT type Arborway service restoration would be stuck in traffic even more badly than the 39 bus, because they can't maneuver around a car blocking the way. I love the idea of an expanded Green Line system, but Centre and South St. are simply too narrow for a viable service. That's why it was replaced by bus in the first place.
tunnel
It should have been tunneled not eliminated.
Fortunately, the T has long
Fortunately, the T has long-established, reliable ETB tech - vehicles that CAN maneuver around a car blocking the way. They can use that to improve service on these... corridors...
Damn.
By the way, do the bus stop
By the way, do the bus stop islands projecting out from the sidewalk that they're installing in the Newmarket area mean we can retire the "we wouldn't be able to do accessible LRV level-boarding stops on a street with parking" trope?
The City of Boston doesn't
The City of Boston doesn't have the authority to do that, but also, that wouldn't actually solve the problem. Instead of busses getting stuck in traffic, streetcars would get stuck in traffic. That is, of course, what happened back when the A/E branches existed, which is a major reason why those branches were cut short while the parts of the Green Line that had their own dedicated rights of way stuck around. (Of course, there's broader social reasons why Boston chose to get rid of the streetcars instead of giving them their own space.) Light rail has a variety of advantages over busses, but ultimately either way: if you don't want public transportation stuck in traffic you have to get it out of traffic.
Sure but unlike bus lanes
Sure but unlike bus lanes where people use them as a parking spot, or drive in them anyway, light rail could in fact just be separated from traffic while still using the same streets as a ROW. You could easily extend the E line all the way down to forest hills if you eliminated parking, turned parking into travel lanes, and then used the middle street as a median-separated trolly line.
You can do that with bus
You can do that with bus lanes too. See Columbus Ave. Again, it's not the technology, it's the getting stuck in traffic, which is the same problem with the same solution for both busses and street cars.
Trolleys
Are a better answer, but in order for them to really work well, there would have to be reliable, frequent service and the streets would have to be closed to traffic or rearchitected for dedicated trolley vs. auto use, which would include a road diet.
The reality is that when you're running double length buses and trying to run them more frequently and improve reliability, they're the wrong answer for mass transit. The same is also true for the #7 bus from Castle Island to DTX - when there's a line 20 people long and people aren't making it on the bus after 5 stops, it's the wrong solution.
Success for Boston would look something like Vienna but I'm skeptical that it will ever happen, at least in my lifetime.
Or
the G##.
Can we let them use UberEats
Can we let them use UberEats parking spots along the route?
I still haven't figured out how to post images here
https://clickhole.com/heartbreaking-the-worst-person-you-know-just-made-...
Holy shit!
Rwgfy made a funny!
Haha.
no brainer
Everybody has been asking for signal priority for buses for the past 30 years. There's not much to study except getting a quote and a contract.
How about strictly enforcing
How about strictly enforcing the red bus lane already installed on Brighton Ave? Maybe a $500 ticket for those who think it's just fine to use for short-term parking?
Good luck
Traffic enforcement is beneath BPD.
Actually
It’s the job of the BTD. They have an entire division dedicated to traffic enforcement.
That said, I’ve seen BTD in action on Washington Street in Roslindale. They are way too lenient. They basically turn on the siren to get the cars to move.
Whoopsie!
Forgot to mention to them, thank you!
Back in my day
Way back in the early naughties when I was in college they used to express the 57 from Packard’s to Kenmore and from Kenmore to Packard’s. That worked well.
B Line
That was when the B line was free going outbound on the surface. The 57 only made stops along Comm Ave outbound to pick up passengers, and to let them off inbound.
Yes, the Green Line was free
Yes, the Green Line was free above ground heading outbound at that time. But that wasn't WHY the 57 ran express in both directions. It was because the demand was there, it saved time for a lot of people, and people making local trips had an alternative. All of which are still true today.
The 34E and 77 also used to have express trips at rush hour even though they didn't parallel a free trolley line.
One thing that I've seen in
One thing that I've seen in some other cities is that they will have a shared train reservation/busway. Having the 57 buses on Comm Ave and the 39 buses on Huntington Ave be able to use the light rail reservation and stops would be awesome. My big fear is though is that if buses can drive on it, so can cars, and Boston drivers would not hesitate to do that!
Stop running back-to-back
It happens way too often: a 20 minute wait followed by 2 or more buses in a row, one nearly empty. I know traffic creates this problem and it’s sometimes unavoidable. But what’s wrong is continuing the situation after the bus reaches its endpoint. The starter (who should be on duty all the time) should hold the second bus and restore the normal headway as soon as possible. Maybe that means more downtime for drivers. But it keeps service on a normal frequency, much better for riders waiting at the bus stop.
major issue with 57
buses don't fully pull over to the stop - either can't (people parked there) or won't (just stops next to the bus stop instead of pulling in). Causes traffic jams and clustering of buses (end up with 3 in a row instead of widely spaced every 15 min). Need to enforce the parking at stops so hard people are afraid to do it and make the drivers pull over. San Francisco did this (as well as ticket people who won't let the pulled over bus out of the bus stop when they need to) and the buses run much smoother there.
I often ride the 57(I live in
I often ride the 57(I live in Newton Corner), not for commuting but usually to go to Agganis Arena or to Kenmore to take the subway somewhere. One good thing: a few of the stops, i.e., at Harvard Avenue, have been shifted past a stoplight, so buses aren't stopped by a light turning red while someone is taking time putting in cash. One so-so thing: the delivery drivers(DoorDash or whatever) who block a lane on Brighton Avenue and hold up buses and traffic in general. Generally speaking, I appreciate the buses and the drivers, who do a good job given our congested streets.
57 drivers...
...are the honey badgers of the MBTA. They see daylight and it's like they have a solid fuel booster on that thing. I love the 57.
The drivers
Everyone likes to poopoo the T alot, but they do have a lot of drivers who care about their jobs and making sure you get to your destination in a timely fashion.
They're good, too
They're good, too. Many a time I've been on the 57 and been sure we were going to hit something, but I've never experienced so much as a minor fender bender. Just a driver with a case of the "oh no you didn't"s and a job to do.
LOLOLOLOLOL
(Gasp)
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL…..
Make the buses free
There's only so much we can do about other drivers, narrow roads, traffic signals, etc. But one thing we can do is make the buses free. Let people board at all doors, skip collecting fares, do something meaningful to encourage people to get out of their cars and onto buses,
Couple that with eliminating stops so that the buses stop less frequently. Maybe space the stops out to every quarter mile, so that no one is ever more than an eighth of a mile from the stop. Take some of the bus stops we eliminate and turn them into loading zones for rideshare and delivery vehicles.
We could improve service if we wanted to.
Tonight 7/11/23 the 9:58 PM
Tonight 7/11/23 the 9:58 PM 39 Bus out of Forest Hills never showed. I had to wait 22 minutes for the next bus to show up. I was there at 9:49 PM.