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Dedicated bus/bike lanes on Huntington Avenue are shaving commute time for bus riders, officials say
By adamg on Mon, 09/25/2023 - 3:11pm
Bus/bike lanes on Huntington Avenue between Brigham Circle and Gainborough Street will be made permanent by the end of the year with the addition of red paint, after the MBTA and BTD said today that 39 and CT-2 riders are saving up to two minutes per trip during the morning and evening commutes when compared to the same period in 2019.
The goal of the red paint is to better warn motorists to stay out, by delineating them for just the use of T buses and bicycle riders, the city and state said. In related work, red paint will also be going down on dedicated lanes on Boylston Street between Ring Road and Clarendon Street, Clarendon Street between Boylston and Columbus Avenue and St. James Street between a point just west of Berkeley Street to Dartmouth Street.
In addition to the time savings for bus riders, the evaluation showed that the quick-build lanes have coincided with improved traffic safety conditions. Project implementation has coincided with slightly lower speeds along the corridor, providing safer conditions for all road users. While bus riders are experiencing time savings of up to two minutes per trip since the first wave of implementation last year, BTD’s analysis found that the average one-way automobile travel times on the corridor have increased by less than 45 seconds.
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Comments
Wow!
Two minutes!
What a return on investment.
And yeah, no one who drives those routes believes their commute is only 45 seconds longer when an entire lane of traffic has been removed. BTD must be doing these traffic studies on Sunday evenings.
Two minutes for a bus full of people
That's a pretty huge times saving, actually!
Yeah, people are pretty bad at understanding traffic flow (see also: people who think their traffic issues would be solved by just "adding one more lane"). Which is why we have people with actual expertise doing these studies.
(And I also like how you completely ignored the improved safety aspect. Who cares about that if it means you save 45 seconds on your commute, right?)
"are pretty bad at understanding traffic flow"
I know right? Or it maybe willful ignorance.
Someone was complaining on Twitter this past weekend about traffic on highways caused by bus/bike lanes or (you cannot make this up) "woke" tunnel repairs.
https://twitter.com/bostonradio/status/1705756961403216003
But on a serious note, I do wonder if the 300,000+ cars add to the Greater Boston area in the last several years has anything to do with this.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/11/21/some-most-powerful-numbers-...
No, it must be the bike lanes.
Addition by subtraction
So maybe adding a lane would not cure traffic woes but taking them away certainly makes it worse. You don't need experts to tell you two lanes of vehicles will not move faster in one.
Oh and if you don't think traffic studies can be skewed you are in a fantasy world. Of course they can be skewed to fit an agenda. For example, conducting a traffic study on Huntington Ave while the universities are on break would yield a different result than doing the same are when students are here ordering DoorDash every 30 seconds. That's kind of like doing a traffic study on the Cape during the winter and submitting it as proof.
If you want to add a lane to
If you want to add a lane to Huntington Avenue you better be ready to tear down some houses. Granted, my trips to work and home on Route 39 encompasses the Forest Hills to Parker Hill Avenue portions of the route but, transit times to and from have definitely been improved since the bike lane posts have been installed. Purely anecdotal evidence though. It's not like I used a stopwatch or something.
Just not true
You think traffic is some sort of mindless flow. But people use the best route given the conditions and they *think* if one road is bigger, then it can handle more cars and therefore it's worth using over another route. That funnels more people onto that road. If you make all the roads more similar, people tend to use all of them and traffic spreads out and no one road becomes as bad as the old road used to be.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/4/18/mr-go
you're arguing as though the buses are empty
there are people on there who might otherwise be driving to work.
a huge part of this whole thing is to create a transportation system that encourages people to leave their cars at home for short trips.
Doubtful
I would argue dedicated bus lanes do nothing to increase ridership. More folks haven't suddenly decided to take the bus because of a dedicated lane.
You mean...
You mean that you doubt it. That's fine, but feelings aren't facts.
Read a study perhaps.
Professionals acknowledge effects that skew data and account for them. Clearly you don't read much, because then you would know about induced demand.
What the studies don't account for is whether traffic is being slowed to the speed limit.
You’re missing a key point from the announcement
“up to 2 minutes per ride“. First, we are going to trust what the MBTA says. Then the MBTA cherry picked the best time and used that to skew the results. If they wanted any credibility they would have used an average savings, but I’d venture to guess the average isn’t very attractive.
You just gotta believe!
Actually, no you don't. Science doesn't care what you believe.
What science?
Have you seen any data?
https://www.wbur.org/news
https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/06/24/bus-lanes-faster-boston-commutes
That article is four years old
Not sure what this has to do with the present discussion.
You asked for data about
You asked for data about dedicated bus lanes reducing commute times. Of course you don't really want facts.
I asked for data about the BTD/MBTA’s
Recent announcement. Not random data from four years ago, which are I guess AKA facts according to you…..
"random data" about bus lanes
Do you understand the article?
that account exists to troll
i can say this with certainty from my experience wasting time with them - they don't read articles, just headlines. 3 times out of 5 when they post links to articles, the body of the text contradicts whatever point they are trying to make.
Wtf are you talking about?!
Seriously? I’m a troll? How old are you because methinks you don’t know what a troll is.
Just because I disagree with your blind acceptance of the bus lane saving transit time doesn’t mean I’m a troll. Nice try though.
OK
OK, you're a crank. Happy now?
Crank is more accurate than a troll
And probably correct if you assume uhub is all of Boston, which fortunately it’s not even a drop in the bucket because Boston would be all bike lanes and affordable housing and that’s it.
I love how Swirls and Kaz post about science and data and I say a similar thing and I get a four year old article and called a troll. I guess the brigade’s got to brigade though
i said your account exists to troll
it’s your constant ham-fisted allusions to how much money you make; your unwillingness to engage with forward movement in conversation, etc.
All I asked for was data to back the ridiculous claim that
The bus lanes saved up to 2 minutes. If the results are so compelling, why hasn’t the data been released?
The data is out there, you
The data is out there, you just refuse to google it. 4 year old data is bad because what? Less ebikes? Your critiques are trivial and superficial.
Attendance and membership at
MFA and the Gardner museums and other cultural institutions:Jordan Hall and the Huntington . . . .have still not recovered.
Many, including me, find it too inconvenient to get there. I discovered that Providence has a very active arts/music/theater scene. And much easier to access, especially if your are disabled.
Source for this?
I wouldn't be surprised if attendance and memberships of these kinds of institutions have dropped post-Covid etc, but I'd be very surprised if a substantial number of people were actually refusing to go to an art museum or concert hall because of a 45-second delay in driving there in a personal car, and I'd be extremely curious to know how you've measured this.
You might be right . . .
if it was really a 45second delay.
Of course if you are naive enough to believe an MBTA press release . . . .
there is no delay
If it just brings cars down to the speed limit.
And in what world is it faster to get to Providence?
If what g says is true, then they live pretty far outside the city anyway. Should we design roads for suburbanites who can more easily get to Providence, or for bus riders who likely live and pay taxes in Boston?
Actually
I currently live just outside of Boston. OFD but moved for family issues and because it got too expensive.
It has rarely taken more than an hour to go from sitting in my living room to pulling into the venue(except snow storms). Providence does have a big advantage in that most venues are right off route 95 and offer inexpensive or free parking and most have good handicap parking.
Some examples:
Gamm Theater
off Jefferson Blvd
Park at no charge the private lot, which includes multiple handicapped spaces.
Providence Performing Arts Center
Take 95S to the Atwells Ave Exit 37A (formerly exit 21) .
Parking is abundant and conveniently located close to PPAC in all directions.
The VETS
Take Exit 37D
Continue to end of ramp and turn right on to Providence Place
Handicapped parking is in the front of the theater but limited
Trinity Rep
The Civic Center Garage is located next door to Trinity Rep
Providence also has bus and bike lanes but they somehow have avoided making a Boston like mess of the roads.
I actually find it easier, not faster or less expensive, to take Amtrak to NYC and use the mostly functional MTA.
Boston has a problem that it doesn't recognize.
You don't make sense
As an often advocate for the disabled, please don't play the "I'm disabled" card here. You're using it as an excuse to be NIMBY. Don't. It's offensive. Just because you can't park directly in front isn't a reason to play this card. There is plenty of parking seconds away on side streets just around the corner that is HC accessible.
And what did you do previously, if you arrived and all the parking spots (that were taken away) were filled up? Would you just not go? No you'd find some other place park and walk a little bit further, which you can do now.
And as far as providence? This is where you don't make sense. You say that "easier to access". So driving 45m is 'easier access' than parking around the corner and walking because you can't park DIRECTLY in front? And the last few times I've been to Providence, its been a 45m drive + 20m to find parking, where you end up parking in a garage and not on the street. Not too sure how this is any better. Other than nO BiKE oR BuS LaNEs .
Gonna guess this has less to do with your disableness and more to do with the free meters you get when you park on the street with a HC placard. Just saying.. cuz you don't make any sense.
Depends where you live
If you live in, say, Walpole or anywhere south of there, it makes a lot of sense to go to Providence for cultural activities.
"And what did you do previously"
I wasn't handicapped previously.
Dare I note
They aren’t taking parking lanes, just travel lanes.
Huntington appears to work, but the Boylston Street lanes are a failure. The delivery vehicles take up on travel lane, making what was a 3 lane road into a one lane road. The only reason there’s no gridlock is that people just drive in the bus lane.
Data?
These changes come with counters and monitoring - hence the data that Adam cites in the article.
Again, lets see the objective reality, not the perception.
Observation
Huntington Avenue- I’ve driven down it a few times during rush hour.
Boylston Street- I’ve taken enough trips to Chick Fil-A and seen what traffic is like on that block. That the left lane on that block is full of delivery drivers during the PM rush was the subject of a Globe article. You should read the newspaper.
I always thought that field observation was a part of the scientific process. Am I wrong?
Good question
I’ve yet to see any data aside from an announcement from MBTA that the lanes saved up to 2 minutes per ride. I guess we’re now believing what the MBTA says? Have you seen any data?
Dude
You can stop now. We've all heard the grinding of your ax.
Stop not blindly accepting what the MBTA says?
What ax am I grinding? This is about the MBTA, not bikes.
You post on ever thread with some (you probably think) smart response. No one cares and things must be slow out in western MA for you to have so much free time on your hands.
lol
Talking about yourself again? Grow up.
Pick a lane, bro
So, you're mad that we don't have the data, but you also don't trust that the MBTA (actually the BTD, but who needs reading comprehension, right?) is honestly reporting on the data they have? In that case, why would we think you would trust whatever data the MBTA/BTD provides? This is "Obama's long-form birth certificate" all over again - the lack of evidence is a problem, but also, the source of the evidence is a problem - so either way, you win.
Why not just be honest and admit the truth here - what they're saying doesn't line up with your prior beliefs, so you're sure it must be wrong, one way or another.
So. . .
we should believe the BTD rather than our own lying eyes.
Got it.
What?!
Swirls mentioned ‘data’. As far as I can tell, there’s no data publicly available aside from a basic statement that the buses are up to 2 minutes faster. None of this is science, or data. I suppose ‘up to’ is, but that’s just defining the maximum time saved, not min or average.
Your post has all the talking points of a typical Republican. Nice job!
Boylston is wide enough for barriers
But we lost some of those on Mass Ave because negligent drivers kept scratching their cars.
accessibility issues?
What are the accessibility issues at the MFA, Gardner, Jordan Hall, and Huntington Theatre? (Especially the last one, which just recently reopened after extensive renovation.)
Parking lot?
Does the MFA not have its own parking lot, and does that lot not include handicapped spaces? Have you found that you went there and no handicapped spaces were available in their lot? Did this happen once, or more than once?
Parking at the MFA is fine,
just getting there sucks.
MFA offers discounted parking for members. I have parked there many times, gone to an MFA exhibit, over to the Gardner, and occasionally Fenway via a convoluted MBTA route. Had to Uber back from Fenway.
ok...
But insofar as that's true, it's true for everyone. And if a dedicated bus lane is adding a small amount of time to your occasional trip, it's reducing the time for the hundreds people on those buses who have to do it twice a day.
Again,
do I believe the BTD or my own lying eyes?
Adds a frustrating 10 - 15 minutes, sometimes more. Total time 1.5 hours+.
Why bother if there are good alternatives.
Red paint better used elsewhere
Generally I think these are a good idea, but I can’t fathom how installing bus lanes on a corridor already well served by transit is the best use of transportation resources. If you’re going to put in bus lanes, at least put them where infrastructure doesn’t already exist. Instead, we have them installed on one of the few roads already served by the T, saving a paltry two minutes per trip. Most of the time the bus lanes aren’t in use while there is a huge backup on the car lanes. I’d know, I travel the route every day.
But the BTD says . . . .
that it only adds 45 seconds, right.
Right?
Yeah...
...we heard you the first fifteen times. Give it a rest.
maybe needs to be said
until people open there ears.
maybe need to do the math
Your 45 seconds, or whatever time you imagine it to be (note that you have less data than they do), versus the time saved by hundreds of people using the bus lane.
It's the BTD, actually
But hey, I'm sure there's absolutely no reason for them to want better performance from the MBTA, so I'm sure they'd be happy to lie about whatever results they got in order to make the MBTA look better and deliberately slow down Boston commuters at pretty much no gain to anyone, that makes a lot of sense.
Transformative
15 years ago when taking classes at NEU, many times I thought - "Never bike on Huntington, you'll die."
Now, other than the throngs of students jumping out on Forsyth, it's a chill part of my commute.
Thank you, City of Boston!