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City trying to figure out how to make Hyde Park Avenue commute less of a pain

The Boston Transportation Department will hold a "Hyde Park Avenue Multimodal Corridor" open house on Feb. 11 as part of its efforts to figure out how to make it easier for people to get between Wolcott Square and Forest Hills.

The session, which begins at 7 p.m. at the District E-18 police station, 1249 Hyde Park Ave., will include a discussion of "early implementation of traffic improvements" on the road, which currently features rush-hour jam ups, overcrowded buses and no bike lanes.

According to BTD:

Despite the large number of bus riders, 81 percent of households [in Hyde Park] own at least one car. That's much higher than the City average of 65 percent. Transit delay times along this corridor have seen continual increases and all bus routes running along the corridor have been affected. Unless we develop meaningful transit plans and improvements, expect this trend to continue.

Some 10,629 ride the 32 bus every weekday - and at rush hour, it can take more than half an hour to get the 4.5 miles from Forest Hills to Wolcott Square.

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Comments

maybe people are getting cars because they can't rely on transit to get them where they're going. we didn't go down to a one-car household until we moved to a place where the bus infrastructure ACTUALLY WORKS, making transit a viable alternative. plenty of people are willing to get rid of their second cars or even their first if they can actually run their errands and live their lives without padding in an additional hour and a half to get somewhere a car can get in 20 minutes.

anyway sounds like an opportunity for bus lanes, rozzie square style, at the very least. unfortunately it'll take 12 years of "studies" and committees to figure it out, unlike in everett, where the mayor went "fuck it" and just stuck out cones one day, solving a major problem with a show of actual leadership.

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In this situation the buses aren’t cutting it because they are stuck in traffic created by car drivers. Put in a bus lane ASAP. Problem solved.

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Everyone already knows the answer is to have the Orange Line continue through Roslindale to Hyde Park and Readville.

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Unless you mean add a stop at Canterbury and HPA or something. As a resident of the square, I would selfishly argue we need to extend the Orange line out alone the Needham line where there aren't Amtrak trains as it would be way easier. That would not help Hyde Park though.

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Needham is definitely the lowest cost/effort/most realistic OLX path - it's so short it's kind of absurd it hasn't already been done. Doing Orange along Needham would allow for a realignment of a lot of the bus routes currently servicing that route (since the commuter rail provides nothing approximating rapid transit) and some of those freed busses could very easily be turned into Hyde Park routes. Could also readjust so instead of Walcott-Forest Hills, cut through to the new Rozzie/Westie OLX stops?

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The Needham corridor has lower density and is already well served by the commuter rail. Meanwhile, anyone living along Hyde Park Avenue between, say, Southborne and West Street basically only has the 32. There's as much room for extra tracks along the NEC as there is along the Needham Line.

Leave the Needham Line be the Needham Line. OLX to Hyde Park!

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OLX would not duplicate the Needham Line; it would replace it completely (ie. no more Commuter Rail service). Two tracks would mostly fit in the existing right of way, with the exception of some bridge underpasses. Meanwhile, adding 2 tracks to the NEC will be prohibitively expensive, and the alternative, taking away tracks for rapid transit, simply won't work - it's already an overcrowded corridor and Amtrak is actively trying to add more intercity trains.

While there is definitely a need for more efficient service on Hyde Park Ave, a first step would be the re-zoning of Boston CR stations (eg. Hyde Park, Readville, Roslindale Village through West Roxbury) to Zone 1A. Unfortunately, the FMCB has already dismissed this idea several meetings ago, on the rationale that CR riders tend to be whiter and higher income as a whole. They clearly haven't considered the reason why so many people take the 32 and 35/6/7...

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"well served"

ok dude guessing you work 9am - 5pm and don't ever need to go anywhere on the evenings or weekends ?

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also would free up slots on the Northeast Corridor, which is paramount to the idea of Regional Rail.

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Need to restore the eastern Roslindale Mt. Hope St./Hyde Park Ave. commuter rail station, which operated for 100 years before it became a casualty of the Southwest Corridor project.

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When the MBTA proposed a station at Cummins Highway, community opposition killed the idea. I remember being at the meeting, and at risk of exposing myself, there was a picture of me at the meeting listening to another registered commentor here in the local paper the following week.

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The city should pay for the project, building stations, signals, power, etc. and turn the keys over to the MBTA.

Up-zone the transportation corridor and earmark the growth in property taxes from that area to pay off the bonds issued to finance the project.

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You don't need to do that to achieve significant gains. The Fairmount line is already the same cost of the subway and increasing the number of daily trips. The Readville stop needs to put into Zone 1 or 1A to encourage higher usage there. Roslindale and West Roxbury need to be put into Zone 1A like the Fairmount line and have more daily trips added. You already have a morning bus lane on Washington St in Roslindale and evening one coming this year. All those things would bring substantial public transit benefit to the southern part of Boston and cost a fraction of what an Orange Line extension would, and also be much easier to implement quickly.

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Original plan for the relocation of the OL to the SW corridor was a bifurcated line past Forest Hills, one branch replacing the Needham line and another following the corridor to Hyde Park, maybe Rt. 128?

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This makes so much sense, it hurts.

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After that, can we address the 65, which takes half an hour to go 2.5 miles, from Brighton Center to the Longwood Medical Area?

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Broken city link for referenced text

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Sorry about that.

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BUS LANES!

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Great idea.

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We need to eliminate on street parking on Hyde Park Ave and add bus lanes.

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You don't even need to eliminate parking. It's already 4 lanes. Just mark the right lane in each direction as a bus/bike lane. Just like they did on Brighton Ave in Allston.

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Isn't Brighton Ave a hot mess because cars go into the bus lane all the time?

Separated bus/bike lane would be far better for this stretch of road.

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Isn't Brighton Ave a hot mess because cars go into the bus lane all the time?

Yes it is.

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Ban cars!

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Ban Lyft and Uber!

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Last I checked, those are cars, too.
So sure, ban cars, Lyft, and Uber.

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So I can send you the invoice of my $100 monthly pass. Or show up for a piggyback ride to my destination when the train breaks down or bus is too crowded (because it will happen)

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We all already pay for all the external costs your driving causes all of us.
Who do you send the bill to when your car breaks down or you're stuck in traffic (that you helped create)?

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Its Pretty Simple Stop The Over Development Of A City That Doesn't Have The Infrastructure To Handle The Traffic That Comes With It

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Build out the infrastructure to meet the needs of an ever growing city (actually improve transit, add cycling infrastructure that actually deserves that name, charge market-rate prices for parking) and re-work zoning to create dense, transit-oriented, walkable mixed used neighborhoods.

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High capacity hamster tunnels.

Done.

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Is that you?

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Convert Hyde Park Ave to Segway only. The city can subsidize some sort of Popemobile type clear dome for inclement weather.

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Too many people saturating existing infrastructure.

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I agree with most of the suggestions made. Expansion of the Orange Line would be great, but increased stops for the Providence Commuter train would also be helpful. Can't a stop be put in behind Kelly's Liquors? There is already a pedestrian overpass there.

Increased trains on Fairmount is great but it doesn't address the Hyde Park Ave issues. Fairmount goes into Dorchester and South Station - not Forest Hills and Ruggles.

Take a look at who is on the 32 - not only workers but students. Most students need access to Ruggles - not South Station.

I was also recently told by a bus driver that busses are actually pulled from the HP line when there are needs on other routes. I am not sure if that is true but it might be something that has to be looked into.

We also need to move the school bus lot out of Readville and get those busses off of Hyde Park Ave.

Whatever is decided (bus lanes/ parking restrictions etc.) we also need to expand cross-town access.

If you live in Hyde Park you can walk quicker to West Roxbury than take a bus.

Many cars (and trucks) on Hyde Park Ave are not residents of HP but rather people traveling through to bypass the expressway when they are commuting from 24/138.

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