Hey, there! Log in / Register
Whadaya know: Free Silver Line service from the airport is working
By adamg on Thu, 02/14/2013 - 1:31pm
CommonWealth reports not only is volume up on the Silver Line into the city - for which Massport says it will eventually pay so riders don't have to - but it's up on the Silver Line to the airport, for which people still have to pay.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Anecdote
A few months ago I met a bunch of friends-of-friends who came through for a conference. They rode the free Silver Line from the airport. I told them it would probably be easier to go back via Green/Blue from where they were staying, but they all ended up using the Silver Line to go back because they felt more comfortable having seen it already.
So I wouldn't be surprised if that's a common story. The increase in free Silver Line usage from the airport leads to an increase in return trips on the Silver Line, without affecting the number of folks who prefer to use the Blue line Airport station.
It's free inbound, not outbound
Your headline is wrong.
What are you, a Bostonian or something?
I wrote "outbound" as in "outbound from the airport," which it is, but, yes, this is Boston, where "outbound" would mean inbound to the airport from downtown. So I just took the whole word out of the headline.
directionally challenged
Where East Boston is North of the North End and South Boston is to the East of the South End.
A TALE OF TWO SILVER LINES
One side of the silver line is free has a dedicated tunnel and stations that resemble art museums.
The other side that travels from Dudley down Washington street has a dedicated bus lane that is used by trucks to double park and the bus shelters are being used for drug dealers and prostitutes according to the Boston Courant .The busses are overcrowded and fare disputes between drivers and passengers many of whom are poor addicts and homeless lead to fights all the time.
Can we get what Lima has?
I would rather the silver line charge and use the money to pay to improve it. I rode BRT in lima peru, and it was fast, and boarding was quick because they had enclosed stations at street level so you paid upon entering the station. They could do the same at logan terminals (or better yet, make a central airport stop, they managed to figure out a central parking garage).
Of course, the biggest improvement to the silver bus would be to connect the two ends like every other line. Imagine if the red line stopped at Kendall Sq coming into Boston, and people had to get off, walk outside a block, go down a flight of stairs and then re-board before doing crazy eights on the way to the airport at 5 miles an hour. Is it too much for the MBTA to learn from Peru?
They do charge
They do charge. MassPort is (or will be) paying.
That would be great. And you can do it without fancy enclosed stations like they have in South America (Curitiba and Bogotá are famous for this as well), by applying Proof-of-Payment just like they do in San Francisco.
Well if you have a few billion dollars burning a hole in your pocket, you could pay for Silver Line Phase III.
I think the money would be better spent converting Silver Line-Washington to light rail and using the Tremont Street subway flying junction: an enormously expensive piece of infrastructure to build that is currently sitting unused.
Been there, done that
They tried to connect them, but public opinion turned on the idea after each proposal to do so was more inane than the last.
The terrible job they did on the first tunnel didn't really endear them to anyone.
While getting rid of the
While getting rid of the stupid fare collection procedure helps a little, the Silver Line is still fundamentally flawed by being slow and cramped.
After too many half-hour rides to go 3 miles, while getting bashed in the knees by people's luggage, I'll stick with the Blue Line.