That didn't take long at all: The Boston Transportation Department today announced it will create a permanent morning lane just for buses and bicyclists on Washington Street between Roslindale Square and Forest Hills - a week after it ended a month-long pilot to see if the idea could work.
The new lane, created by banning all parking northbound on the road between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., goes into effect on June 18, BTD announced today:
The bus lane received strong support from Roslindale residents, bus riders and cyclists. Following the completion of the pilot, MBTA data confirmed that riders benefited from the bus lane, reducing travel time while in the lane by 20 to 25 percent during the worst hour of congestion (7:30am to 8:30am). For the 1,100 bus riders traveling through the corridor during that hour, that works out to 26 hours of passenger time saved on a typical day, or 38 hours saved on a day when road congestion was significantly higher than normal. In a survey of bus riders and bicyclists on the corridor, 94 percent supported a permanent bus and bicycle lane. Of the bus passengers, 92 percent perceived that the bus lane decreased their travel time. Of the bicyclists, 89 percent reported feeling safer in the shared lane.
In a statement, Boston Transportation Commissioner Gina Fiandaca said:
It is sound transportation policy to implement along Washington Street a designated bus lane that also allows for people riding bikes. Improving public transit and bus service in particular, is an identified goal of Go Boston 2030, the City of Boston’s long-term, comprehensive transportation plan. The Roslindale bus lane was singled out as an early action project in the Go Boston 2030 Action Plan and we are pleased to be implementing this important component of our transportation plan.
BTD and the T have yet to test a similar lane on the other side of the street from Forest Hills to Roslindale Square during the afternoon rush hour.
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Now who can forward this
By anon
Mon, 06/11/2018 - 7:59pm
Now who can forward this suggestion to Michelle Wu?
So this must mean ...
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 11:35am
That you deserve a special right to take over property because you are special because you have a special one-person transport vehicle to store there?
Get a drive way, rent a space, or go fish.
You say this like they're the
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 6:40pm
You say this like they're the only person with a car, and they came up with the idea of on-street parking themselves.
On-street parking is often a great convenience. That's why it's an official thing.
Move
By NorthEnd3r
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 10:27am
â˜ï¸ Move to the 'burbs if you want easy parking. Living in the city has many, many perks, easy parking is not (and should not) be one of them.
There's more to the city than the North End
By adamg
Sat, 06/09/2018 - 9:34am
The outer neighborhoods have any number of low-density areas (at least when compared to the North End, South Boston, Back Bay, etc.) where parking is fairly easy. I rarely have problems parking right outside my door on my Roslindale street of single-family and two-family houses.
Not disagreeing with your main point for high-density areas, just asking that folks making such pronouncements remember that Boston neighborhoods are not all the same.
It's time for cars not to be
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 10:48am
It's time for cars not to be the concern and better infrastructure and transit to be the concern.
Saves me almost 30 minutes.
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 10:50am
Saves me almost 30 minutes. Now it's time for the other side to be permanent. Cars have been king for far too long and it's caused us nothing but shite.
Walk to the next crosswalk... we all have to do it or work to get a crosswalk made closer to your home.
Let's see, 1100 passengers,
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 2:26am
Let's see, 1100 passengers, 26 hours saved. If they can multiply to make a more impressive number for the press release, I can divide to get back the actual measurement. That comes to 1.42 minutes saved on an average peak-hour bus trip. Or 2.07 minutes on a day with higher than normal congestion. (Too bad traffic isn't even worse, so even more time could be saved.)
Wouldn't it be better if BTD fixed some of the godawful light timing? There are plenty of places where main street traffic sits at a red for more than a minute, for no reason at all.
Drive Alone
By NorthEnd3r
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 10:28am
Yeah, I wish those 1,100 passengers all drove alone to work instead. That would really speed up travel times!
When did I say that?
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 11:20am
When did I say that?
I'm pointing out that this project doesn't do much, though they use misleading math to make it seem impressive. And there are other easy ways to provide more benefit for bus passengers.
Transportation
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 10:47am
Transportation is about PEOPLE not about CARS.
If less storage for personal property on public land means more PEOPLE get through, that is the priority for that public land.
Why do you get to decide what
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 3:18pm
Why do you get to decide what public land is used for?
Again, when did I say
By anon
Mon, 06/11/2018 - 8:02pm
Again, when did I say anything about prioritizing cars over people?
My point was the benefit was inflated in the press release. And there are cheaper and less disruptive ways to provide EVEN MORE benefit to transit riders.
This is great! So glad the
By cden4
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 9:34am
This is great! So glad the City is starting to find solutions for where buses get bogged down in traffic. When transit is faster, more people will use it (which also frees up road space for people who have no other option but to drive.)
So the afternoon commute
By Bobp
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 12:51pm
will stay messed up?
This is good but
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 2:34pm
I fear this bus & bike only lane will work as well as the Essex St bus lane
If they want to emulate Essex
By anon
Fri, 06/08/2018 - 3:35pm
If they want to emulate Essex Street, they'll have to make sure the signs are tiny and infrequent, and the pavement markings are quickly obliterated by patching.
At least Washington Street has frequent enough service for a bus lane to not be a total waste. 12 minutes or more between buses on the SL4 -- why bother?
Pages
Add comment