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MBTA releases maps of proposed bus-route revamps

All here. One big change: The 39 would no longer run in parallel with the E Line to Back Bay but would instead head all the way to Porter Square in Cambridge.

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I am liking what i see for Hyde Park.

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The 39 looks great and the better connectivity with Union Square in general is good. Plus more frequent buses all day.

They better figure out a way to start hiring more drivers.

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Porter Sq, via Central and Union. Not Harvard.

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Plus they're cutting service out to Deer Island entirely.

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Point Shirley, where quite a few people (including one of my cousins) actually live.

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How are people supposed to get there to enjoy the trail and visit the facility, if they don’t have use of a car or bike?

That really stinks!!

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The hypothetical new 64 is being sent from Oak Square via Boston Landing to Packard's Corner, and bangs a hard left to a Pike overpass that doesn't exist yet, roughly at the site of the proposed West Station that also doesn't exist yet, and isn't even marked on this map as someday existing at all.

If West Station is eventually built with major bus capacity as seems to be the consensus approach, certainly it would serve more routes than just a low-frequency 64? And assuming that to be the case, what is the time horizon of these proposals? When do they think that routing could actually happen, West Station or no? What are they going for with this?

This is just the one I noticed because I'm focused on that area. Wonder what others will find.

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Replying to myself to add that the new 66 would STILL take that awful time sucking detour out to swing out to Union Square in Allston. Come ON guys, figure out a better way. I don't give a shit about the historical context and the combined trolley routes that were taken off the streets when my grandparents were in diapers. It's not a feature, it's a bug!

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Maybe its just not specific to the Bus Network Redesign but the 57 is strangled by double parking throughout most of Brighton Ave.

Not to mention that construction at Brighton Ave/Fordham Rd. thats eaten up a stretch since late 2019/early 2020.

Edit: ok maybe "most" isn't the best word, I'd revise and say the major parts of Brighton Ave. before and after the Harvard Ave intersection.

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Brighton Ave and Longwood Ave buses should be equipped with cowcatchers, or possibly the big heart-shaped snowplows, to deal with this sort of issue.

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Can I second that proposal! And include the Silver Line.

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If they're keeping this at once per hour, pre covid, the bus (when it was finally back to serving Guest St), was arriving 5-10 before the outbound train arrived. Only options were to walk to another bus line or just walk. Not a hub if not coordinated. Also, might be used more if it ran more often. just sayin

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I'm guessing you mean the 64. Which, yes, it makes me crazy that they keep justifying the abysmal service on that route because of low ridership, when the low ridership must only be made worse by the lack of service. I know that I avoid that route whenever possible.

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"6:00 am to 10:00 pm, 7 days a week. Some routes run
more frequently at peak. Some routes have service as
early as 5:00 am and as late as 1:00 pm. "

AS LATE AS 1PM. WOW!

I see a lot of community push back to some of the proposed NEW routes. Better service and connections is hard to argue against, entire new routes through areas without current service in suburbs isn't going to be an easy sell.

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Bad news for Roslindale and West Roxbury: Route 37 would be discontinued. This would eliminate about 30% of the weekday service on Belgrade Ave. and Centre St. It also looks like they are eliminating Route 33 which connects the neighborhood south of Stony Brook to Hyde Park.

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The 24 will be going down Turtle Pond Parkway/Enneking

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This worsens the break in the Back Bay to JP connection. The 39 is the only direct route from Back Bay to JP via the cultural and business sections. The E is truncated and so fails in that connection. The Orange line is too far east. This is bad planning; it breaks a valuable and useful single ride connection.

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/toolate?

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I don't think Jeffrey Ferris would be too happy if they started digging up the street to put the trolley tracks back in front of his bike shop. (I'd be delighted.) Most of the overhead wire poles are still there though.

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I think one reason he might not be happy is that it's wicked dangerous to ride a bike on a street that has trolley tracks embedded in it. Try riding with them on Huntington Ave or Chestnut Hill Ave and see what happens when you move laterally across them to avoid a road obstacle or to make a left turn. It's not pretty, and it can be fatal if there's a car or trolley behind you when you fall.

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Don't worry, the E-Line past Heath Street was only temporarily suspended.
http://www.bostonstreetcars.com/what-happened-to-the-arborway-line.html

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Fine to run something from longwood up to porter. But getting rid of the 39 from back bay to longwood is going to mess up a lot of people's commute. This bus currently runs very often and is crowded on that part of the trip. Also, the current 39 route picks up people from back bay and ruggles commuter stops, these people will now have to get on the very unreliable E line instead.

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The 39 is only crowded from FH to Longwood. After Longwood it thins out considerably. And who the hell uses the 39 from Ruggles? Anyway, in the draft a person can take the T12 from Ruggles to Longwood and beyond (or to Southie and the Seaport).

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Does anyone have a good definition of "peak only"? Does this mean only usual commute hours? Does it exclude mid-day?

Thanks in advance.

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The T has a history of midday cutbacks. Expect peak times to end around 9:30AM, and resume from 3 to 6PM.

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for the past 10-15 years, based on painful experience of overcrowded buses and trains between 2 and 4pm (schools, 3-11 hospitality shifts, construction, etc.)

But the T has always appeared to maintain its antiquated 4-7 idea. I would stick with the 7pm side — because the MBTA does play an important role in getting people in and out of sporting and cultural events that usually begin around that time — but would hope service levels will be increased earlier in the afternoon with this reboot.

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From what I've read, the bus will go from City Point to Broadway Station. It will no longer go to Tufts Medical Center.
There are quite a number of people (myself included) who use this bus to go to Tufts for appointments. The proposals offered are a bit challenging for the elderly and mobility impaired.
Service to the hospital should be retained.

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… are going to be eliminated and combined with other stops in new locations along the route.
Good for some, bad for others.

I think there will be major objections to the route change on the 39. This route is heavily used all day long. If anything they should increase frequency on this route.

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That's a shame but I guess not shocking. Although, there have been what, 100 new units of housing added to that side of the Parkway in the last two years? Less service isn't a great improvement when it goes hand in hand with more residents.

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The biggest change will be Route 38, which will no longer go to Forest Hills but stop at Jackson Square and then end at Nubian (Dudley) Square.

As it stands now, Route 38 doesn't run on Sundays and a lot of workers use Route 38 for Faulkner Hospital. If they can increase the frequency and also add Sunday service, even if it's hourly, you will see a lot of riders use Route 38. It would be a two-bus ride to downtown with a direct connection to the Silver Line, and a direct connection to the Orange Line at Jackson Square, rather than Forest Hills.

The drawback: riders who normally take Route 38 to Forest Hills would have to (a) walk down to either Centre St or West Roxbury Parkway to get a direct-to-Forest Hills bus, (b) stay on the new Route 38 bus to Jackson and backtrack to Forest Hills, or (c) connect with the new T39 bus at the Monument.

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bus is downgraded in it's frequency--now it can run every hour on non-peak times. Not great for Faulkner and Hebrew Senior Life workers and visitors. I don't think the Faulkner shuttle buses from Forest Hills can fill that gap.

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The current route 38 schedule runs hourly between 9AM and 3PM. Not great now or in the future.

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They've 86'd the 17 - now people living on Boston Street won't have a bus they can walk faster than during rush hour!

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They may have 86'd the 17, but did they 17 the 86? Maybe that's what you call truncating it to end at Harvard Square instead of going on to Sullivan.

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...and I often use the 17 bus (and the occasional 16 or currently the detoured 18) to/from Andrew when I'm carrying a lot of stuff, etc, or during bad weather. Yes, the walk is essentially fine, but sometimes that bus is a real help. I will miss it.

As for rush hour - well, sometimes I do play the game of "who wins - the bus, or me walking," and often it's the latter. :-)

But I will still miss that route. I suppose it's essentially useless to even try to campaign to save it. A shame.

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IIRC, the frequency and size of the 39 was intended to serve as justification for not reinstating E line service all the way to Arborway. I guess they figure enough time has passed that people aren’t complaining so much about that any more, so they can reroute it.

I’m not sure I agree with the change in route, though - while we desperately need a better connection between JP and Cambridge/Somerville, this proposed route is so long and through really bad areas for traffic, the delays the 39 already has are just going to get worse. You can walk along Huntington Ave. at rush hour for 30 minutes or more and never be passed by the 39. How is having the route go all the way through Cambridge going to help with that? And as others have mentioned, many people who currently use it to commute beyond Brigham Circle will be inconvenienced. I think I would rather see a new route go from, say, Heath St. to Porter Square than reroute the 39.

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The intent of Route 39 was to be a seamless substitute for the "E" at Arborway, but at one point got too successful and siphoned off riders from the newly rerouted Orange Line, so the T cut service on Route 39 to make up for it.

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They took my #4 and #6!!!
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Well, to be fair, they've been gone (at least mostly) for years.
All the same... NO service to the North End other than the Artery end of Hanover Street? Srsly?

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There's so much there, both good and bad. For some reason, I'm excited about Hyde Park being connected to the Dedham Mall, but sad that the 37 is being canned after they started extending a few runs to those weird apartment complexes off LaGrange Street beyond the cemeteries.

I recommend that people send their comments to the T. They are trying out a lot of new things.

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I think there will be routes that may be altered due to negative opinion, but there will also be routes that people will say, "hey, why didn't we think of this before?"

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For example, if enough of them find out about the proposed changes, the people in Saugus are going to fight to try to keep the 426 to Haymarket. I personally am indifferent to that change.

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The MBTA seems to be doing this the right way, spreading the proposed changes far and wide and getting public feedback before implementing them.

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