Proposed Orange Line infill station in Malden

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/ ... story.html

A new Orange Line station has been proposed. Tentatively called River's Edge, it would be between Malden Center and Wellington and would be intended to drive further development in Malden and is projected to serve 6,000-8,000 riders per weekday. Private funding would be required, which could potentially include the Wynn Casino under construction in nearby Everett. A proposed footbridge over the Malden River could also help link the station to Everett.

I've never before seen it mentioned that the casino would pitch in. The casino is already approved, mitigation tactics selected, and this area is fairly isolated from the casino. From the Everett Transit Action Committee meetings, the consultants suggested a developer of the Town Line Plaza property would pitch into the station.

I can't imagine the casino being interested at all, considering the proposed station would be two stops farther north than the closest station to the casino (Assembly).

Isn't the Orange Line pretty much maxxed out capacity-wise on the North Side? Or is what I hear about the AM rush-hour situation there exaggerated?

It is not exaggerated at all. People from Wellington and Sullivan will travel in the opposite direction just to guarantee they have a space to go inbound. Many a morning I used to see people at Sullivan unable to even inch onto the train.

The replacement Orange Line rolling stock fleet will expand the fleet numbers, and provide better headways in a few years.

ferroequinologist wrote:Isn't the Orange Line pretty much maxxed out capacity-wise on the North Side? Or is what I hear about the AM rush-hour situation there exaggerated?

Nope, not exaggerated. As someone who boards at Sullivan, I can attest that we leave people on the platform pretty much every morning. Many a time a train pulls in, the doors open, and people come bursting out it's so packed.

Are some morning trains short turned at Wellington to begin their runs inbound empty from there? Then people at Sullivan etc. closer to Boston don't see train after train pull in packed.

deathtopumpkins wrote:

ferroequinologist wrote:Isn't the Orange Line pretty much maxxed out capacity-wise on the North Side? Or is what I hear about the AM rush-hour situation there exaggerated?

Nope, not exaggerated. As someone who boards at Sullivan, I can attest that we leave people on the platform pretty much every morning. Many a time a train pulls in, the doors open, and people come bursting out it's so packed.

Should increase the fare or implement congestion pricing. That's what they are planning for the highways...

Disney Guy wrote:Are some morning trains short turned at Wellington to begin their runs inbound empty from there? Then people at Sullivan etc. closer to Boston don't see train after train pull in packed.

Not in regular service, no.

BandA wrote:Should increase the fare or implement congestion pricing. That's what they are planning for the highways...

No, thank you! MBTA fares are already expensive enough. Raising them even more than the 32% they've already raised them in the past 5 years would be ridiculous. If they move to a peak/off-peak fare structure, it would likely be with an off-peak discount, rather than a peak surcharge. The two best possible options for reducing the crush load of people on the OL at Sullivan would be to get the new orange line cars in service ASAP and increase service frequency (every 6 minutes during rush hour is nowhere near enough), and actually build the GLX - a large number of people trying to board at Sullivan (myself included) are transferring from buses from Somerville (101, 89, 90, 86, 91, CT2) and would likely switch to the Green Line if GLX is built.

deathtopumpkins wrote: No, thank you! MBTA fares are already expensive enough. Raising them even more than the 32% they've already raised them in the past 5 years would be ridiculous.

If you increase the fare 5% every year for five years, that's a 34% increase after the fifth increase. How much have MBTA pay rates increased during this time?

I don't know, but I do know that the average person's pay rate has not risen 32% in the past 5 years.

However, the fare discussion is getting a bit off-topic. We should probably steer back toward the Orange Line in Malden.

As someone that has pretty convenient access to the Orange Line and is a huge fan of Dom's Sausage Kitchen, I fully support this!