Airport to downtown

45 minutes sounds nuts for GC to Coolidge corner, but I never made that trip routinely. Is that the normal speed?

Given that express tracks aren't possible, what else could speed up the service? Proof of payment with all-door boarding on the surface, no fares paid onboard. Signal priority on Beacon St (do they have that now or not?). Allowing multiple trains into the subway stations again, maybe with some kind of collision prevention device? Using cars that could couple and uncouple very quickly, so that cars for two destinations could run as one train as far as Kenmore, reducing the number of trains by a third, so that the trains could run faster and not have to wait outside stations as often (at least at peak times), without changing the frequency on the branches at all?

As for the airport problem, what about increasing the frequency of Blue-Line trains, maybe even running Airport-to-Bowdoin short turns between the regular trains? What about speeding up the Silver Line somehow?

After all of that, bus lanes at the airport sound like one of the cheaper, easier ways to knock some time off the trip.

Arborwayfan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 4:25 pm 45 minutes sounds nuts for GC to Coolidge corner, but I never made that trip routinely. Is that the normal speed?

Given that express tracks aren't possible, what else could speed up the service? Proof of payment with all-door boarding on the surface, no fares paid onboard. Signal priority on Beacon St (do they have that now or not?). Allowing multiple trains into the subway stations again, maybe with some kind of collision prevention device? Using cars that could couple and uncouple very quickly, so that cars for two destinations could run as one train as far as Kenmore, reducing the number of trains by a third, so that the trains could run faster and not have to wait outside stations as often (at least at peak times), without changing the frequency on the branches at all?

As for the airport problem, what about increasing the frequency of Blue-Line trains, maybe even running Airport-to-Bowdoin short turns between the regular trains? What about speeding up the Silver Line somehow?

After all of that, bus lanes at the airport sound like one of the cheaper, easier ways to knock some time off the trip.

>45 minute from GC to Coolidge Corner

It should be about half of that.

>Proof of payment with all-door boarding on the surface, no fares paid onboard.

It already sort of works that way. All doors currently open. Plenty of people get on and don't pay at all.

>Signal priority on Beacon St (do they have that now or not?).

The MBTA wanted it, but seems to have given up on going through with it. I think there was (and might still be) one intersection where the green line has priority on Beacon where they trialed it and collected data.

The MBTA mismanged itself into not going through with it because Cambridge actually asked the MBTA if they wanted signal priority for buses when Cambridge got a new traffic light system, and the MBTA said no. From what I heard, Cambridge decided to get that feature anyway, in case the MBTA gets their act together in the future.

>Allowing multiple trains into the subway stations again, maybe with some kind of collision prevention device?

This is in the works. They've been drilling out the fronts of the Type 7s and putting in temporary blanking plates where the anti-collision system devices will go.

>Using cars that could couple and uncouple very quickly, so that cars for two destinations could run as one train as far as Kenmore, reducing the number of trains by a third, so that the trains could run faster and not have to wait outside stations as often (at least at peak times), without changing the frequency on the branches at all?

They'd have to run as far as Hynes (since Kenmore is after the route split), which doesn't seem to be an ideal place to split trains up.

I know joining and splitting through trains has been common on Class I throughout the 20th century (with limited
use to date), but has it been done in subway or light rail operations? Such operations might have been in the
early 20th century elevated era in New York and Chicago, other than a few NY Transit Museum events which trains
have been joined or split.

Yes, all the time. If you ride the B branch on a Sunday, your 2-car train will split just before Boston College at Lake street. I've also been on a few single car trains that coupled up mid-route going outbound

Red Arrow (Philadelphia) had one trip departing 69th St. about 5.30 pm comprising two "non-PCCs"--the first destined Media, 1st stop Woodland Ave., the 2nd destined Woodland Ave., 1st stop Scenic Road. Approaching Scenic Rd. the operator of the 2nd car would uncouple at speed (from his operating position), stop at Scenic Rd, and make all stops to Woodland Ave., while the 1st car continued nonstop to Woodland Ave. and made all stops to Media. (A genuine "slip carriage" in the U. S.!)

Pacific Electric regularly ran 2 PCCs coupled from SubwaY Terminal with the first car destined to Burbank and the 2nd to North Glendale, the split being made at Arden Jct. Inbound, a car from Burbank would find a car from North Glendale waiting for it to pull up behind and couple to it (much to my chagrin since I had a nice view out the head end until then).

At times PE would run a 3-car interurban from 6th and Main for Monrovia or Glendora with the 3rd car, destined to Sierra Madre), uncoupled at San Marino (?).

I remember them joining two green line cars - I think both Type 7s - at the inbound side of North Station Elevated, probably in the 2003-2004 timeframe. Why they weren't joined out of Lechmere to begin with I don't know.

P.S. around 40 minutes Alewife to downtown, in either direction today. Ugh.

diburning wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 8:36 pm
>Signal priority on Beacon St (do they have that now or not?).

The MBTA wanted it, but seems to have given up on going through with it. I think there was (and might still be) one intersection where the green line has priority on Beacon where they trialed it and collected data.

This is the lowest hanging fruit that would improve trip times IMHO and at rush hour especially probably adds at least 5 min from St Marys to Coolidge Corner during rush hour if not more. If they've truly abandoned implementation, it's another great example of the T completely failing the green line through sheer incompetence.

R36 - I don't think they still do this, but in the Boeing LRV era, MUNI in San Francisco used to join and split trains from different routes at West Portal Station (K, L, M) and Duboce Portal (J, N) and run combined trains through the Market Street subway to Embarcadero and back.

diburning - B Line splitting trains just before Lake Street? I can't understand that one. Maybe some kind of operational restriction against coupled trains running through the yard or around the loop? Do they re-couple them into trains at the loading platform heading inbound or somewhere else?

jwhite07,
Yes; they found that it didn't work inbound because with all the street running west of the tunnel no two cars could be predicted to arrive at West Portal at the same time and the first car would have to wait for another one to turn up, or else proceed alone, thus defeating the purpose of combining.

jwhite 7: would they be splitting there to send one car of a two-car Boston College train to the yard at Reservoir via Lake St at the end of rush hour?

Straying way off the topic now (I'm as much to blame I know), but I suppose sending half the B train to put up at Reservoir is a possibility. diburning might know more since he's seen it; I haven't been in that neck-o-th-woods in... well, let's just say the last time I saw a streetcar traverse Chestnut Hill Avenue between Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street, it was a Boeing.

jwhite07 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 14, 2023 5:40 am R36 - I don't think they still do this, but in the Boeing LRV era, MUNI in San Francisco used to join and split trains from different routes at West Portal Station (K, L, M) and Duboce Portal (J, N) and run combined trains through the Market Street subway to Embarcadero and back.

diburning - B Line splitting trains just before Lake Street? I can't understand that one. Maybe some kind of operational restriction against coupled trains running through the yard or around the loop? Do they re-couple them into trains at the loading platform heading inbound or somewhere else?

No operational restriction on pairs going through the loop. They park them in the yard uncoupled as well, so that might be why? To not have to uncouple on curved track? What I described only appears to occur on Saturday/Sunday evenings with two-car trains.

Wasn't the issue with the traffic lights because it was run by the municipality or MassDOT and not the T?

Brookline is in charge of traffic signaling on the C branch. IIRC signals were installed about 20 years ago that allow for prioritization for trains, but the MBTA has never been a fan of signal prioritization and I don’t know why.

Signal priority after a near side stop poses problems because an operator often re-opens a door for a straggling rider. This may cause waste of the extended signal green time.

Also needed is a system that does not require that the operator have to second guess the green light and press extra buttons. Especially when the traffic signal is at the same time trying to second guess the movement of the streetcar.

Better streetcar performance is had if the signal can serve the streetcar between any two traffic phases as opposed to just extending the single existing streetcar phase. Such systems exist but are not very common.

The problem on the Silver Line at D Street is not a priority problem. It is a problem of motorists blocking the box.

About splitting Boston College trains just short of Lake St. Could it be that some cars operate better from the A end as opposed to the B end and just those cars are looped while their mates change ends out in the street to reduce wheel wear around loops?