Silver Line Thread/Tracker

[MickD]

That's a valid point.The buses that through Downtown Crossing now
really aren't that much of an intrusion to pedestrian traffic,but the addition
of these could be.Temple St.is probably as far as they should be allowed to go.As it is passengers have only a very short walk to to the heart of the district.I think they're banking on the fact that some kind of residential-retail tower is most likely to replace the newer backend part of Filenes.

[Reddy Rocker]

I thought the Red Line should have been extended to the Airport.

As in "Red through the Ted"? That's what I thought of first, except one problem...Federal regulations prohibit rail and road to share the same tunnel, and it is not economically feasible, as well as having a question in safety, to dig another tunnel under the sea for such a Red Line extention. So in short, the Silver Li(n)e is here to stay.

[cden4]

Even if the Red Line went to the airport, what would the advantage be? It would not stop at each terminal. You would still need the shuttle buses to get around. Taking the Silver Line is basically like getting on a shuttle bus a bit sooner than usual.

[MickD]

Well that's true ,but had The Red Line gone out there to connect with a terminal shuttle bus you'd have had better access from other subway
lines plus Middlebourgh and Plymouth lines at Braintree.It's alittle easier
at Park St.for example to transfer to and from GL and Red Line.and
Orange Line at Downtown Crossing.This latest proposal makes it no easier for people coming from North Station for another example.What it does do is make things more convenient for people staying in downtown hotels who aren't paying for it.Granted it is to encourage tourism to some degree but for residents in general I don't know that it was worth the investment,though as The Rocker pointed out it couldn't have been done
with The Red Line as regulations currently stand.

[octr202]

Even if the Red Line went to the airport, what would the advantage be? It would not stop at each terminal. You would still need the shuttle buses to get around. Taking the Silver Line is basically like getting on a shuttle bus a bit sooner than usual.

Well, if the pie-in-the-sky Red Line tunnel under the harbor did happen, hopefully the tunnel would be continued under the airport terminals proper. Ideally, a properly situated station, say under Central Parking, could access all of the terminals via pedestrian corridors and eliminate the need for using the buses, or going outside at all.

[CS]

1. There absolutely no chance that this is happening at all. Second, we are moving off topic please stick the Silver Line.

[MickD]

I didn't suggest it was going to happen .Only was commenting on lack
of common sense when building the SL.This proposal is only going to send
this project back to Federal government for consideration,where it's already been "not recommended" to proceed.The 'T" should be fast tracking other far more worthy projects such as the Purple Line and others
rather than wasting any more time and money with this.

[Reddy Rocker]

1. There absolutely no chance that this is happening at all. Second, we are moving off topic please stick the Silver Line.

Yes, I'm perfectly aware of that as is everyone else, but I sort of agree with MickD. Nevertheless, still a good call to make.

[MickD]

Me too.LOL!!!

[octr202]

Apologies for drifting off topic. Interesting idea...just got me thinking about what to do if there was "real money" to spend on something that's not a silver bus...

In other news, the other troubling part is the split ends of the Cogliano proposal. From what I can understand, it would have half the Washington St. service running essentially as it does now, just with a fancy enclosed transfer station instead of the current minimalist terminal on Temple Place. The other half would run to South Station, bypassing DTX and any Green Line connections. I wonder to what extent that will cause an imbalance in the two routes, ridership wise, that might cause more and more service to be shifted back to the DTX terminal. All in all, that might lead to the new tunnel entrance connecting the two to become more of a formality than anything.

[CJ]

I think the T would get alot more support (namely from people like us) if they made the tunnels to LRV spec (ie, just embed some rails, signals etc, but run buses in the tunnels)

So, if the BUS part flops, or gas gets even more $$$, they throw some LRV's from NEMC to the waterfront, and turn them around, they can fix up (not demolish) whats left of the old subway down @ tremont, for connections back to boylston for non-revenue moves.

"Boylston - Switch here for F line' which if they did , maybe (somehow, i knows theres issues) could refurb boylston as well, everyone would be HAPPY.

The BUS is a good idea, in general, but digging up the city for a bus lane, isnt really worth it. However if it was 'future-proofed', (ie ready for rail), I think it would get ALOT more support. Not to mention the fact (would never happen) but surface LRVs running to dudley (if only!), it would be ready for it! Just an idea, trying not to get TOO off topic!

[gt7348b]

don't see how you can bring buses, especially the huge Silver Line buses, into the heart of Downtown Crossing without totally destroying the pedestrian environment there.

Actually it seems to work rather well in other cities - Melbourne, Madison, WI, Brussels, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Antwerp, Vienna, Portland - just to name the ones that come to the top of my head. Since there is only one bus every 5 minutes or so, you will only have a bus in Downtown Crossing for 12 minutes out of every hour, so over 3/4 of the time there will be no bus present in Downtown Crossing. Just because it hasn't been done within Rt 128 yet, doesn't mean it won't work. After all, Boston and Bostonians are not that different (in terms of basic human behavior and interaction with vehicles) than the rest of the western world.

[MickD]

Yeah but there are other buses that up Washington St.plus cars etc.
I can appreciate that it works in other cities but each one has it's own idiosyncracies.I personally think the current proposal in this particular situation is unnecessary.For the time and money that will be spent it won't enhance the service in Downtown Crossing all that much.I use it from time to time and agree with the criticism that it's not really a rapid transit
line at all to Dudley Square but just bigger busses in tandem.It's entirely
dependent on the flow of traffic to and from Roxbury.The T should just cut it's losses and make do with what it is for the forseeable future because I have serious doubts that there will be much federal money coming for a tunnel.Maybe after the Purple Line has become a reality it could be revisited,but a considerable upgrade on the Fairmount line is by far more of a priority than the Silver Line.

[Ron Newman]

Do the other cities run Silver Line-sized buses up pedestrian streets as narrow as Washington and Winter streets?

[CS]

It works in other cities but in these other cities to cars blatenly drive and double park in the "dedicated" bus lane? Waterfront is a success (well, at least SL1) but Washington Street as many people continue to say is an oversided 49 painted silver. I'm not so sure that street running LRV's would be any better (although as a railfan I would love to see that). They should think about a ROW in the center of Washington Street.