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T vows crackdown on JP bus-stop pig parkers

The Jamaica Plain Gazette gets action - and dishes that bus drivers have a button they can press that automatically generates a report to MBTA Transit Police about bus stops filled with delivery trucks or other vehicles.

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Curb extensions. Bus stop curbs should extend out to the travel lane.

It will make buses more efficient. Currently, a bus has to carefully maneuver around parked cars and angle itself into a bus stop every block. Then it has to wait for all the passing cars to go by in order to merge back into traffic. This can sometimes take minutes for each stop, causing massive delays overall. A curb extension allows the bus to quickly arrive at a bus stop and then quickly move on again.

It will reduce the amount of curb space needed for a bus stop. Currently, if you want to have any hope of getting the bus close to the curb, you have to reserve enough extra space along the curb so that closely parked cars don't block the angle. As it is, in many cases, there simply isn't enough buffer space provided, so the bus ends up with its rear end sticking out into traffic anyway. With less space taken up by bus stops there will be more for loading zones.

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Buses in JP and Roslindale rarely pull over toward the curb anyway.

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The idea is to bring the curb out to the bus at a short span for loading/unloading the bus without the bus leaving the travel lane. The bus does not pull over, it just pulls up to the "dock".

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Curb extensions would rouse the same pro car mafia that blocked the restoration of trolley service. It's all about them being able to park and speed through as quickly as possible and not the overall quality of transit offered to the public at large.

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Pro car mafia? Is that like the Templars and the Illuminati?

The MTA - predecessor of the MBTA - wanted to get rid of the Arborway streetcars and all other non-dedicated trolly lines since the 1940s. 'Pro car' people had nothing to do with it. Streetcars that run in auto traffic lanes can't drive around stopped vehicles - including other streetcars. It made perfectly good sense to take streetcars off the Arborway line - buses are vastly more flexible and efficient.

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Pro-car mafia are the people that make your argument against streetcars, and then go on to attack the replacement bus service in their quest for the right to unpunished double parking. Parking in the rear of a business and walking around to the front door is just too inconvenient for them.

And please explain to me how buses are more flexible and efficient? They hold far fewer passengers, produce pollution locally, and the whole flexibility argument is silly when particular routes haven't changed in a century.

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Paint the bus stops. In NY (at least when I was a kid) the area designated for the bus was painted a bright beige color. So not only were there bus stop no parking signs, the part where you couldn't park was painted to stand out against the street.

It made it easier to see the stop so it was easier to catch the person doing it.

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I ride buses every day, and I've *never* been on a bus that was delayed even 15 seconds while maneuvering into a stop or waiting to pull out into traffic.

Delays are primarily caused by stupid traffic lights and fare collection.

Which routes are you thinking of?

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I ride buses every day, and I've *never* been on a bus that was delayed even 15 seconds while maneuvering into a stop or waiting to pull out into traffic.

Either you have never ridden a bus on a heavily trafficked road, or you aren't paying attention.

I see it happen almost every time while riding buses like the 66, the 57, the 1, etc.

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I ride the 66, 57, and 1 often.

The closely-spaced unsynchronized lights mean that the bus never has to wait more than a few seconds for traffic to come to a halt, or for a big gap in traffic.

And there's no need to insult me. It should be obvious from what I posted that I pay very close attention.

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I thought that curb extensions, at least at some stops, were part of the "improvements" the T wants to make to the 39 route.

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And would it surprise you to learn that entire project has been delayed?

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Still need to seek "abutters approval?" Hello Pesaturo? The sidewalk and the street is city property. Not to mention, curb extensions done right free up curb space for other uses.

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Curb extensions are a joke. People will still park there causing even more traffic problems. Look at the curb extensions in the residential side streets of the South End. Just another place to park. Look at the recent build out of the sidewalk in Fields Corner by the banks and post office. People park to run in the banks, and block traffic on Dot Ave causing northbound traffic to swerve into oncoming southbound traffic.In both cases enforcement is spotty at best.

And as been pointed out above, buses (at least the ones I see on Dorchester and JP) hardly ever pull over, even when the posted bus stop is clear.They simply stop in the middle of traffic anyway,because it's easier. So why spend money on curb extensions?

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Lets put you in a wheelchair, and then lets see how quickly you clamor for a curb extension.

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Q:

So why spend money on curb extensions?

A:

They simply stop in the middle of traffic anyway,because it's easier.

Easier, faster, and with the curb extension, better for everyone, especially folks in wheelchairs.

Oh, and if people park at a curb extension, that is equivalent to parking in a travel lane. Certainly a problem (e.g. double parking) in some cases, but nothing about the presence or absence of curb extensions is going to make people stop double parking.

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There is a stop with a curb extension already in place at Centre & Eliot (the Monument stop) heading towards Forest Hills. It certainly is useful for people boarding the bus, though it's not any better for those that exit from one of the rear doors.

Is there any plan to get out-of-service buses to stop using bus stops as places to leave the bus when the driver goes on break?

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What bus stops are you thinking of?

The streets I know of where buses lay over are designed for that purpose. They use standard bus stop signs to mark the stop, but it's much longer than a regular stop.

There was some recent stupidity in Harvard Square, where the city decided the bus stop and layover had to move back a block, where the street was a foot wider, because there wasn't enough room for a bike lane. This means a longer walk from the T, and not enough space for all the buses laying over (thanks to all the bunching on the #1)

But the new bus stop still isn't wide enough, so buses stick into the bike lane. So bikers do the safe thing and merge into the general travel lane, which is exactly what they did before there was a bike lane there. So the whole thing was a big waste.

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Not sure where in Harvard you're referring to.

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