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Transit line as one of those hippie bracelets
By adamg on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 9:40am
The Lone Rider explains why the proposed Urban Ring bus system will still leave parts of Roxbury and Dorchester unserved:
... The Urban Ring could be like one of those hippie bracelets that has strings of beads hanging from it. Only, those strings would be light rail lines feeding into the Urban Ring. All of this investment, about $2.2 billion dollars, but some people are still being left out. So once again, some riders will just be left waiting at the bus stop.
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Comments
While there is a problem
While there is a problem with some of the stops on the Urban Ring I would like to call attention to some of the short falls of the Loneriders argument.
I would like to see how the Urban Ring stops at Admirals Hill in Chelsea? I see it stopping at Griffin way which is adjacent to an Urban Renewal District and an area that should be an Urban Renewal district, and within walking distance of another poor part of the city. There are "luxury" condos a few blocks away (surounded by poorer residents) and those have been selling for vey cheap. It definitly needs an uplift, and would be considered EJ.
The next stop is Downtown Chelsea at the Commuter Rail stop. Id like to see someone arge that this area is not an EJ candidate.
Then of course we have the Mystic Mall stop. Sure it is adjacent to Admirals Hill but it is by no means "in" Admirals Hill. It is in a heavy shopping and industrial working part of the city with limited transit options to other parts of the city. Currently a few buses stop there but they are very inefficient. Residents who shop and work in the mall area can use the Urban Ring as a local subway style access making it so poor people from Everett and Chelsea can get to work easier.
I have other issues with the assesment but I think the author should avoid the Im poorer than you fight with a city like Chelsea. Just a thought.
I don't live in the proposed service area.
So consider this a non-paranoid/silver line jaded response to the plan.
I think it's unfair and foolish that large swaths of Boston and north of the charles are not served by train. Rather than fiddling with these bus routes, why not make an exhaustive examination of whether we can improve and expand the actual rapid transit system (trains) in the area? Sure it would be expensive, but we need to cut our reliance on automobiles in this city and think about planning a sustainable and long term public transit system for all neighborhoods. For a small city, there are too many areas of Boston where you absolutely need a car.