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State learns again that people don't like having things crammed down their throat
By adamg on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 3:51pm
And now the state loses out on $145 million in federal stimulus funds; money was to have gone to a fancy-shmancy Silver Line extension through Roxbury and Mattapan that state officials tried to foist on the neighborhoods as a fait accompli.
Lawmakers ask state to withdraw 28X proposal (from the Dorchester Reporter a couple weeks ago).
Steve Poftak is sad.
Earlier:
Gloria Fox, Byron Rushing objected to bus cramming.
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Comments
X28. What a stupid idea.
What a relief. What a stupid idea. Arrogant politicians think that they can run roughshod over already under-served Dorchester and Roxbury and thereby cop a wad of stimulus loot from the Feds.
can you elaborate?
I'm no fan of the original Silver Line but it looked to me like the 28x project was going to be BRT done right. I'd rather see light rail, but BRT on Blue Hill Ave. would be a huge improvement. I don't think they asked the right people about this. I bet people who ride the 28 would like this project. The articles I've read showcase the complaints of people who can't make it across the street in a single light cycle.
Sounds like sarcasm actually.
Sounds like sarcasm actually.
Why would anyone be against this?
Dedicated lanes for buses can only improve their performance. Why would anyone oppose such an obvious improvement? In fact, it should be done for all major bus lines that run on streets wide enough to accommodate it (such as 77 on Mass. Ave. in North Cambridge and Arlington, 34 on Washington Street, 32 on Hyde Park Ave, etc).
It would reduce parking,
It would reduce parking, eliminate some left-turn only lanes, and make it hard to jaywalk mid-block. Those seem to be the main arguments against it.
Larger buses SHOULD be on Route 32
For many months, Route 32 buses ran 60 ft buses during the rush hours before taking them off the route (don't know why, but it certainly alleviated crowding!)
I attempted to ride Route 32 today, but the scheduling plain sucks. If I remember correctly, buses on Saturdays used to be every 10 minutes, but somehow the T changed this to 15 minutes - which makes it 4 buses an hour. I can rely the Route 24 and Route 33 to Mattapan and Route 50 to Forest Hills in Roslindale to be on time, but Route 32 is supposed to be more frequent - not a crap shoot or show up whenever it feels like showing up!
If the people in Roxbury and Mattapan are refusing this service, the people in Hyde Park will be thrilled to take it off your hands! We'll even take the Silver Line and fill in that SL3 spot!
MBTA schedule says Route 32
MBTA schedule says Route 32 is supposed to be every 12 minutes on Saturday until 7:00 PM and then every 15 minutes:
http://www.mbta.com/uploadedFiles/Documents/Schedu...
Actually looking at the schedule before ranting is my friend XD
You are correct...but sometimes it doesn't seem that way (or maybe I've been spoiled by the Route 50 bus too often :) ). Route 32 could use a little more frequency, especially on Saturdays. I did see two following one another but by then I was frustrated - I walked the few steps to the commuter rail station and took the train to Back Bay.
To be fair, though, early in the morning before the rush hour, Route 32 is hardly crowded and does run on time.
where are Steve Poftak's and Byron Rushing's statements?
I don't see them on the pages that you linked to.
Sorry
The Poftak link now gets you to his post on the issue.
The Rushing and Fox comments (not statements) are down toward the bottom of the story that last link goes to, about the el.
Indigo Line
What the hell ever happened to the Indigo Line?
http://www.design.asu.edu/apa/proceedings02/BERGER...
Mattapan and Roxbury are not served well by public transit, despite an over dependence on public transportation in the neighborhoods. My commute, Mattapan to Ruggles, often takes over an hour on the 28. Mattapan once had a grade separated trolley route, ripped up in the 50s. The death of 28x is an absolute shame, and a sign of a true dearth and failure of leadership, transit policy, and communication between the Commonwealth and the neighborhoods.
They ae moving along with
They ae moving along with adding more stops to the Fairmount Line
http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/t_projects/defa...
They have requested bids to build the Four Corners station and seem to be moving along with design work for the other stops at Newmarket, Talbot, and Blue Hill Ave. The new bridge over Columbia Road is close to done. That was a pretty big project (its a long bridge)
Taking the 31 from Mattapan to Forest Hills and then the Orange Line from there to Ruggles is probably faster than riding the 28 the entire way, unless you only have a bus pass and don't want to use the Orange Line.
Roxbury resident reacts
Third Decade is happy the 28X is dead:
What does he think they'll
What does he think they'll get - a monorail?
Funny, the fantasy map he
Funny, the fantasy map he links to shows......the 28X corridor!
We should cancel all projects because none of them are good enough. Forget BRT, we need flying ships.
The fact that route 28 is the busiest bus route in the system does not matter. Why improve it? Making left turns is so much more important.
"28x": Here is the position of the elected officials
Here is the position of the elected officials in a letter to the former DOT Secretary, James A Aloisi, Jr., dated October 30, 2009:
Dear Mr. Secretary:
We write to you with our decisions about going forward with developing a robust plan to improve the public transportation serving the neighborhoods along the Blue Hill Avenue/Warren Street corridor.
We believe that the process which the Office of Transportation began this spring without any input from the residents and businesses was deeply flawed and outrageously disrespectful of our constituents. We thank you for the subsequent frank conversations we had with you and we especially appreciate the hard work of your staff and consultants in beginning to reorient this planning to be driven by representatives of residents, the riders, and businesspeople of these neighborhoods.
What we heard is that most people first want reliability, regularity, safety and accessibility in their public transportation service; second, they want comfort. Although speed is desirable, it does not come a close third to the first and second priorities. Most of our constituents (and one half of the Project Advisory Group) oppose the construction disruption or design of a busway to accomplish those two priorities.
Therefore we cannot support the construction of a busway along Blue Hill Avenue. As you agreed in your letter to us of 22 September 2009, if “the delegation feels that it cannot strongly support the 28X proposal, and submits a letter to that effect to me, EOT will withdraw the 28x proposal from federal consideration…” This is that letter.
We would urge you to attempt to revise the TIGER grant proposal to receive funds based on all the positive and near unanimous suggestions for transit improvements without a busway which have come forward during this process. If that is not acceptable, withdraw the TIGER proposal.
We urge you to authorize and fund the continuation of the planning process, without interruption, in the Blue hill Avenue/Warren Street corridor. We see no reason not to continue planning now for the types of improvements outlined in your letter to us of 20 October 2009. (We, of course, would have needed to do so, if the TIGER grant was not approved.)
We are encouraged by the active involvement and interest of our constituents in the revised and restored process over the past months. Let us not lose the momentum for a community driven process toward a robust and cutting-edge plan to improve public transportation and enhance the environmental conditions for the residents and visitors of the geography served by the Blue Hill Avenue/Warren Street corridor.
Yours truly,
Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz
Senator Jack Hart
Representative Willie Mae Allen
Representative Linda Dorcena Forry
Representative Gloria Fox
Representative Elizabeth Malia
Representative Byron Rushing
Representative Marie St. Fleur
City Councilor Chuck Turner
City Councilor Charles Yancey