MBTA Transit

[Guest donaltopablo]

Heavy rail, light rail (green line), and BRT (silver line)

Commuter Rail

Silver Line Construction Photo:

Boston's WTC Silver line station

[Guest donaltopablo]

Here are a couple of pics. The commuter boats are run by boston Harbor Cruises, which explains the name down the side of the boats.

[Cotuit]

I made a fantasy map of what the T could look like with some expansion projects, bit proposed and out of my own head.

T Fantasy Map

It's a pretty big file so it loads a bit slow.

[Guest donaltopablo]

That's pretty damn cool actually! They certainly have some room to improve in MBTA. I light the light blue line out I-90 (or I think that's I-90 anyway). Seems to a few employment centers there no currently served by rail (I think commuter runs near by). Correct me if I am wrong, I'm trying to remember since I didn't drive into the city last time I went.

[Cotuit]

The Aqua Line on my map runs between 2 commuter rail lines, the Framingham Line runs along the MassPike (I-90) and the Fitchburg Line runs north of it through Waltham.

My Aqua Line serves dense areas that are ripe for redevelopment in Lower Allston, North Brighton, and Watertown, and also serves the city of Waltham that is quite dense and could become a good relief area for Boston's tight housing market if it were served by rapid transit, instead of just buses and commuter rail which it currently has.

The purple line is the Fairmount Commuter Rail line which the T has actually proposed upgrading, but they have so far shied away from upgrading it from commuter rail to a full rapid transit line. The rest of the purple line is the current silver line converted to light rail.

The Yellow Line is the Urban Ring, which is currently on the Ts horizon for expansion projects.

[Scott]

Cotiut,

You didn't add the Blue Line expansion to Lynn and eventually Salem.

Did you know for years it has been rumored that they would build a Red Line station opposite Tenean Beach in Dorchester on the Braintree extension and a number of major South Shore commuter rail lines. The T has kept a piece of land between the X-way and the tracks free of development but fenced off and used as temporary storage for trucks and construction equiptment. This would give Neponset Circle, a major transportation hub south of the city, subway and commuter rail access and get rid of the annoyance of having to go north to Columbia Station (JFK/UMASS) to go south to Quincy Center or go to South Station or Quincy Center to get the commuter rail. The problem is that it is a mile south and north of Fields corner and North Quincy Stations, so the ridership would takeaway some from the other stations and of course parking is always an issue.

[turlough]

Welcome to the site scott

[Cotuit]

Actually Scott, I'm working on a spider map of my T expansion. The Lynn/Salem extension isn't on the one I posted, but it's on my spider map, I also put a Neponsit Circle stop on my spider map, oddly enough.

[Scott]

Why, thank you somestyle!!

Cotuit,

I look forward to you posting that map also!

[Cotuit]

Cotuit,

I look forward to you posting that map also!

I've done a spider map of a slightly different routing scheme then the one I posted before. This shows all the subway and light rail lines in the Fantasy MBTA system.

I'll post it as a link as it's pretty big and would stretch the page all out.

Fantasy T Map

I'm still trying to work out how the various lines of the green line would run.

I'm also toying with some ideas for a light rail and commuter rail system for Rhode Island.

[Scott]

On a quick glance, I particularly like the Red Line stations at the Burlington Mall and Bedford because I live in Billerica now and have to go into Kendall Sq often. I can't get into Alewife in the morning because of congestion so I just drive in. Thanks to the advent of the Leverette Connector and most of Kendall being a ghost town I can almost always get a parking meter.

The station in Neponset, will be heavily used, as the area is very pedestrian friendly and densely populated. Fields Corner Station is unsafe and North Quincy is too far away. Port Norfolk or "the Port", the area where a station would be, has seen a number of new housing units added in the last couple of years as the harbor becomes cleaner and waterfront property becomes more desirable. The ten minute ride to Park Street would be incredible. Presently, it takes twice that long just to get to either of those stations by bus.

I'm gonna enjoy examining this map closely with my dinner this evening. This is truely fantastic and must have taken an enormous amount of time and talent! B)

[Cotuit]

The Bedford stop would be around the Sun Microsystem's campus, accessible from Route 3 via Route 62, maybe with it's own exit off 3 or ramps from the 62 interchange. The stops on the Outer Ring Brown Line would have private transit systems to circulate commuters through the office parks they are near (shuttles, people movers, Burlington would probably have a monorail). There would also be residential zones created around and within those parks to try to make them into transit villages. I especially think the Waltham stops on the Brown Line could turn into highrise residential areas if planned properly.

I'm not too sure how the Route 1 branch of the blue line would work. I rather envision bus systems shuttling people into the stops to get them on the trains and into Boston, but the northern ones would probably be large Park n Ride stations like Braintree and Quincy Adams. There might be the possibility of squeezing some residential development around some of them, lots of parking lots on Route 1 that could be put to more productive use.

I really think Waltham would explode with rapid transit to Cambridge and Downtown, the Express buses just don't cut it. Waltham is so close to the city, you should be able to hop on the subway any time and zoom downtown. Lower Allston is gonna be a boomtown when Harvard starts really building there. There are some pretty ambitious plans floating around to radically transform Lower Allston and North Brighton into high density areas. Transit will be vital.

In this fantasy world, the North/South rail link is a reality. The purple line is the Fairmount Commuter Rail line turned into an actual subway line. It uses the N/S link to go through downtown and then takes the Medford section of the proposed green line extension. This idea came from someone else, I liked it so I stole it.

Chelsea will also become a hot spot with a subway stop. Urban Ring to Cambridge or Blue Line to downtown, I'd live in Chelsea if those trains existed.

The silver line is gone, but the Seaport section of the Green Line could run trolleys and buses through the tunnel, the buses would split off and take the TWT to Logan.

[monsoon]

[tocoto]

I'm anxious to try the BRT line from south station when it's finished (soon?).

[Guest donaltopablo]

monsoon - Go to Boston, you will not be disappointed.

Boston's mass transit system is very effective, one of the more effective systems in the country IMHO. Some stations and trains seem a little beat up, but otherwise a great system.

[Cotuit]

I'm anxious to try the BRT line from south station when it's finished (soon?).

The T's Silver Line site says the South Boston leg "Starts December 2003." Apparently that means beginning of service (it says Dudley "Starts July 2002" so I assume it means the same thing). However, they suffered a huge schedule set back do to a glacial erratic boulder in the Fort Point Channel. And I haven't seen or heard anything about final preparations. I would assume the goal (as with everything else in Boston lately) is to open it in time for the Convention (in August?).

It's amazing how fast things can get done in Boston when a fire is lit under everyone's ass. We should tell the powers that be that the Democratic National Convention is going to be in town every summer.

ETA: One more thing on the Silver Line: The central section, connecting Boylston and South Station is not due to be done until 2010 (unless there is a political convention that year, expect it to be ready in 2020).

[Cotuit]

By request, click to enlarge:

[paulblackgsx]

Wow, this thread is back from the grave.

[Hugo9]

Pretty cool map, just some questions:

1. Why is the Greenbush line light rail? Is that some elaborate joke or something?

2. What is 'Metrorail'? Is it commuter rail lines with the frequency of subways or something along those lines?

3. Where did the idea for this Northwest monorail come from? Has there ever been talk of such a thing?

[Cotuit]

Pretty cool map, just some questions:

1.  Why is the Greenbush line light rail?  Is that some elaborate joke or something?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pretty much! Actually, it would be good to take Greenbush out of the Commuter Rail queue to free up space for expanded service to the South Shore and the Cape.

2.  What is 'Metrorail'?  Is it commuter rail lines with the frequency of subways or something along those lines?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly. The MetroRail sections of the Commuter Rail system run on closer to subway schedules. The entire Commuter Rail (renamed MassRail) system would be electrified which would allow for better cars and shorter headways to facilitate this.

3.  Where did the idea for this Northwest monorail come from?  Has there ever been talk of such a thing?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It came from working in Burlington. Everyone there gets in their cars and drives around the area for lunch. It can take 20 minutes to go a couple of miles to McDonalds. And there are so many workers there, but the residential areas a stones throw away are completely inaccesible. The monorail would allow people to commute to that area outside their cars. The area would also be encouraged to densify it's development. It would become a new city on the edge of Boston.

I don't think such a thing has ever been seriously proposed. But even a reliable shuttle bus system would be better than what the area is like now. The probelm is all the land is private, and none of the businesses are willing to work together on an effective transit system. Even having busstops on the Burlington Mall's property nearly took an act of god.

[BostonFaker]

I made a fantasy map of what the T could look like with some expansion projects, bit proposed and out of my own head.

T Fantasy Map

It's a pretty big file so it loads a bit slow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Still have that Fantasy Map?.............

My bad...I got ahead of myself/thread.

Your map is starting to make me think of London's Underground.

[Cotuit]

I'm working on one for Providence now.