Newton Mayor Setti Warren and his staff unveiled plans before the City Council on Monday to nearly triple city spending to repair Newton’s roads as well as the highlights of his transportation strategy.
The TAB’s story about road work can be found here and a Globe story here.
And here’s the power point presentation featuring highlights of the transportation strategy, including a commitment to bike sharing within 18 months and partnering with one or more private shuttle bus providers
UPDATE: Here’s the TAB’s story about the transportation plan.
What’s missing from the transportation strategy? What’s the single most effective thing we can do to alleviate traffic with far more impact than bike shares or private shuttles? (Hint: has to do with our youngest residents)
@Adam:
A maze of tunnels leading to all our elementary schools?
100% home schooling?
Teleporting?
Full day and full night kindergarten?
It was part of the initial presentation. Where did it go?
I assume Adam may be referring to eliminating school bus fees.
BTW, there’s also an article in the Globe
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/18/newton-emphasizes-new-transportation-priorities-with-capital-improvement-plan/MYwaaT1ER0aQtu04haAR4O/story.html
Darn! I liked my ideas better. But that makes sense. And thanks for pointing out the Globe report.
@Greg Reibman – All excellent ideas.
I know! Certainly there are days/weeks when I wished full day/full night K would have been an option for my family.
It’s very Village 14ish that a tread announcing a timetable for bike sharing has been hijacked into a different discussion ….not that there’s anything wrong with discussing school bus fees.
But isn’t anyone excited by the idea that this could finally be coming? Or even perhaps frighted that more bikes may be coming to our streets, given how many drivers and bikers seem unfamiliar with the rules of the road?
We need to think creatively about how to get more kids on the bus. Yes Greg, as @mgwa points out, we currently have disincentives to taking shared transportation to school. Our schools have no policy in place that suggests we should seek to encourage bus ridership. The car always wins, and there’s a lot of school traffic in concentrated areas at rush hour. How is that not one of the top issues in the transportation study?
We’re about to have a discussion on HS start times which will likely have a large impact on transportation. How will that factor into the discussion? What choices will be made in the absence of a transportation policy?
School design and siting is mentioned in the report, but that’s a bit too little too late. Encouraging walking and biking is also mentioned (Safe Routes), but only under the heading of reducing crashes (makes little sense to me) It’s unpopular to say this, but we actually need disincentives to drive to school. Drop-offs should happen blocks away, not at the front door. Walking and bicycling should be the preferred mode of transportation. It impacts everyone.
Greg, I think school transportation is very much on topic. The story is clearly about the city’s new transportation plan. I was talking about the elephant in the room. Bike shares are wonderful, but they won’t have nearly enough impact to offset the commuting habits of our students and families. Perhaps the best thing to come out of bike shares would be more pressure to deliver improved infrastructure, like protected bike lanes.
A school transportation survey of NPS families in 2015 conservatively estimates that we have at least 10,000 vehicle trips a day in the city related to kids getting to and from school. Anyone living near one of our 21 schools or trying to drive down Parker during the morning can tell you this volume of vehicles has a significant impact on our city’s roads. School transportation is a significant factor. Then add in the reduced possibility that parents will use non vehicle
Transportation to work and other if they need to drive their child to school.
Did that survey or any other study measure how many fewer trips would be realized without bus fees?
Will this add to Newton’s projected $59 million deficit that it seems Mayor Warren is working hard to build for the next administration?
(http://newton.wickedlocal.com/news/20161018/retirement-liabilities-loom-large-in-newtons-long-term-financial-forecast.)
This is a terrific idea. I wish State/Feds had pursued public transportation/ bicycling strategy instead of adding yet another lane to clogged 128.
In Auburndale, at the intersection of Comm Ave & Lexington St, they appear to be narrowing the roads, rather than widening them for bike lanes. What’s up with that? Traffic through there has been a nightmare for the last few months! It will only get worse when the drive-thru Starbucks goes in!
This is great I’m pumped about this!
What drive thru Starbucks? Doesn’t Newton has an ordinance against more drive-thrus?
Greg –
As it relates to survey data on buses, there is a great deal of data that we gathered.
While fees aren’t popular, almost as many parents are uncertain if their student qualifies for a bus than are upset about the fee. That is something we should resolve.
Of those parents that identified that their children qualified for the bus but do not take it, this is what we heard (we let them pick 3 reasons)
40% of students aren’t on the bus because they don’t want to take it (cool factor?)
18% think the ride is too long (for some it is really too long)
28% think the bus comes too early (the buses have to allow EXTRA travel time because of all the parents driving to school that slow things down)
32% think the fee is too high (while I think this is a matter of equity and we should really not charge as people can’t help where they live, most people spend more than $2 dollars a day – the cost of the bus – in gas, vehicle maintenance and car depreciation driving their child back and forth to school)
It is time for a through, professional review of school busing in Newton, one that looks not only at the direct cost of busing but the cost of parents driving children that should be on the bus.
@Alicia: Thanks for sharing. It does seem that you have data, but it also seems that the data does not tell us how many parents would not drive their kids to school if there were no bus fees.
I heard there is a drive-thru Starbucks going in where the gas station was at the corner of Lexington St and Comm Ave, across from Wolcott St? Perhaps the drive-thru part is incorrect? I could be mistaken.
It would be nice if the mayor considered free parking near public transportation stations as a way to reduce regional traffic. I take the express bus into downtown Boston from Newton Corner and most of the parking is restricted. Which means I often have to add the cost of a parking ticket to my commute cost.
@Ann: Where is the space for all this free parking supposed to come from? Who maintains this free parking? Are you ready to support an override to purchase land and maintain these parking lots?
Greg – I think I did answer the questions. 40% answered their kids are not on the bus because they do not want to be. Most put his as their #1 answer and many of those that was the only answer. Make the bus free but if you don’t do something to make it more convenient and cool for the students, ridership is not going to rise much. Look at the schedule. We have some of these high school buses that are 40 plus minutes. Add to that the student may be walking 15 + minutes to get to the bus and you always add a buffer. So all in all the commute is an hour and these are kids that live in Newton. OR your mom or dad could drive you to school and it will take 15 minutes tops. Which would you choose?
There used to be long-term meters in the lot and on street parking near the bus way back. These were slowly taken away. There does seem to still be long term parking on Washington St. east of Craft. We could also designate some 12 hour meters around. I would also look on an app like SPOT where people sell spots in their driveway . A win-win for all.
@Greg. No need to create new parking – there are plenty of spaces along Eldredge, Elmwood, and Baldwin Streets in Newton Corner. It’s just that they are restricted, i.e.: you will get ticketed there for parking after 4.00pm or for more than 3 hours. Doesn’t it make sense to encourage people to use public transportation by making it easier/cheaper to park near the train and bus lines?
Parking in that area is also needed for the schools; if commuters park there — all day — then that resource is not available to others. Commuters driving to Newton Corner (and searching for spaces) still causes congestion. Better still to provide connecting services so they can leave their cars at home. It’s also possible to pick up some of the express buses along Washington Street where there’s ample parking.
@Ann, there is usually always parking in the Richardson Street lot (behind the Elks building). It is not free but it is very reasonably priced. There is limited free parking along church street between Park St & Eldredge St. The parking on the other nearby streets you mention is restricted because we don’t want commuters to park there all day. Those spaces are primarily for Underwood School teachers and staff. Newton Corner is a congested area and parking is at a premium.
Kids are not on the bus because they don’t want to be? Who’s in charge, the kids or the parents?
How likely is it that kids who get driven to school will grow up to be adults who take public transport to work?
If taking the bus turns a 15 minute trip into a 1 hour trip, I certainly understand not wanting to take the bus and the parents preferring to drive rather than have to get the household up 45 minutes earlier. Why do students have to walk so far to bus stops?
The late bus leaves from the Brown/South area and goes to Newton Center and then up to BC and back and then to the Highlands. My kid spends an hour on the bus but doesn’t have a choice since both parents work. He knows that is his only option.
High School bus – my kid leaves the house at 6:55 AM to catch the bus – arrives 20 minutes early. 6:55 AM is too early for a high school kid.
And then on J block days the day ends at 3:20 PM but his bus shows up at 4 PM! He gets home at 4:30! He has no other option. If I didn’t work, I would have him walk two blocks away from the school and pick him up at 3:30 and he would be home before the bus gets to south. We have charged parents $$$$ to take the bus, and he cools his heals for 40 minutes. We spend so much time waiting for the bus. And I pay for having my kids wait and wait and wait.
I do believe in mass transit (we bought a house near the green line and when we do go to Boston we never drive). But it is very hard for families to have $360 and still have your kid wait more than 15 minutes, three times a week.