Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller issued this statement in an email to residents today in reaction to the MBTA’s “Better Bus Service” proposal.
“We’re pushing back on the MBTA proposed “Better Bus Project” that it says will improve bus service through Newton. I have deep concerns that rather than improving bus service in our City, this plan actually cuts service.
“I’ve expressed my concerns and those of our transportation staff to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak, and I’m working hard for changes to the four proposals for Newton that would impact seven routes. We will continue to press the MBTA and share in detail our specific concerns.
“The MBTA is holding a series of public meetings and we’re working to host one here in Newton so all of us can learn more about the proposal and express our concerns. That meeting is not yet on the calendar, but there is one scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 12 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Watertown Free Public Library, 123 Main Street. “
The #59 & #52 need to run until 10 or 11 pm and more frequently for them to make an impact on traffic. Most jobs along Needham St don’t end at 6 pm. And kids at South can’t take the #52 to evening events – like theater, band, ligerbots, etc.
I didn’t see any mention of extending the hours for either bus.
Mayor Fuller is absolutely right about the detrimental impact of the “Better Bus Project” on the people of Newton. All our elected officials at the local, state and even Federal levels should support her efforts. The Newton resident who serves as Secretary of Transportation should be held accountable for this effort being done by one of her agencies.
Newton has been in danger of losing some of these routes entirely because of low ridership, so it’s hard to understand why the Mayor would not support efforts to have the buses serve more riders more frequently and efficiently. I’d like to hear the Mayor’s specific concerns, because with a few small exceptions, the Better Bus proposals seemed well-justified and were not cuts at all.
Can anybody point me in the direction of a survey of how people employed by our city government get to and from work?
MBTA bus map and proposal details.
To make it easy to understand all of the bus proposals affecting Newton, I created an HTML page with links to maps of current routes and links to all proposals for changes.
https://web.northeastern.edu/rasala/MBTA/
From the data on this site, I can understand Mayor Fuller’s concerns.
Some routes are shifted, some routes have sections lopped off, some terminations are changed.
For the express routes through Newton Corner (501 to 504) riders may be forced to cross the Newton Corner traffic circle on foot since for at least one direction of travel these buses will no longer go around the entire traffic circle. This is a serious safety issue.
This is just one example of issues.
The Mayor is correct to oppose these changes because the routes that it would cut serve elderly and low-income people who are transit dependent and will not be able to get to jobs or services without the cut services. For instance, the cuts in 59 would leave a nursing home that depends on low-income staff and an elderly housing project with significant less service . Check out the chart in report that identifies 62 per cent of the ridership as transit dependent. The Mayor is doing her job on this issue. I’d like see other official join her in this effort.
Wouldn’t the staff be able to walk to Needham St. to catch the #59? The MBTA says ‘up to a 10 min walk’ from the changes, is this wrong?
It seems to me there would be a benefit from having a consistent route for the #59.
Richard, thanks for the references to the routes. Unfortunately your site references none of the data. Consolidating routes will mean more frequent and reliable service. Would we rather have two different routes, neither one frequent enough to be useful, or one route where the vast majority of the riders are?
I agree with Richard. Adam: why would officials or residents in Newton possibly support these proposed changes to two frequent express bus routes between downtown Boston and Watertown — that would completely miss the two big, busy bus stops in Newton Corner? Yes, we could shave a few minutes off the route between Boston and Watertown, but at what cost to Newton? Watertown wins (quicker trip); Newton loses (drastic service cuts).
Yesterday I posted a link to a site with information about the MBTA proposals and Newton:
https://web.northeastern.edu/rasala/MBTA/
In a comment, Adam suggested adding links to the MBTA data. Specifically, I have added a section on MBTA General Information that includes:
MBTA System Map
MBTA link to search for bus schedules and maps
MBTA Better Bus Project
MBTA State of the Bus System 2018 [56 pages]
MBTA Better Bus Project Market Analysis 2018 [44 pages]
MBTA Better Bus Project Proposals [47 proposals for 63 routes linked by route number ]
Assorted other ways to view all proposals
It is my intention to enable people of Newton to really understand the proposals.
I certainly have opinions about the proposals but the web site is free of any personal opinions.
Al, Newton riders don’t have to wait as long for the bus to get to make the loop, go to Watertown, turn around and pick them up. The route runs more efficiently, which benefits everyone. The buses still make the loop, but only in one direction, which is what often happens today anyway. I’m also concerned about just how many people are going to have to walk across the Circle (important data missing from the analysis) but there are pros and cons to the proposed change. The ideal would be for the 502/504 to skip the loop outbound in the AM and inbound PM.