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Letter

City, MBTA have made improved transit times a priority

  February 02, 2013

Contrary to “Quick fixes for MBTA buses: Let buses trip green lights” (Editorial, Jan. 26), the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the City of Boston have been working together to improve transit travel times on Boston’s streets. In fact, improving transit times has been a priority and has contributed to increased T ridership.

To say that the city “balked” at pursuing bus-priority signalization is incorrect. For example, bus priority is a component of a traffic signal modernization project along Blue Hill Avenue and Warren Street. Bus Route 28 runs here, and service will be improved when the project is completed.

Comments

I hope that this is true, and I hope that some street-level Green Line branches--the Boston College branch, with its frequent eternal stoplights comes to mind--will be included.  However, if there is now cooperation on this matter between the MBTA and the City of Boston, it represents a change from previous practice.  For many years, inquiries with the MBTA and BTD--on the rare occasions I could reach anyone to talk with--accused the City or the T, depending on which side I talked with, of refusing to cooperate.  Then, 3 or 4 years ago, I received a message from an Assistant General Manager at MBTA telling me that they were working on traffic signal coordination on the BC line, and that I soon would see some positive change on that sorry route.  Since then, nothing has happened.  Also, the Globe editorial mentioned that such stoplight coordination, a sine qua non of so-called Bus Rapid Transit on streets, was, per MBTA publicity, supposed to have been an integral part of the Silver Line from the outset.  We have yet to see it.  Again, I hope that it is true that the City anad the T are working together to effect transit-linked traffic signal coordination, but I'll need some concrete evidence in the form of results to believe it to be true.  The Silver LIne on Washington Street is a good place to start, since there was a pledge from the T.  Until I see some substantial results, I'll have to side with the Globe on this one.