Boston -seems- to be getting a little better, traffic wise. A few years ago the SE Expressway (Rt. 3) was rated in the top five (maybe even # 2 , I forget) of the worst rush hour bottleneck spots in the whole US of A. Since I don't work in Boston anymore I can't say it's still like that now, but some people say the SE "Expressway" traffic is worse now than at the height of the Big Dig. Go figure. Ride a bike :)
I was in Boston last year for the first time, and as a BRT convert (after riding the TransMilenio in Bogota) I was looking forward to seeing the Silver line. I rode it into town from the airport. The underground part was great. I think the idea of integrating bus, regular or BRT, with subway is wonderful.. I hope other places will continue to explore it. (Seattle has a bus tunnel). But unfortunately the service did no seem very frequent.
I was most disappointed by the above-ground part. It seems inconsistent overall in identity (visual cues), and in places is painfully slow. I was expecting a station at the airport with level-boarding platform, multi-door loading, and frequency (I waited about 15 mins at peak hrs). The transition into the tube system was also very round-about and slow. Later I was shocked to see Silver line buses in mixed traffic lanes in downtown (near the Commons). The surface part is more bus than BRT.
The silver line you saw downtown was silver line washington st. Its pretty much a bus with a dedicated bus lane that isn't really dedicated. Everyone else uses it anyway. I've used SL washington st. and it is very similar to the other MBTA busses. The silver line waterfront has its own bus tunnel however, and I believe that in the ted williams tunnel it uses its own lane too. The transition at SL way is slow because the bus has to raise/lower its trolley poles to change from electric/diesel.
i live in south boston and its not the best place but the houses are small and good to live in if u have max a family of 3 people but i love living here because u always got busses comin and if not busses take a bike (i dont have a car cuz i dont need it!) and the cost is not that much at all! Boston is a great place!
I took a ride on the Silver Line days after it opened: "Stunning! O__O That's the Best Tunnel Design I have ever seen!" Great Video! Thank you so much for posting. By the way...I have lived in Boston all my life. Thanks for sharing your view of this to the world! ^__^ Kudos!
Why do they call this a line it's a fucking bus!!!
skeatel 7 months ago
this seems stupid..why not rail?
mpcnovice 1 year ago
@mpcnovice
1) rail is expensive especially after the cost of the big dig
2) don't need to make a new infrastructure can just use roads already built
3) Bus is cheap, all they had to do was make the tunnel and create dedicated lanes
GDon141 1 year ago
@GDon141 use fuel-cell powered buses? you cant die from breathing the exhaust comin out of it...
GordonFreemanD40 1 month ago
Boston -seems- to be getting a little better, traffic wise. A few years ago the SE Expressway (Rt. 3) was rated in the top five (maybe even # 2 , I forget) of the worst rush hour bottleneck spots in the whole US of A. Since I don't work in Boston anymore I can't say it's still like that now, but some people say the SE "Expressway" traffic is worse now than at the height of the Big Dig. Go figure. Ride a bike :)
danjf1 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I was in Boston last year for the first time, and as a BRT convert (after riding the TransMilenio in Bogota) I was looking forward to seeing the Silver line. I rode it into town from the airport. The underground part was great. I think the idea of integrating bus, regular or BRT, with subway is wonderful.. I hope other places will continue to explore it. (Seattle has a bus tunnel). But unfortunately the service did no seem very frequent.
raynekoest 2 years ago
I was most disappointed by the above-ground part. It seems inconsistent overall in identity (visual cues), and in places is painfully slow. I was expecting a station at the airport with level-boarding platform, multi-door loading, and frequency (I waited about 15 mins at peak hrs). The transition into the tube system was also very round-about and slow. Later I was shocked to see Silver line buses in mixed traffic lanes in downtown (near the Commons). The surface part is more bus than BRT.
raynekoest 2 years ago
The silver line you saw downtown was silver line washington st. Its pretty much a bus with a dedicated bus lane that isn't really dedicated. Everyone else uses it anyway. I've used SL washington st. and it is very similar to the other MBTA busses. The silver line waterfront has its own bus tunnel however, and I believe that in the ted williams tunnel it uses its own lane too. The transition at SL way is slow because the bus has to raise/lower its trolley poles to change from electric/diesel.
TNT314159 2 years ago
Comment removed
raynekoest 2 years ago
Comment removed
raynekoest 2 years ago
is this like a bus subway?
jamin108 2 years ago
YEA! cool right?
werzoid 2 years ago
i guess
jamin108 2 years ago
Long live trolleybuses!!! We need more of them in Canada.
Selfcreative 3 years ago
Why did they replace the train with a bus?
I have visited Boston twice, this past Monday being the most recent. I like it.
What are some good places to live and rent an apartment? How expensive is auto insurance?
adelgado75 3 years ago
they didn't replace any trains with buses, the bus tunnel is a completely new line
jdgator95 2 years ago
i live in south boston and its not the best place but the houses are small and good to live in if u have max a family of 3 people but i love living here because u always got busses comin and if not busses take a bike (i dont have a car cuz i dont need it!) and the cost is not that much at all! Boston is a great place!
werzoid 2 years ago 4
I took a ride on the Silver Line days after it opened: "Stunning! O__O That's the Best Tunnel Design I have ever seen!" Great Video! Thank you so much for posting. By the way...I have lived in Boston all my life. Thanks for sharing your view of this to the world! ^__^ Kudos!
Modeltrainguy 3 years ago
Boston's BUBWAY' bus-subway! It must be hard to keep the bus straight in that narrow tunnel at high speeds.
SPS148669 3 years ago
Don't you know it :P
34chan 3 years ago
thanks for posting this video awesome
sieman700 3 years ago
thanks for posting this video awesome
sieman700 3 years ago 2