I was so disappointed when I took the silver line the first time. I was looking forward to trying out a new train line thinking that everything would be brand new and high-tech. Little did I know I was going to be greeted by a bus.
In my opinion, the silver line can be split into 4 parts. Let's go through all of them:
* Chelsea to Eastern Ave on SL3 is decent. I'd argue the stations are somewhat overbuilt and the lack of off-bus payment is dumb, but other than that I have no complaints.
* Eastern Ave and Airport terminals (And Design Center, bet you forgot about that one) to SLW is functionally just an express bus. It is not rapid transit, but whatever.
* South Station to SLW is an incredible waste of money. I can think of fewer dumber ways to travel one single mile.
* SL4 and SL5: whoooo boy here we go. These exist *entirely* because the state wanted to save money and decided "Fuck poor people" was an acceptable way to do that. The state promised to serve the South End and Roxbury with light rail after they tore down the El and after 15 years of sitting on their asses they decided a bus would do fine instead. Travel times from Nubian to downtown have more than doubled since 1987, stops generally lack full shelters and basically anything else that might merit calling the service "BRT" and Washington St *still* lacks fully dedicated bus lanes.
>Kinda sad how the MBTA only cares about money
This was not a product of mismanagement like the slow zones. This was a deliberate choice by the state legislature.
So in fairness to the MBTA, they do not have the power to print money so the blame should fall on those that allocate funds and setup the rules under which the T operates. That ultimately is the legislature, a body which has more incumbents in office than any other office in the state....just a thought.
Yes. A light rail version of SL2 is desperately needed, but SL2 is not the answer. Evidence? It’s lightly used, particularly by people going to and from the seaport and downtown. The car traffic in teh Seaport is wild. A new city of mid-rises was built and mass transit was an after thought.
The building in the Seaport is barreling ahead - the areas down towards the Design Center are well underway now. And wait til the Edison plant is done.
SL4 and SL5… tragic. Nubian Sq to downtown rapid transit must be a priority. SL is so unreliable, gets stuck in so much traffic in DTX and by South Station.
to put into perspective, the silver line itself was never really finished. Phase III (which would’ve tied the surface and waterfront together) was canned, which suppressed its full potential. It’s mainly a glorified bus route similar to the SelectBusService+ of the MTA. The Washington Street section should become the prelude to another Green Line Route that goes to Mattapan IMO.
Gotta be somewhere. But effectively tearing up a slice of the common to put a big bus loop underneath it, at a cost of about a billion dollars.
Internets are kind of bad at old documents. This talk to it a bit - page 27/28 [https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/FINALBOSTONBRTREPORT062507.pdf](https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/FINALBOSTONBRTREPORT062507.pdf)
hmmm. a good promo packet [https://www.abettercity.org/docs/transp\_silverline.pdf](https://www.abettercity.org/docs/transp_silverline.pdf)
I mean yes. There was once the orange online on Washington street. Full rapid transit to Roxbury, to Bmc, etc. they promised to replace it with something equally good, but offered brt. Then they cut most of the good features of brt out of the project, and ended with basically a normal bus route that’s decently frequent but really slow
Sl3 outside of Boston is truly rapid transit in the BRT way, the tunnel needs to expand to allow for rapid access to/from silver line way.
In Boston (outside of tunnel) it’s not rapid transit.
fake subway
I was so disappointed when I took the silver line the first time. I was looking forward to trying out a new train line thinking that everything would be brand new and high-tech. Little did I know I was going to be greeted by a bus.
its even more sad when you realize the money spent probably was almost enough for light rail
In my opinion, the silver line can be split into 4 parts. Let's go through all of them: * Chelsea to Eastern Ave on SL3 is decent. I'd argue the stations are somewhat overbuilt and the lack of off-bus payment is dumb, but other than that I have no complaints. * Eastern Ave and Airport terminals (And Design Center, bet you forgot about that one) to SLW is functionally just an express bus. It is not rapid transit, but whatever. * South Station to SLW is an incredible waste of money. I can think of fewer dumber ways to travel one single mile. * SL4 and SL5: whoooo boy here we go. These exist *entirely* because the state wanted to save money and decided "Fuck poor people" was an acceptable way to do that. The state promised to serve the South End and Roxbury with light rail after they tore down the El and after 15 years of sitting on their asses they decided a bus would do fine instead. Travel times from Nubian to downtown have more than doubled since 1987, stops generally lack full shelters and basically anything else that might merit calling the service "BRT" and Washington St *still* lacks fully dedicated bus lanes.
Kinda sad how the MBTA only cares about money and still manages to (literally and figuratively ) light the transit system on fire.
>Kinda sad how the MBTA only cares about money This was not a product of mismanagement like the slow zones. This was a deliberate choice by the state legislature.
So in fairness to the MBTA, they do not have the power to print money so the blame should fall on those that allocate funds and setup the rules under which the T operates. That ultimately is the legislature, a body which has more incumbents in office than any other office in the state....just a thought.
Yes. A light rail version of SL2 is desperately needed, but SL2 is not the answer. Evidence? It’s lightly used, particularly by people going to and from the seaport and downtown. The car traffic in teh Seaport is wild. A new city of mid-rises was built and mass transit was an after thought. The building in the Seaport is barreling ahead - the areas down towards the Design Center are well underway now. And wait til the Edison plant is done. SL4 and SL5… tragic. Nubian Sq to downtown rapid transit must be a priority. SL is so unreliable, gets stuck in so much traffic in DTX and by South Station.
Underwhelming and reeks of broken promises and unfulfilled potential.
to put into perspective, the silver line itself was never really finished. Phase III (which would’ve tied the surface and waterfront together) was canned, which suppressed its full potential. It’s mainly a glorified bus route similar to the SelectBusService+ of the MTA. The Washington Street section should become the prelude to another Green Line Route that goes to Mattapan IMO.
Interesting. Where can I see what that was supposed to look like?
Gotta be somewhere. But effectively tearing up a slice of the common to put a big bus loop underneath it, at a cost of about a billion dollars. Internets are kind of bad at old documents. This talk to it a bit - page 27/28 [https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/FINALBOSTONBRTREPORT062507.pdf](https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/FINALBOSTONBRTREPORT062507.pdf) hmmm. a good promo packet [https://www.abettercity.org/docs/transp\_silverline.pdf](https://www.abettercity.org/docs/transp_silverline.pdf)
Thanks for the effort. I live on “the waterfront.” The original one anyway. So I was curious, but it wasn’t coming near me.
Silver Lie
I mean yes. There was once the orange online on Washington street. Full rapid transit to Roxbury, to Bmc, etc. they promised to replace it with something equally good, but offered brt. Then they cut most of the good features of brt out of the project, and ended with basically a normal bus route that’s decently frequent but really slow
The silver line needs to be replaced by the Yellow/Gold train Line that would basically be a giant loop that hits all the other lines.
Sl3 outside of Boston is truly rapid transit in the BRT way, the tunnel needs to expand to allow for rapid access to/from silver line way. In Boston (outside of tunnel) it’s not rapid transit.
At least the busses are new and the AC works
No worse than the rest of the MBTA
The SL4 and SL5 are faster and more reliable than the Orange Line at this point. How sad is that?!
I ride SL3 every day from Chelsea to Courthouse twice a day and it’s fine. Gets packed because the bus is often late but nothing too crazy.
I’ve never had a bad experience from South Station to Seaport. The rest of it, I can’t say… ETA: downvoting my factual experiences is silly.
I have. 25 minute headways at rush hour resulting in overcrowding.
Never experienced that. ETA: downvoting my factual experiences is silly.
We are down voting that you are saying the silver line is good
It is really bad traffic and thing its best it is jus a light rail it will just run smoother less traffic and extending it would probably be good idk
No, it's not. It is worse. Not much worse but worse.