How to fix the MBTA

The T is great if you're a tourist, but many local riders are shortchanged

by Robert David Sullivan

One of the city's top jazz clubs, Scullers, is completely surrounded by highways.

One good thing about the recent hike in subway fares is that it's helping to erase the myth that Boston has a great public-transportation system. The next time a friend visits me from out of town, and we try to board a Green Line car with a bunch of BU undergrads planted near the doors (it helps to pretend that you're wielding a machete), I'll no longer be tempted to ask, "Not bad for 85 cents, huh?" Things are so much simpler now that I can say, "Yes, the T is slow and the stations are smelly, and don't forget that it's expensive, too, and it only goes to places that are overrun with students and tourists. Now where did you say that you're parked?"

By contrast, I recently visited Washington, DC, where the basic fare is only a dime above the MBTA's $1 rate. Washington, which is slightly smaller than Boston, has a clean, efficient subway system with service to almost every neighborhood in the city. True, the stations are ugly and impossible to tell apart (all of them arched with the same waffled walls), but otherwise the DC Metro has it all over the T. It even runs until 2 a.m. on weekends, which is more than an hour after the last trains are tucked in for the night in Boston.

E-Z Buses In the long run, Boston needs more rail service. Some of the more ambitious proposals include extending the Blue Line to Lynn, pushing Green Line service past Lechmere and toward Somerville, and converting the future Silver Line bus route into a light-rail line. All could help ease the downtown housing shortage by making outer neighborhoods more attractive. But in the short run, any improvement to public transportation is likely to come in the form of buses. Fortunately, a few innovations could make this asphalt-dependent form of mass transit almost as good as the real thing. Limited 24-hour service. At this point, there probably isn't enough demand to justify the cost of running subway trains all night long, even on weekends. But it seems reasonable to provide 24-hour bus service along some of the most heavily traveled routes. The #1 bus (along Mass Ave) and the #39 (which parallels the Green Line's E branch, but runs farther) are obvious candidates. Taxi stands near the bus terminals could get some riders the rest of the way home, with fares that don't cover a scenic tour along Storrow Drive. Better bus maps. Given how difficult it is to construct new rail lines, it's obvious that improved T service must involve more buses. But there are already about 150 bus routes in town, making it terribly confusing to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. One helpful tool would be a map of the dozen or so most frequently traveled bus lines, including the cross-town routes that approximate the long-awaited Urban Ring. If this map were displayed in all subway stations, riders would be less intimidated about making the leap to aboveground travel. More bus-only lanes. "Rapid" transit has to be faster than car travel, or it will never attract enough riders to ease traffic congestion. Buses that get stuck behind Volkswagens and SUVs are obviously not going to win many converts. The upcoming Silver Line, which will debut in a dedicated bus lane along Washington Street, will be a key test of the T's ability to develop surface transportation that isn't stymied by Boston's notoriously aggressive drivers. Technology may help in the future. It seems logical that the "E-Z Pass" system used by the Mass Pike, which allows only cars equipped with the electronic pass to zip past tollbooths, could be used to keep cars out of bus lanes. To further ease the bus-traffic flow, bus stops could be cut into the sidewalks of particularly congested streets. And if a hefty fine isn't enough to dissuade motorists, perhaps a few well-placed rows of retractable steel spikes will do the trick. -- Robert David Sullivan

Residents in poor neighborhoods have been complaining for years about the T, and they're finally getting some moral support from our more affluent citizens -- who, coincidentally, are trying to avoid downtown real-estate prices by moving to these same poor neighborhoods. It can be a nasty surprise to give up a South End apartment for a fixer-upper in Dorchester, only to realize that your budget has to include a car and a commuter-rail pass (assuming your workplace doesn't provide parking).

There's something odd about the fact that Chelsea, Roslindale, and Uphams Corner, not exactly the kinds of places associated with John Updike novels, have commuter-rail service, with non-rush-hour trains to North or South Station at least 50 minutes apart. Meanwhile, tony Newton Highlands, which is further from downtown than any of the neighborhoods mentioned above, gets Green Line trains that depart every 10 minutes until after midnight, bringing people straight to Boston Common. And there are other disparities. If you live in Roslindale, it costs $5 for a round-trip commuter-rail ticket, and the last train home on weekdays is at 10:30 p.m. (afterward, you can try your luck with a bus from Forest Hills). If you're a resident of Newton Highlands, it costs $3.50 for a round-trip commute, and the last train home is at 12:45 a.m.

Yet we've become resigned to an inadequate public-transit system, even as we talk about building a new baseball park for the Red Sox, a massive convention center, and entire new neighborhoods, all in areas without train service (such as the South Boston waterfront) or with subway lines that are already overburdened (such as the Fenway). To be fair, the T is fine for certain groups of people. If you're a tourist who doesn't want to stray far from downtown, you'll never need a cab. You may end up thinking the city is a lot bigger than it actually is -- especially if you follow the official MBTA map too literally and take the Green Line to the Orange Line to travel the two blocks from Copley Square to Back Bay Station. And if you live in the suburbs and work downtown, the commuter rail can work out nicely, as long as you never want to hang around the city after work.

But unfortunately, the T comes up short for people who want to ditch their cars and return to urban life. Part of the trouble is that many neighborhoods within three miles of Boston Common -- Chelsea and Everett to the north, Union Square and central Somerville to the west, and a large chunk of Dorchester to the south -- have no subway or trolley service at all. Still mostly working-class, these areas have bus lines so that people can get to their jobs downtown, but the trip is enough of a hassle to discourage them from coming in on nights and weekends.

The Red Line stop in Somerville's Davis Square has shown how a fast-rail link to downtown Boston can revitalize a neighborhood and connect it to the city's cultural scene. A drawback to this transformation, as Davis Square residents and businesses can attest, is higher property values and the unwanted attention of chain stores. Still, these effects have been exaggerated by the scarcity of T stops elsewhere. If neighborhoods with efficient public transportation became more common, the T's effect on property values would still be significant, but not quite as dramatic.

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I don't have a car myself, and when I visit people in suburbia, I can't help but brag about saving money on gas, insurance, and the like. I still claim that I don't need a car, but lately I've been getting a bit defensive about it, causing people to edge away from me at parties -- which can be a problem when I need to find a ride home.

The truth is, I yearn for wheels on an almost daily basis. This isn't because I'd like to drive to Vermont for the weekend, or fill my trunk with toilet tissue from BJ's Wholesale Club. I want a car because I'd like to get a club sandwich for less than $10. You see, I live in the South End, which has restaurants with $25 entrées on just about every block. But except for a couple of lunchtime places, there are no diners or coffee shops within walking distance, presumably because the high rents for properties so close to the Orange Line make such businesses impossible. I could try to make my way over to the Victoria Diner, a mere 14 blocks away, but it's not accessible by subway or bus -- and because it's surrounded by highways, a huge shopping center, and a dangerously deserted stretch of Mass Ave, it's not easily reached by foot, either.

Actually, almost all the good diners in the Boston area -- including Kelly's in Somerville, Henry's in North Brighton, and the Pig 'n' Whistle in Brighton -- are nowhere near a subway stop or frequent bus line. Even the International House of Pancakes has lost its carless clientele: its Kenmore Square site was recently closed as part of a plan to spruce up the neighborhood with luxury condos. Now, anyone with a yen for chocolate-chip pancakes has to drive out to Soldiers Field Road.

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