PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Wednesday, April 9, 2014 @ 7:00 PM MINUTES Room 408, 4Th Floor Brookline Town Hall 333 Washington Street

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Wednesday, April 9, 2014 @ 7:00 PM MINUTES Room 408, 4th floor Brookline Town Hall 333 Washington Street

7:00 PM CALL TO ORDER

PTAC members present (all): Sherry Flashman, Deborah Dong, Abby Swaine Transportation Board liaison present: Scott Englander MBTA planner present: Linda Lally

7:00 PM APPOINTMENT OF NOTE TAKER Sherry Flashman

7:00 PM APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES FROM FEBRUARY 25, 2014 Approved

7:05 PM PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA No comments

7:15 PM LEARN FROM TOM NALLY OF A BETTER CITY ABOUT A STUDY GROUP ESTABLISHED BY THE BARR FOUNDATION TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF BUS RAPID TRANSIT SERVICE IN METRO BOSTON

Tom Nally, Planning Director for A Better City (ABC), member of the Brookline Economic Advisory Board, and co-chair of the Urban Ring Citizen Advisory Committee, reported on the activities of the Boston Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Study Group funded by the Barr Foundation. He distributed a packet of maps explaining what BRT is and several transit corridors in Boston and neighboring communities where the group has been analyzing the potential for introducing high level BRT service to improve transit options. BRT has had more success in cities in developing countries, including Mexico City and Bogota, Columbia, as well as Cleveland OH in the States. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy has been seeking to promote a “gold” standard for BRT in the US, and posited that Boston might be the place to model it. To help test this possibility, Tom is gathering feedback from a number of Boston metro area communities and a range of stakeholders. BRT is characterized by: high-capacity vehicles, a center dedicated lane, platform-level boarding, enclosed stations and off-bus fare collection –all to reduce travel time for riders. BRT systems have improved frequency, travel speeds and overall quality of service on existing bus routes as well as providing new, high-quality links for underserved communities.

Most of the Corridors analyzed by the local BRT Study Group have been rejected because existing road and built environment conditions would not accommodate the needed center bus lane, no left turn and other right of way requirements without drastic reductions in existing car lanes that would not be politically acceptable. One Corridor (2) still under consideration runs from Dudley Square, Roxbury to Harvard Square, Cambridge, which would overlap with some sections of with Brookline bus service #60 and #66 and require major modifications of Harvard Street. Another (7) would run from the Longwood area to Union Square in Allston via Huntington, Longwood, Brookline Ave and Park Drive/Mountfort/Comm Ave or simply Comm Ave. Mr. Nally acknowledged the extreme difficulties involved in substantially modifying car, bus, bike, pedestrian and other accommodations on these busy streets. At present, a combination of Corridors 7 and 5 (which does not run through Brookline) might be the most viable, allowing a one-seat ride between Dudley and Harvard SQs, and mimic most closely the aims of the Urban Ring.

In Urban metro Boston, it is difficult to find a long enough stretch of street on desired travel paths to enable the “rapid” in BRT. Currently, the Silver Line is Boston’s only example of the costs & benefits of BRT, although it does not meet the minimum criteria comprising the standard being considered by the study group. BRT is more popular in spread-out cities without light rail systems for commuters to use. Abby asked if Rte 9 1 might be an appropriate BRT route, enabling bus travel between the western suburbs and the Longwood Medical Area, to supplement existing shorter bus routes and light rail capacity; Mr. Nally said that demand would have to be assessed.

The Study Group is also looking at an alternative to BRT, “Enhanced Bus Service.” One possible route for EBS would run between Forest Hills, JP and LaGrange Street, W. Roxbury. That segment would overlap with the South Brookline #51 bus service, in the Boston neighborhoods. PTAC will keep abreast of any recommendations that might impact the Bus 51 service. Two other routes for EBS also being examined, including the 28X express bus service on Blue Hill Avenue in Boston and the Silver Line/Gateway Project (Fort Point Channel to Chelsea Bridge and Mystic Mall). Scott mentioned that in the past he has proposed having selected trips of the MBTA Route 66 bus service run express, stopping only at the stations along its route that connect the spokes of the Orange, Green (C, D, and E), and Red Line trains. Mr. Nally acknowledged that this might be an EBS possibility.

No further action was recommended at this stage. Mr. Nally stated that he would be glad to return to talk about the status of the Urban Ring project anytime.

7:45 PM RTE 51 MBTA BUS: DISCUSS 1) DEMOGRAPHIC AND OTHER INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE BROOKLINE PLANNING DEPT ON SOUTH BROOKLINE, AND 2) SCHEDULE FINE- TUNING AND OTHER INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE MBTA, BOTH TO INFORM A POTENTIAL PROPOSAL TO REROUTE THE RTE 51 MBTA BUS TO SERVE MORE POPULAR & POPULOUS DESTINATIONS

1) The PTAC reviewed the data provided on our request by the Brookline Planning Department to examine if rerouting the #51 bus to the west of the Putterham Golf Course from the existing Lee St/Clyde St. route would be likely to serve more potential bus riders. Comparisons of census data on housing density, income, facilities and affordable housing along the alternate route did not identify any significant differences. In terms of density, this is because South Brookline already has a lower density level across the board, and because the space occupied by the golf course and country club skews the data. However, a finer data point layer based on Town data shows that more density (more residents) could be served if the route were shifted onto Beverly Rd & Hammond St. Under this scenario, the 51 would run in Brookline from Independence Drive to Beverly Rd to LaGrange St then onto the Newton/Hammond rotary, up Hammond Street to Rte 9 and thence to Chestnut Hill Ave and Reservoir. A variation also under discussion routes the 51 from Independence to Putterham Circle, up Newton St/W.Roxbury Pkwy, to the Newton/Hammond rotary and thence onward in via the same streets. Improving bus access to Skyline part for team sports is one of the rationales for this proposed alternate route along with the relatively low boardings along the existing Lee/Clyde Street route.

Discussion acknowledged that the Beverly Rd route could face several obstacles including: potential opposition from Beverly Rd residents in light of recent reactions to other changes proposed by the Transportation Department within the past year; congestion related to Baker School drop-off and pick-ups including school related buses; and the one-way restriction on Beverly from Independence to Zanthus Rd during the winter months because of snow accumulation issues. On the other hand, the Newton St/W.Roxbury Parkway route is challenged by the lack of sidewalks along the Parkway (which is a DCR road) and few opportunities to safely cross those roads.

The PTAC will ask the Planning Department to do some further analysis of the alternative Newton/West Roxbury Parkway route and to map the population within ¼ mile of each of likely bus stop locations on the existing and the alternative proposed routes.

The Planning Dept. had queried if there is any evidence of higher demand for bus ridership from residents along the alternative west route. There is no hard data, only anecdotal interest expressed by some of those neighbors in past public meetings in South Brookline as well as sporadic inquiries to the Transportation Department and letters to the Brookline Tab newspaper.

2) Connections between the 51 and 86 Buses: Linda Lally from the MBTA Planning Department attended the meeting and brought data to show the implications on layover times and reducing “missed connections” at Reservoir if the 51 bus schedule were changed to run 5 minutes earlier or later. The focus was on running outbound 5 minutes earlier, to reduce the likelihood of a 51 rider missing her connection with the 86 bus at

2 Reservoir. (According to Ms. Lally, that would also require inbound trips to run 5 min earlier, and the consequences of this would need to be examined, although they are likely less important because the 86 runs more frequently and therefore would deposit riders at Reservoir for potential transfers more often.) After reviewing the detailed charts showing average arrival and departure times, the Committee concluded that there was a lack of sufficient data, making it impossible to determine whether these changes would be an improvement or not. Linda Lally agreed to provide raw data on individual trips as well to help PTAC determine the impact of any schedule adjustment. Scott Englander offered to take a closer look at the additional data when it is provided and bring his analysis to the next PTAC meeting for discussion.

8:30 PM FORMULATE LANGUAGE FOR THE MBTA TO USE IN ASKING THE BROOKLINE TRANSPORTATION BOARD TO APPROVE CONSTRUCTION OF AN OUTBOUND RTE 51 BUS STOP PLATFORM ON LEE ST AT DUDLEY TRIANGLE

PTAC endorses the request of some senior residents, communicated to the Board through Henry Winkelman, to add a stop on the 51 bus outbound ride on Lee Street at Dudley Triangle near the Reservoir. We have learned from the MBTA and the Town that it would be possible to add an ADA compliant sidewalk at the proposed stop with existing Transportation funds in the Town budget. The rationale is to create easier walking access between the bus stop and the Reservoir, for recreational purposes. PTAC agreed on the content of a letter requesting that Todd Kirrane seek approval from the Transportation Board to create a new stop in tat location and to make the needed sidewalk modifications, coordinating with the MBTA. The MBTA has already indicated willingness to add the stop.

8:45 PM OTHER BUSINESS  RECOMMEND THAT THE BROOKLINE TRANSPORTATION BOARD PUBLICLY SPONSOR THE BROOKLINE COMPLETE STREETS FORUM TO BE HELD JUNE 12 2014

PTAC will recommend to the Transportation Board that it co-sponsor the Complete Streets Forum that is being planned by the Green Caucus of Town Committee and BrooklineCAN on June 12th.

 PLAN FUTURE TOPICS AND WORK: MBTA FARE INCREASE PROPOSAL; BROOKLINE CAN’S AND COUNCIL ON AGING’S “AGE-FRIENDLY CITIES” AGENDA; PTAC MEMBER RECRUITMENT; UPDATE FROM MBTA ADVISORY BOARD REP RICHARD LEARY ON PLANS, OPERATIONS & BUDGET AFFECTING BROOKLINE; REAR DOOR BOARDING ON C AND D LINES; POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPING A TRANSIT MASTER PLAN

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 21st at 7pm. Room tbd. Topics will tentatively include:

1- Richard Leary: MBTA Report (Abby will invite him) 2- Review of additional data on the 51 and 86 bus schedules (Scott will coordinate with Linda to prepare) 3- Review of additional data on the potential western alternate route for the 51 bus (Abby will ask Andy Martineau of the Planning Dept for more data) 4- Open Meeting Law procedures review

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