Many, including the Watertown Town Council acting officially, have expressed concerns recently about the bus service to Belmont and Watertown from Harvard Square, especially the 71 and 73 lines.
Together with Representatives Hecht, Rogers and Lawn, I’ve been giving the service issues a lot of attention. The MBTA and the City of Cambridge have both responded very diligently to our expressed concerns and we are very grateful.
We are seeking additional feedback now and I have posted a survey form on my website, willbrownsberger.com. Please stop by that site to let us know how we are doing.My belief is that people might be seeing some improvement at this time, due to the following:- On the inbound side, there was a light out of synch in the system where Mount Auburn crosses Fresh Pond Parkway — the short light at Coolidge Avenue. A number of commuters brought that issue to my attention as we reached out for feedback. The City of Cambridge responded very promptly when we conveyed the problem to them. The light was fixed last Wednesday, March 19. This should help mostly on the morning commute.
- The MBTA is stationing an inspector in Waverley Square to manage the starting of diesel buses from there to help even out spacing of buses.
- Stationing an inspector with dispatch authority in Waverley Square will allow the buses to take a simpler turnaround in Harvard Square — sometimes they have been dropping inbound people off, then going past the crowded outbound platform and coming around through Harvard Square to check in and again be dispatched before picking people up (and once again loop around Harvard Square before heading out to Waverley).
Every minute saved off the average trip contributes to more reliable service. MBTA statistics do confirm that with the switch to diesel on the Waverley, the on-time performance has gone down considerably. There are other factors in addition to the turnaround factors identified above. The trolley bus lines operate as a closed system, with a stable group of drivers. The Waverley line is now in a pool with the dozens of other diesel bus lines so that drivers turnover more and buses can be diverted to problems elsewhere. The instability may have contributed to the loss of reliability. In addition, the construction on Trapelo and also in Harvard Square has contributed to delays on some trips. It is not known when the Coolidge Avenue light went out of synch, but that may have coincided with the diesel shift last fall.
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In the longer term, it seems like there is a glimmer of opportunity for further progress in reducing congestion at the Fresh Pond intersection. If that pans out, it could help both bus lines. We’ve put language into the pending bond bill that would authorize the spending of up to $500,000 to study the intersection. That bond bill, even if passed with the language, will not force action on the issue — it is merely an authorization. Separately, Representative Hecht and I have been working to start a conversation with the City of Cambridge and the involved state agencies. It is not a new issue and there is no obvious solution — it is just a very congested intersection. But we are going to give the issue a run.