The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About1996-06-26-TAC-min.pdf MEETING AGENDA. Transportation Services Office 1625 Massachusetts Avenue _ Lexington, MA 02173 Meeting Description Transportation Advisory Committee Results Desired Decisions by Committee on Aaenda Items Date June 26. 1996 Time 7'45 o.m. Location Room 111 Town Hall. 1625 Mass.Ave. Lexinaton. MA Scheduled Time 1 Actual Time Start Stop 1 Total Hours Start Stop Total Hours 7'45 9:15 1.5 Persons Attending 1 1 6 2 I7 3 8 4 9 5 10 Items To Be Discussed ✓ 1 Approval of May 22, 1996 Minutes 2 Discussion of July 1 1996 meeting with BOS Route changes Transportation Coordinator info Depot Square? Other items 3 Update onDepot Square/Emery Park 4 Update on grant Applications -Letter from EOTC/Shawn Holland 5 Miscellaneous MBTA contract extension MBTA Fall Schedules oo Notes from June 26, 1996 Meeting: FIRST DRAFT Comments on Scheme E Scheme E was suggested by the Friends of Emery Park as an alternative to having the LEXPRESS buses use the northern portion of Emery Park as a location to load and unload passengers The idea is to have the buses use Mass Ave The buses that are heading west as they exit the center, meet on the Mass Ave side of Emery Park and those that are heading east meet in front of the library Scheme E requires the elimination of the MBTA stop on the Mass Ave side of Emery Park The balance of this memo addresses this alternative from the perspective of the Transportation Advisory Committee However, it should be noted that initial conversations with planning staff at the MBTA indicate that the T would have serious concerns about this approach Since the inception of LEXPRESS there have been established criteria for evaluating a location for the buses to meet in Lexington center Using those criteria, the Transportation Advisory Committee has reviewed Scheme E and makes the following comments 1 Safety FACTS Passengers wanting to transfer will be required to walk a block and cross Mass Ave, ie four lanes of traffic At times, there is very little time between buses arriving in the center and leaving on the next set of routes Passengers trying to transfer may feel pressed for time when trying to cross a busy street The buses operate until 6 30 p m , which means that in the winter passengers will be transferring after dark About 20% of the passengers are elderly; about 60% are youth The remainder include citizens who have a variety of physical challenges The MBTA bus stop that is now on the Mass Ave side of Depot Square will no longer be available for the MBTA buses This will require the Route 76 bus that turns left in front of the Minuteman Statue to stop in front of the Visitors Center and then cross four lanes of traffic to make that left turn (What happens now?) One bus will need to travel from Waltham St to Clarke St via Forest St COMMENTS Requiring citizens--particularly the clientele that often use LEXPRESS--to cross four lanes of traffic to transfer is not providing a safe environment for using the system Having the MBTA Route 76 make a left turn in front of the Minuteman Statue from the stop in front of the Visitors Center is awkward at best and may be a traffic and safety hazard Forest St is a residential street that is narrow and already heavily used Cars are allowed to park on the south side of the street Residents may have safety concerns 2 Ease of turning buses around FACTS Buses coming from the west that then need to leave to the west can use Depot Square to turn around The current route structure has one such case Buses that come from the east and need to leave to the east have no logical method for reversing direction after reaching Depot Square The current route structure has one such situation In this particular case, the bus comes in on Waltham St Rather than continuing into the center on Waltham St it ) could conceivably take Forest St to Clarke St and so end up facing east for its next departure COMMENTS Using Forest and Clarke for a bus to access the library side of Mass Ave requires manuevering along narrow, congested streets Limiting the flexibility of a transportation system may prohibit it from accomodating future needs In the past, adjustments have been made to LEXPRESS; being unable to have a bus turn around will limit that in the future Although the turning around is possible with the current route system, future changes may not be possible because of the restriction of having to reverse the direction of a vehicle 3 Central location FACTS Initially the Bedford St /Mass Ave intersection and Edison Way were identified as being centrally located, and the two Mass Ave locations in Scheme E fall between those locations COMMENTS Depot Square is more central than the library, which is at the furthest end of the area identified as acceptable 4 Minimal traffic congestion FACTS Scheme E will increase congestion on Mass Ave and on Forest St and decrease congestion in Depot Square COMMENTS Increased congestion on Mass Ave will impact the flow of traffic through Lexington center Parents picking up children often double park along the area where the buses would be stopping Adding the buses to the area adds another dimension Having a bus travel along Forest Street creates added congestion on a street that is already heavily used and is a width that barely accomodates two way traffic when cars are parked on the one side that allows parking The combination of parked cars on Forest St and cars travelling on Forest St make it extremely difficult for vehicles that are turning onto Forest St from streets such as Muzzey St If a bus were travelling on Forest it might be impossible Tour buses frequently use the META stop that is in front of the Visitor ' s Center to wait for their passengers Because the Depot Square META stop is the primary location for dropping off passengers in Lexington, this does not cause a major problem If the Depot Square MBTA stop is eliminated, this will become a conflict The Town will need to expend resources to keep the tour buses out of that location or there will be added congestion and a potentially dangerous situation 5 Good Visibility FACTS Mass Ave provides adequate visibility 6 Using a minimal number of parking spaces FACTS The current location uses 5?6? parking spaces Putting the buses on Mass Ave requires that space for four buses be available on both sides of the street This will take 5? parking spaces on the library side of Mass Ave and three parking spaces (plus the META stop) on the Depot Square side of Mass Ave There will be a net loss of 2?3?4? parking spaces COMMENTS It may also be advisable to remove some parking spaces on Forest St to accomodate the buses 7 Minimal time required in Lexington center FACTS Time spent in Lexington center translates into time not spent in the neighborhoods COMMENTS Allowing time for those transferring to walk a block and cross Mass Ave will increase the time needed between routes The routes have no time to spare Should this become a problem, it may be necessary to cut the routes back Being able to accomodate even small requests for the routes to serve new areas will be all but impossible 8 Maintaining a central area for transportation services; fragmenting them is detrimental to all FACTS Convenience is a consideration for users of public transportation COMMENTS Splitting the LEXPRESS buses, and moving half of the system to a location at the furthest end of the center is inconsistent with providing a convenient system for the passengers This is inconsistent with the Town's support of LEXPRESS over the past 17 years Outstanding Questions Number of parking spaces lost Can the #76 MBTA bus use the stop in front of the Visitors Center? What are hours of police cadet at Depot Square