As an avid MBTA bus route 66 rider, I have learned the “ins” and “outs” of what this line has to offer. From start to finish – Harvard Square and Garden St. to Dudley Station – this bus route has a total 35 stops. According to google maps the entire bus route would take you forty six minutes to complete if taken at 11:36 a.m. on a Thursday morning. If you were to take a car instead from point A to point B starting at the same time it would take you 12 minutes.
Of course, if a car was to follow the bus route it would probably take longer because it is not the fastest way to get from Point A to B but driving through Massachusetts Ave is.
I ride bus 66 about between two and four times a week, from work to home, starting at the Harvard Ave and Commonwealth Ave stop to the Malcolm X Blvd and Tremont St. stop. It takes me between 40 and 50 minutes to complete the trip – including the five to fifteen minutes it takes for the bus to actually show up on time.
That’s a total of about three hours a week, 12 hours a month, a day and half per college semester, spent entirely on bus 66.
One of the major problems with the bus 66 route (might as well be bus 666, am I right?) is that it has innumerable stops in very close proximity to each other. This means precious time is wasted when the bus has to lurch to a halt at each stop and wait for passengers to board and exit the bus. Even if passengers don’t request a stop each time, it’s still likely to due to the amount of passengers aboard.
Below are three maps that show how close together the current stops are:
Having this many stops causes sluggish mobility, crowds the route, and subsequently bunches buses. There have been plenty of times when my bus was lapped by another bus 66 because of delays.
There are also three stops when bus 66 intersects with the E branch of the Green Line on Boylston St., where the train only has two stops within that area. Not only does the bus have to compete with car traffic, but it also has to compete with the Green Line E traffic during this portion of the route.
During the summer 2013, the Key Bus Route Improvement Program was implemented and resulted in bus stop location improvements, including consolidation and eliminations or relocations of bus stops, according to the MBTA. There was also improvements in transit signals, designated queue jump lanes, curb extensions, accessibility enhancements and bus stop amenities.
Along the inbound bus route from Harvard Square to Dudley Station there were a total of 4 eliminations, 4 new stops, and 6 consolidations. Along the outbound route from Dudley Station to Harvard Square there were 4 eliminations, 3 new stops and 6 consolidations.
If the bus 66 route were to have even fewer stops it would make the ride a lot faster and a lot more efficient. There would be less waiting time for people to enter and exist the bus and would result in less bus bunching.
Below are three maps that would show what eliminating a few stops that are within 5 minutes of walking distance would like:
Would eliminating this many stops really make it more convenient for riders if they have to walk further to the bus stops? I don’t know. But I’m willing to give it a try if it will end up saving me time.
Images via digitalsciguy on imgur.com
