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KangarooInAZoo t1_j0898k0 wrote

Reply to comment by Master_Dogs in Our First Look at Boston’s Plans to Extend Columbus Ave. Bus Lanes by senatorium

Light rail on the street is way cheaper. The MBTA proposed extending the E branch to Hyde Square (0.75 miles) and it only cost $40M. Right of way makes it more expensive even if it’s a better transit option.

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Master_Dogs t1_j08lm24 wrote

Cheaper compared to a GLX style project I imagine, where we made dedicated stations and a community path extension and such.

Still more expensive than standard buses or fake BRT though. You could buy a couple of buses for like $5M and slap BRT branding on that service once you've got a couple of cheapo shelters and some paint on the road. That's the problem unfortunately, we're not going to spend $40M on transit like that. Even if light rail is better.

Would be nice if we could drop like $1B on extending the Green Line across the area with street level rail. Maybe cut off some streets from regular traffic to basically give it a dedicated ROW. One day anyway.

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