What would you say is the route on the MBTA that requires the most work?
This is a very interesting question, and my default answer for this one is always the 70. This is a very long, very important route from Central Square, Cambridge to Central Square, Waltham. Or Cedarwood. Or Market Place Drive. Or Watertown Square. Or North Waltham on 70A trips. Already it’s clear this route has too many darn variants, and the way they all fit together is even worse – the number of weird quirks in the schedule that don’t make sense at all is immense. The most immediate fix for the 70 would be to relegate the 70A to a loop around Waltham. The base schedule for the route would still need some heavy-duty tinkering, but it’s a start. Thanks for writing in, Maggie!
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| It’s official: this makes no sense. |
For bonus points, your picture (I believe of the afternoon weekday inbound schedule) is of a schedule that literally has bunching/leapfrogging on purpose. Two buses at 4:36 in Watertown Sq, for instance.
Yup, not to mention timed overtakes at certain points in the day!
Replacing 70A with a bus from Woodland on the D branch of the Green Line to one of the Framingham Line stops in Newton to Waltham's Central Sq to Lexington Center to the Burlington Mall might make some sense…
Yeah, or even just a local shuttle that times with the 70.