By Peter Manning
On Wednesday, September 19, two representatives of Bedford, Lexington, and Burlington’s local transit remodeling initiative—headed by consultants from Foursquare ITP—fielded suggestions and concerns from residents. This open conversation marked the beginning of a process to create a new system that excels both economically and functionally. While this meeting focused exclusively on Bedford’s two transit options—the Bedford Local Transit and the Bedford Dash—similar meetings were held in both Lexington and Burlington for the same purpose.
The towns of Bedford, Burlington, and Lexington are on the southern end of the busy Route 3 corridor and contain some of the area’s highest concentrations of employment. All three towns have limited service from the MBTA and The Ride, but each has elected to provide local supplementary bus service.
The suggestions voiced by meeting attendees will directly influence the committee’s next steps in the remodeling process. Until then, the presentation has been made available on the Town of Bedford’s website. A link to the slides can be found here: https://www.bedfordma.gov/sites/bedfordma/files/uploads/september_meetings_ppt_-_bedford.pdf. Future meetings that explicitly address potential changes will be announced at a later date.
As indicated in the slides, Boris Pulchek—a third-party consultant tasked to compile and analyze transit data—outlined the three questions for this meeting. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this current system? What needs are left unmet? How can they expand the transits’ user-pool? This last point was largely ignored.
Pulchek presented three graphs, each measuring a different facet of Bedford’s population. The first chart broke down Bedford by population density; this marked potential need. With more people in a smaller area, the potential for riders is high. The second chart lifted data from local censuses, marking areas with high potential demand. This was calculated by noting the locations with elders, youths, persons with disabilities, low-income households, and zero-vehicle households. While the two charts shared some overlap, the graph of these five areas indicates a much higher likelihood of transit need. In practice, this data often dictates the routes transits routinely take.
The final chart showed popular destinations. Keeping within the immediate area, the representatives noted both Stop and Shop and the Burlington Mall as high traffic destinations. Their data also showed that Alewife is a commonly requested destination, even though it is far out of this committee’s desired range. The presentation and the meeting quickly turned to the public’s questions and observations.
Fifteen to 20 residents were in attendance, with almost all actively providing feedback. Patty Moynihan—the second representative and a direct member of the Transit Response Committee—facilitated the discussion, bringing to light many interesting perspectives. Out of all the opinions voiced, several statements were frequently addressed by the crowd.
Participants expressed dissatisfaction with both transit systems’ hours of operation. The Bedford Local Transit closes its doors at 3 pm, Mondays through Fridays. The Bedford Dash runs longer, but still ends its day at 6 pm. Several attendants pointed out the irony that the committee held a town-hall style meeting to hear feedback from riders at a time when transit-dependent citizens would be unable to attend. In addition, many town meetings and school events—JGMS and BHS plays, indoor sports, parent-teacher conferences—start or almost-certainly end after this timeframe, forcing transit-dependent citizens to find other accommodations (mainly the more-costly Lyft and Uber).
Snow buildup in the winter months impedes service. Several attendees mentioned the poor conditions of sidewalks and bus stops, making walking to pick-up points nearly impossible. As two of the five high-need demographics (elders and handicapped individuals) are already movement-impaired, utilizing public transit is nearly impossible for them three to four months out of the year.
Lastly, the representatives stressed both riders and non-riders alike should fill out a brief survey, which will remain live until the end of October. Every answer is valuable and all residents are encouraged to follow this link (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MRZ3WGH) and answer each question to the best of their ability. Follow up meetings responding to this survey and general feedback will be announced soon.
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