Ipswich Street line
Ipswich Street line | |
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standard gauge |
The Ipswich Street line was a
First proposed in the mid-1890s to aid development of the newly created Fenway–Kenmore area, the line opened in July 1900. Service initially ran between
As streetcar service was cut back, it was replaced by bus routes. MBTA bus routes 55 and 60 are direct descendants of the Ipswich Street line, while route 65 (the descendant of a Huntington Avenue branch) also runs along part of the former line.
History
Streetcar line
In the 1890s, the
In 1897, the West End proposed to extend its line on Boylston Street westward from
Service on the line as far west as Longwood Avenue began on July 23, 1900.[9] The full route opened around the end of the month; streetcars ran from the Cypress Street carhouse on existing tracks on Cypress Street and Boylston Street, on new tracks northeast on Brookline Avenue and east on Boylston Street and Ipswich Street, then east on existing tracks on Boylston Street to the subway.[10] The same week, the BERy also opened a branch of the Huntington Avenue line from Brookline Village to Coolidge Corner (with through service to Allston); the two routes shared a short section of track in Brookline Village.[10] The line was extended west on Boylston Street from Cypress Street to Chestnut Hill Avenue on September 29, 1900, and to the Newton line at Chestnut Hill on November 19.[11]: 201 On May 5, 1903, the Boston and Worcester Street Railway (B&W) began operations. It initially terminated at Chestnut Hill, but was extended over BERy tracks on Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue to Park Square on July 6.[12][11]: 154
By 1907, regular service on the Ipswich Street line ran between Chestnut Hill and
On June 13, 1925, the Ipswich Street line was cut back from Park Street to Massachusetts. It was the last service to run on Boylston Street between
As construction of the Worcester Turnpike progressed eastward, the B&W was replaced by buses on June 11, 1932.[16][11]: 156 That November, the Ipswich Street line was cut back to Brookline Village; the Huntington Avenue line took over the Cypress Street branch until 1934, and buses operated between to Chestnut Hill.[16] In March 1933, the Ipswich Street line was further cut to a shuttle service, with two Type 5 streetcars running between Audubon Road and Massachusetts; a replacement bus route began operation on Brookline Avenue.[16][11]: 201 On July 14, 1934, the shuttle service was converted to buses, ending streetcar service on the Ipswich Street line.[16]
Bus routes
In 1940–41, the BERy reassigned the public route numbers used for its services; those numbers have remained relatively consistent since.[19] The BERy was replaced in 1947 by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which was in return replaced by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1964.[20] Three MBTA bus routes are the descendants of the Ipswich Street line:
55
The original bus route that replaced the Aududon Road shuttle followed largely the same route; instead of reversing at Audubon Road, it looped on Kilmarnock Street, Queensbury Street, and Jersey Street through a residential area.
A 2018–19 MBTA review of its bus system found that route 55 was little used outside peak hours due to low frequency, unreliable service, and proximity to the Green Line.[22] No short-term changes were recommended.[23] The route has been temporarily cut during the COVID-19 pandemic. Service east of Copley was suspended on March 17, 2020. Weekday midday service was suspended on August 31, 2020, followed by weekday evening service that December. All service was suspended in March 2021, though midday service resumed that June. The name of the western terminal was simplified to "Fenway" in June 2023. The MBTA continues to operate the route as 55 Fenway–Copley station.[20]
In May 2022, the MBTA released a draft plan for a systemwide network redesign. The draft called for the 55 to be extended to Kendall/MIT station via Massachusetts Avenue, and to Longwood Medical Area via Brookline Avenue. The portion east of Massachusetts Avenue and the loop in the Fenway–Kenmore area would be cut.[24][25] A revised proposal in November 2022 called for the 55 to be kept as a Fenway–Kenmore – Copley route.[26][27]
60
When the Chestnut Hill streetcar service was discontinued in November 1932, replacement buses operated between Chestnut Hill and Brookline Village. The mid-1933 changes added a Brookline Village–Kenmore route on Brookline Avenue; it was through-routed with the Chestnut Hill route around 1934.[16] When Cypress Street service via the Huntington Avenue line ended on June 10, 1934, a Cypress Street–Kenmore route was added.[16] A loop on High Street, Highland Road, Jamaica Road, Pond Avenue, and Chestnut Street was added in 1935.[11]: 57 In 1941, the Cypress Street route was assigned number 58, and the Chestnut Hill route became number 60.[21] The loop of the Cypress Street was cut in 1942, but resumed postwar.[28]
The Riverside Line opened in July 1959, and the bus routes were realigned to connect with it. Some route 60 trips had their inbound terminal cut back to Brookline Hills station, and all Cypress Street trips were cut to Brookline Hills as route 60A. A new route 58 operated between Brookline Village and Kenmore.[20] Residents objected to buses looping on narrow streets in Brookline Hills; the routes were changed to terminate at Brookline Village by September 1960.[20] The MTA discontinued free transfers on October 28, 1961, with many routes extended or through-routes to avoid double fares. The Chestnut Hill and Cypress Street routes were re-extended to Kenmore Square, with the Cypress Street route renumbered back to 58.[20][29]
The two routes were combined as route 60 in September 1969; buses ran on Chestnut Street and High Street except at rush hour, when route 60A ran on the former route 58 alignment.[20] Route 60A was discontinued in December 1985 (thus ending service on the Cypress Street loop), with route 60 operating via Cypress and High at all times. In December 2006, the outer terminal was extended slightly to the Chestnut Hill Mall.[20] The MBTA continues to operate the route as 60 Chestnut Hill–Kenmore station. The 2018–19 review found that the route was largely sound, but suffered from poor reliability and inconsistent scheduled headways.[30] A short curtailment of the outer end to a stop at the new Chestnut Hill Square development was recommended, which would allow for increased frequency.[23] The MBTA ultimately did not shorten the route in order to keep service to the mall, though the new stop was to be pursued.[31]
The May 2022 draft network plan called for route 60 to be extended to Newton Centre via Langely Road, with increased frequency.[25][32] The November 2022 draft network plan called for route 60 to maintain its existing routing.[26][27]
65
Streetcar service on Washington Street between Brookline Village and Washington Square was originally a branch of the Huntington Avenue line, running to Boston College via Beacon Street. The line was shortened to Lake Street–Brookline Village on February 6, 1922 and was converted to bus in 1926.[33][34] In mid-1928, the west end of the route was realigned onto Washington Street to Brighton Center – a routing that had been proposed as a streetcar line in the 1890s.[35][36][37] The former tracks on Washington Street were removed in 1940.[38] The route was assigned number 65 in 1941.[21] Saturday service was discontinued in March 1953 and restored in September 1979.[20] The route was extended to Kenmore in October 1961 upon the discontinuance of free transfers, running on Brookline Avenue along with routes 58 and 60.[20][29]
The MBTA continues to operate the route as 65 Brighton Center–Kenmore station. The 2018–19 review found that the route suffered from poor reliability, high crowding at peak hours, and a lack of Sunday service. Unlike other crosstown routes, peak-hour demand is largely unidirectional.
The May 2022 draft network plan called for route 65 to become an extension of route
References
- ISBN 0938315048.
- ^ a b "New Brookline Link". Boston Globe. November 14, 1895. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Praying for Locations". Boston Globe. December 31, 1895. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Boston Bills". Boston Globe. April 14, 1897. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Barred From the World". Boston Globe. May 12, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Stricter Law". Boston Globe. May 3, 1897. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Real Estate Matters". Boston Globe. May 4, 1899. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Branch Line is Nearly Completed". Boston Globe. July 1, 1899. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Back Bay Fens Line Opened". Boston Globe. July 23, 1900. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "New Electric Car Routes". Boston Globe. July 30, 1900. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e Humphrey, Thomas J. (August 2020). "Origin and Development of the Fixed-Route Local Bus Transportation Network in the Cities and Towns of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority District as of December 31, 1973: Revised Edition" (PDF). NETransit.
- ISBN 093831503X.
- ^ Chasson, George Jr. (1987). Lonto, Arthur J. (ed.). "Boston's Main Line El: The Formative Years 1879–1908". Headlights. 49. Electric Railroader's Association: 20–21.
- ^ "Brookline". Boston Globe. September 6, 1912. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ A Chronicle of the Boston Transit System. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 1981. p. 3 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Barber, Richard (March–April 1984). "Fifty Years Ago... The Last Days of Cypress Street Carhouse". Rollsign. Vol. 21, no. 3/4. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 3–7.
- ^ "Bus Line on Boylston Street". Boston Globe. June 12, 1925. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brookline". Boston Globe. March 19, 1926. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 0938315056.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 52–56. Page numbers are accurate to the July 5, 2020 version.
- ^ a b c Lufkin, Richard F. (1942), System Route Map, Boston Elevated Railway – via Wikimedia Commons
- ^ "Route 55" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 2018.
- ^ a b c "Better Bus Project Route Proposals" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. January 2019. pp. 31, 37.
- ^ "A better bus network: new connections, more service, more frequency. See what this means in Fenway, Kenmore, and Longwood Medical Area" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. May 2022.
- ^ a b c "Draft Bus Network Redesign Map" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. May 2022.
- ^ a b c "What we changed from the May 2022 Proposal" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. November 7, 2022.
- ^ a b c "Revised Bus Network Fall 2022" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. November 3, 2022.
- ^ "'L' cuts bus service". Boston Globe. October 10, 1942. pp. 1, 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "MTA Makes News: Fares Going Up". Boston Globe. October 27, 1961. pp. 1, 18 – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
- ^ "Route 60" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 2018.
- ^ a b "Near-Term Changes Report" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. pp. 17, 19.
- ^ "A better bus network: new connections, more service, more frequency. See what this means in Newton" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. May 2022.
- ^ "New Two-Car Trains on Huntington Av Feb 6". Boston Globe. January 22, 1922. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brookline Grants Elevated Bus Line". Boston Globe. February 24, 1926. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brookline". Boston Globe. June 23, 1928. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Citizens of Ward 25". Boston Globe. April 26, 1895. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brighton Schoolhouses". Boston Globe. January 28, 1898. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brookline". Boston Globe. July 15, 1940. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Route 65" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 2018.
- ^ "A better bus network: new connections, more service, more frequency. See what this means in Allston, Brighton, and Brookline North" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. May 2022.
External links
Media related to Ipswich Street line at Wikimedia Commons