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From YouTube: Parks, Recreation & Transportation February 2, 2017
Description
Policy Briefing: Transit Signal Priority
A
So
much
for
joining
us
this
afternoon.
My
name
is
Michelle
whew
and
I
am
sitting
in
for
our
chair
of
the
committee
on
Parks,
Recreation
and
transportation,
filter,
Sal
LaMattina,
who
apologizes
he
had
to
be
an
awake
today,
so
couldn't
make
it,
but
he's
been
posting
on
the
council
side,
a
series
of
policy
briefings
and
then
on
the
academic
experts
side
we're
very
proud
to
partner
with
Professor
Peter
first
from
Northeastern.
So
today
is
the
fourth
of
these
briefings
and
our
specific
topic
is
transit
signal
priority.
A
This
is
docket
number
0,
1,
26
order
that
the
committee
on
parks,
recreation
and
transportation
host
a
series
of
policy
briefings
related
to
key
topics
and
transportation
policy.
So,
as
usual,
we'll
have
our
presentation
by
Professor
first
and
then
open
it
up
for
questions
due
to
some
scheduling
anomalies.
Today
we
will
actually
only
have
the
live
stream
running
and
for
our
viewing
audience
until
5pm
today.
So
we'll
do
the
best
to
make
sure
that
covers
as
many
questions
as
possible
and
maybe
we'll
go
to
live
tweeting
at
that
point
it
once
it
cuts
off.
B
B
So
if
I
could
I
would
whisk
you
off
to
place
where
you
could
see
what
transit
priority
looks
like
like
I
would
take
you
to
Zurich,
where
I
went
because
I
heard
a
rumor
that
the
street
cars
or
trans
as
they
call
them
over
there
never
have
to
never
get
red
light,
not
that
they
don't
have
to
stop
at
red
lights.
If
the
light
is
red,
they
have
to
stop
it's
just
that
the
light
is
always
green,
so
I
went
there
to
see.
If
it's
true,
I
found
out
that.
B
Well,
there
are
a
couple
places
where
there
are
so
many
trams
coming
Eddie
from
different
directions.
One
has
to
stop
for
another,
but
that
otherwise
no
you're
sitting
on
a
tram
you
see
a
light
ahead
of
you
is
red.
Ok
starts
to
slow
down
from
25
miles
an
hour
to
hour,
20
miles
an
hour
and
just
then
the
light
turns
green
and
the
trend
just
goes
right
on
through
I.
Take
you
to
the
Hague,
where
you
would
see
that
kind
of
transit
priority.
B
You
see,
bus
lane
cut
and
just
simply
an
attitude
among
anybody
that
you
talked
to
well.
Of
course
we
give
priority
for
transit.
How
stupid?
Could
you
be
to
not
do
that?
I
can
I,
don't
have
to
take
you
to
Europe
I
could
take
you
to
portland
where
Portland's
light
rail.
The
traffic
signals
are
set
up
so
that,
as
the
train
goes
from
one
station
to
the
next
station,
it
gets
a
green
wave.
B
You
can
even
take
you
to
utah
to
Salt
Lake
City,
and
you
would
see
that
their
light
rail
gets
priority.
What
we
have
in
Boston
I
don't
want
to
stop
it.
Don't
don't
don't
don't
think
that
we
don't
have
trends
priority
we
do,
but
we
basically
have
it's
either
All
or
Nothing.
Either
we
spend
a
billion
dollars
to
put
a
transit
line
underground,
something
like
that
or
nothing,
and
that
just
doesn't
make
sense.
B
We
certainly
don't
have
enough
money
to
put
all
of
our
high
volume
bus
routes
underground,
make
them
all
grade
separated
and
if
our
only
choices
are,
you
know
multi-billion
or
nothing.
Well,
then
we're
stuck.
No,
we
have
to
learn
from
these
other
cities.
We
can
do
something
without
going
underground.
B
Maybe
one
doesn't
have
to
give
these
arguments,
but
let
me
give
you
five
reasons
why
transit
priority
makes
sense.
First
of
all,
getting
people
to
use
transit
is
good
for
society.
Okay,
even
if
you
don't
use
transit,
we
are
all
better
off
if
other
people
would
use
fans
it,
it's
better
for
our
air
quality.
B
It's
better
climate
change,
sustainability
reduces
congestion,
makes
our
cities
more
livable
and
vibrant,
and
here
in
the
City
Council
hearing,
we
have
to
think
about
what
what's
our
future,
not
just
you
know
one
or
two
years
out,
but
what's
our
what's
our
20-year
future?
What's
our
40
your
feet?
Are
we
going
to
be
a
city
that
it's
just
all
choked
in
traffic
and
everybody's
yelling
at
each
other
and
honking
as
we're
trying
to
get
by
one
another?
B
Are
we
going
to
be
a
city
with
first
class
public
transportation,
where
people
can
get
to
places
quickly
reliably
without
having
to
drive
their
own
car
and
it's
priority
for
transit
that
determines
whether
people
are
switching
to
transit
or
front
in
most
of
the
Western
world,
as
people
have
become
when
people
were
poor?
Well,
they
couldn't
afford
cars.
Walking
is
slow,
everybody
used
trance,
as
people
became
wealthier.
B
It
turns
it
on
its
head
now,
people
say
well:
I
I,
don't
have
time
to
drive
a
car,
I
gotta
use,
transit
because
transit
is
gets
the
priority
and
moose
best.
Third
reason,
of
course
it's
people
that
were
serving
not
cars-
that's
that's
obvious,
but
the
standard
tools
of
our
trade
and
I
speak
now.
As
a
traffic
engineer,
the
standard
tools
of
our
trade
worry
about
moving
vehicle,
not
people,
so
they
counted
boss
just
another
vehicle,
and
that's
that's
a
big
mistake
on
huntington
avenue.
Actually
I
got
updated
figures
on
that.
B
B
I've
already
mentioned
that
you
know
cars
can
find
another
route,
but
that's
what
that
means
is.
If
you
do
something
that
health
transit
and
it
hurts
cars,
actually
cars
won't
be
hurt
as
much
as
you
think,
because
they'll
find
another
route
and,
as
I
said
all
or
nothing
doesn't
make
sense.
So
one
research
project,
I
had
a
suit
of
mine
work
on
is:
let's
grade
our
traffic
system.
One
of
its
objectives
should
be
to
provide
to
be
a
good
host
for
public
transportation.
You
know
our
buses
and
streetcars.
They
have
to
operate
on
the
surface.
B
B
How
long
does
it
take
the
buses
to
get
from
here
to
there
when
there
isn't
much
traffic
and
then
compare
it
to
when
there
is
and
make
it
I
and
then
make
some
adjustments
to
account
for
well,
if
you
have
more
people
to
pick
up,
of
course,
that's
going
to
take
more
time,
so
we
accounted
for
all
that
and
we
looked
at
not
only
how
much
more
time
it
takes,
but
also
how
much
worse
the
reliability
is
because
of
traffic
congestion.
This
traffic
congestion
has
a
huge
reliability
effect,
and
so
we
looked
at.
B
We
didn't
look
at
all
the
routes,
but
we
looked
at
some
routes.
They
looked
at
route,
one,
for
instance,
with
four
million
passengers
a
year
and
the
traffic
congestion
costs
the
MBTA
almost
a
million
dollars
a
year
in
additional
wages.
They
have
to
pay
to
have
more
drivers,
because
the
time
it
takes
for
driver
to
turn
around
is
so
long.
B
They
have
to
have
more
driver,
and
then
they
have
to
have
more
recovery
time
and
then
the
impact
of
riders,
2.3
million
3.8
million
in
total
transit
is
hurting
route
1
to
the
tune
of
7
million
dollars
a
year.
Did
that
for
several
routes?
We
did
that
for
nine
routes
for
those
nine
roots,
some
of
which
were
big
big
root.
Some
routes
are
not
not
very
high
demand
route
transit
is
hurting,
I
mean
traffic.
Congestion
is
hurting
transit
to
the
tune
of
45
million
dollars
on
a
per
rider
basis
about
a
dollar
75.
B
We
made
the
private
traffic
pay
for
the
harm
that
they're
doing
to
transit
riders.
They
should
be
paying
about
50
cent
per
rider
back
to
the
MBTA.
Our
traffic
system
should
back
to
the
MBTA
for
a
for
the
extra
caution
and
a
dollar
25
to
each
rider.
Sorry
Ryder.
We
stole
so
much
of
your
time
by
not
giving
you
a
nice
free-flowing
road
for
your
vehicles
to
ride
on
so
my
conclusion.
B
As
a
few
no
grading
grading
the
system
like
including
the
grade
it
gets
an
F
R
to
the
extent
in
our
traffic
system
has
a
few
different
functions,
but
one
of
those
functions
is
it
should
be
a
good
host
for
transit
and
in
that
respect,
the
great
is
that
you
see
things
that
are
on
Boston.
You
ask:
how
is
this
allowed
to
happen?
So
the
Silver
Line
has
its
own
bus
ways.
We
spent
750
million
dollars.
This
is
the
all-or-nothing
solution.
You
know
we
spent
750
million
dollars
to
put
the
silver
line
underground.
B
So
as
long
as
it's
Underground
yeah,
it's
free
from
traffic
congestion,
and
then
it
has
to
cross
B,
Street
and
I
buses
with
60
people.
Maybe
even
more
still
can
have
to
wait
up
to
60
seconds
it
used
to
be
80
or
90
seconds.
They
got
it
down
to
60.
Second,
it's
still
in
the
horrible
ring,
sometimes
only
three
four
five
cars
going
by
buses,
stuff
stays
red.
The
light
stays
right
for
the
bus
today
is
green
for
the
car.
B
Why
is
this
allowed
to
happen?
Well,
it's
a
popular
game
around
here,
in
which
agency
one
says:
oh
well,
that's
agency,
to
you
see,
that's
the
MBTA
and
the
MBTA
says:
oh
well,
you
see
it's.
The
city
of
the
city
says
always
see
it's
a
it's
massport
and
it's
and
then
it's
the
statements
in
and
and
then
in
the
end,
nobody
takes
responsibility
and
I,
and
it's
an
interesting
thing.
B
There
isn't
a
cold
you're
here
of
complaining
about
how
slow
transit
I
mean
people
would
complain
to
each
other,
but
the
phone
is
not
ringing
off
the
hook
at
City,
Hall
or
anywhere
else
people.
I
don't
know
people
we
got
used
to
it,
we're
not
complaining
about
it,
and
so
it
just
goes
up.
If
you
go
by
roxbury
crossing,
which
I
pass
by
every
day
on
my
commute,
you
can
often
see
three
four
five
buses
in
the
left-turn
bay
waiting
to
turn
left.
B
The
light
turns
green
there's
enough
time
for
two
or
three
of
them
to
get
through,
but
some
of
those
buses.
They
have
to
wait.
Another
cycle
a
cycle
is
two
minutes
and
15
seconds.
So
you
know
in
the
end,
buses
are
waiting.
Three
minutes
to
turn
'la
just
because
they
aren't
given
enough
green
time
and
as
a
traffic
engineer,
I
could
tell
you
giving
them
the
green
time.
They
need
wouldn't
hurt
the
cars
a
bit.
No,
nobody
would
even
notice
it.
B
So
why
is
this
happening?
I
lay
blame
in
several
places.
First,
the
MBTA
isn't
doing
what
I
think
it
ought
to
be
doing.
I
mean
that
they
ought
to
have
somebody
who's
looking
around.
Where
are
the
buses
getting
stuck,
and
at
least
complaining
about
it
requesting?
Can
you
do
something
about
it
even
going
beyond
that?
Coming
up
with
creative
solution?
I
lived
in
brussels
for
a
year
and
studied
transit
priority
in
europe,
and
brussels
was
a
good
example
and
brussels
version
of
the
MBTA,
which
is
called
Stieb.
B
They
have
a
position
called
the
director
of
network
development
and
this
person
is
studying
not
just
where
can
we
put
new
routes,
but
all
the
existing
routes?
Where
are
the
buses
getting
stuck
in
traffic?
He
knows
some
traffic
engineering
he's
got
traffic
engineers
on
his
staff,
they're,
coming
up
with
solutions,
they're
going
to
the
city
and
saying
you've
got
an
intersection
here.
That's
causing
a
lot
of
trouble
for
my
buses.
B
What
can
we
do
about
it
and
they're
working
together
to
come
up
with
solution,
so
that
mechanism
is
just
missing
the
way
that
just
the
way
agencies
have
been
set
up?
The
way
things
are
the
MBTA
just
says:
well
what
can
we
do
it?
You
know
and
we
don't
own
the
road.
The
city
says:
hey,
we
look
the
buses
ride
on
our
road,
just
like
any
other
vehicle,
we're
not
you
know
we're
not
against
buses
and
in
the
end,
things
like
this
happen.
B
It's
worth
bringing
to
light.
I
know
this
is
this.
This
is
something
that
happened
in
brookline,
whereas
I'm
advising
Boston
City
Council,
but
it's
the
same
cast
of
character.
It's
the
same
traffic,
insulting,
sits
the
same
attitude.
It's
the
same,
the
same
everything
brookline
got
a
brand
new
traffic
signal
system
and
didn't
get
priority.
You
know!
No,
there
is
not
another
city
in
the
United
States
that
got
a
new
traffic
signal
system
in
the
last
10
years.
That
has
light
rail.
B
It
did
not
include
as
part
of
that
system
priority
for
light
rain,
Sacramento,
San,
Jose,
San,
Diego
I,
already
mentioned
Utah
uses
I
mean
unthinkable
that
they
would
make
get
a
new
traffic
signal
system
without
priority
in
the
Boston
general
thinking.
Yeah
priority
just
wasn't
part
of
it.
Not
only
was
priority,
not
part
of
it,
but
as
I
don't
know.
If
you
can
see
in
this
picture,
but
there's
a
little
white
bar
here
and
the
lights
for
the
for
the
green
line.
B
Instead
of
giving
green,
yellow
and
red,
they
have
light
bar
and
when
the
bar
is
horizontal
with
the
red
light,
it
go
with
the
bars
vertical
green
light.
You
can
go,
and
so
here
you
can
see
where
the
cars
have
a
green
arrow
bars
can
go.
You
see
the
cars
are
dancing
while
the
trolley,
which
has
exactly
the
same
conflicts
as
the
car.
So
if
it's
safe
for
the
cars
to
go,
it's
safe
for
the
trolley
to
go,
but
no
prolly
as
a
red
bar
or
15
seconds
till.
Finally,
the
trolley
gets
its
Greenville.
B
How
did
that
happen?
I,
don't
know,
I
noticed
it,
because
this
used
to
be
part
of
my
commute.
I
brought
it
to
the
attention
of
the
town.
I
brought
it
to
the
intent
of
the
MBTA
it
took
more
than
a
year
to
fix
it.
Well,
its
knees
is
just
a
little
switch
in
the
signal
program
to
say
you
know:
why
should
the
trains
not
not
get
a
green
when
the
cars
are
getting
a
green?
So
we
don't
have
the
mechanism.
The
incentives
in
place,
nobody's
measuring,
nobody's,
nobody's,
nobody's.
B
Nobody's
getting
rewarded
or
the
opposite
for.
Are
you
doing
a
good
job
to
make
sure
that
transit
is
being
served
well
at
the
state
level,
because
the
MBTA
is
a
separate
agency
from
the
cities
in
town?
We
need
somebody
at
a
higher
level.
That
would
be
the
state
that
includes
incentives
so
that
any
state
project
that
includes
priority
for
transit.
Would
you
know
I,
don't
know,
get
some
extra
money
or
move
to
the
top
of
the
pile
or
something
like
that.
The
the
state
should
have
that
interest
in.
We
want
transit
priority
cuz.
B
Of
course
it's
not
just
Boston,
it's
cambridge
at
summer
village,
brookline,
it's
milton
is
everywhere,
and
then
here
within
the
city
we
have
to
something
has
to
change
to
make
priority
or
transit
and
institutional
prior.
They
have
to
be
objective
and
then
some
measurement
against
those
objectives
and
then
some
incentives,
some
rewards.
It's
it's
got
to
be
somebody's
job,
because,
right
now
it
really
is
nobody's
job
to
look
out
for
transit.
B
It
means
it
probably
means
some
of
the
additional
staffing
or
maybe
realignment
of
what
staffing
is
and
I
have
a
lot
of
students
who
loved
who
are
good
traffic
engineers
and
love
to
solve
problems,
and
some
of
them
probably
would
love
to
serve
as
intern
or
the
city
and
studying
some
of
these
places
where
they
could
give
transit
prior
and
come
up
with
solutions
what
kind
of
solutions
to
give
transit
priority.
Well,
it's
always
good
to
first
ask
about
low
tech
stuff
that
stuff.
B
So
yeah
there's
a
lot.
We
could
do
with
signal
timing
to
favor
buses.
As
I
said,
the
standard
tools
in
our
professional
bus
is
just
another
vehicle.
We
try
to
come
up
with
a
good
signal
timing
for
all
the
vehicles.
We
don't
really
give
much
attention
to
buses
or
buses
really
get
the
shaft
is
when
they're
turning
left
with
a
left
turn
arrow
left.
B
You
no
left
turn
movements
usually
get
a
short,
very
short
green,
and
then
that
means
they
have
a
long
red
and
then,
when
there's
more
buses
that
can
fit
like
I
was
describing
at
roxbury
crossing
all
they
can
wait
and
wait
and
wait.
Don't
have
a
picture
of
this
I
would
picture
this
somewhere.
I
wanted
to
show
you.
B
B
Why
is
this
happening
if
you,
if
you
are
so
low-tech?
If
you,
if
you
give
those
left,
turns
a
longer
green,
it
will
hardly
hurt
traffic.
Why?
Because
they're
a
detector
and
it'll
only
hold
the
green
as
long
as
there
are
still
cars
going.
So
if
you
got
a
left
turn
phase,
that's
now
got
a
15
second
maximum
green,
and
you
say:
let's
make
that
22
seconds.
That
doesn't
mean
it's
now
going
to
run
22
seconds.
B
Maybe
all
they
need
on
average
is
17
seconds.
So
one
time
they'll
use,
maybe
don't
that
maybe
they
will
use
the
22
seconds
but
the
next
time,
because
they
got
so
many
people
through.
They
are
only
going
to
need
12
seconds
on
the
next
time.
They
might
need
16
seconds
the
next
time
they
might
use
18
seconds
on
average
they're
only
going
to
use
what
they
need,
so
it
doesn't,
it
hardly
hurts
to
make
to
give
them
a
longer
green
extension.
B
There
are
a
few
places
where
we
could
reduce
transit
delays
dramatically
with
a
simple
change
like
that.
Another
trick
is
re
service,
where
you
give
a
phase
2
green
interval
in
one
cycle.
This
is
really
handy
when
there's
a
long
cycle
like
I'd
mentioned
roxbury
crossing
one
hour,
two
minute
and
15
seconds
or
the
cycle
right
now,
there's
just
one
period
in
there
that
the
buses
can
go,
make
their
left
turn
and
if
they
miss
that
wait.
Two
minutes
till
you
turn
comes
up
again.
B
We
can
coordinate
signals
for
bus
movement
where,
where
there's
a
heavy
buff
slow
learning
left
going
into
terminals,
simply
changing
the
sequence.
Instead
of
you
know
that
they're
for
trip
or
conflicting
streams
getting
there
getting
there,
greens
and
it
goes
in
order-
1,
2,
3,
4,
hey-
won't
make
any
difference
to
the
cars
if
you
make
it
1
2
4
3,
but
that
could
make
a
lot
of
difference
for
the
buses.
An
example
of
that
is
the
silver
line
on
Washington
Street
turns
around
not
far
from
here
at
Downtown
Crossing
on
Temple
Street.
B
They
wait
on
Temple,
Street
pick
up
their
load,
and
then
they
come
out
to
trim
on
street
where
they
usually
have
a
green
light.
They
wait
for
the
green
light.
Finally,
they
get
the
green
light.
They
turn
on
the
turn
on
street
and
what
are
they
greeted
with
one
very
short
block
away,
immediately:
a
red
light
guaranteed
because
the
lights
are
coordinated
or
through
traffic
on
term
on
street?
That
bus
didn't
come
from
term
on
that
bus
came
from
Temple.
B
But
if
you
know
that
at
the
beginning
of
the
temple
phase,
there's
often
a
bus
turning
left,
you
could
say
well,
therefore,
let's
keep
the
light
rain
at
the
next
few
intersections
at
west
street
at
avery
street,
and
then
maybe
we
can
even
get
Boylston
Street
in
there.
So
when
the
bus
comes
out
a
temple
place
when
it
gets
a
green
at
Tremont,
Street,
green,
green,
green,
all
the
way,
then
it's
turning
on
to
boil
be
easy
to
do
at
ruggles
at
ruggles
station.
B
B
Another
low
tech
priority
solution
is
to
create
bus
lanes
by
having
peak
peak
period
parking
restrictions.
I
grew
up
in
Washington
DC,
where
this
is
just
datos
for
normal
part
of
life,
no
parking,
7
and
9
a.m.
it's.
A
bus
lane
I
moved
to
Boston
40
years
ago
and
wondered
how
come
they
don't
have
bus
lanes
like
that?
I'm
still
wondering
so
ever
it
I
now
is
taking
the
lead.
Everett
NASA's
has
made
a
peak
period
and
morning
peak
period,
bus
lane
on
Main
Street.
So
that's
a
great
idea.
B
Sometimes
the
bottleneck
for
buses
is
actually
just
in
a
short
area.
It's
just
that's
one
area.
If
the
buses
could
have
a
bypass
way,
we
could
provide
buses
a
bypass
lane
with
some
peak
hour,
parking
restrictions,
bus,
stop
improvements
having
the
bus
to
stop
at
the
far
side
of
the
intersection
stead
of
the
near
side.
People
in
the
business
understand
that
pretty
well
now
and
they're
doing
some
of
that
having
boss
bulb
out.
B
So
here
you
see
instead
of
the
bus
pulling
up
into
the
curb
the
curb
pulls
out
to
the
bus,
and
you
might
think.
Oh
that's
terrible.
That
means
the
bus
is
going
to
stop
right
in
the
middle
of
a
traffic
lane.
That's
really
going
to
hurt
traffic.
So
interestingly,
San
Francisco
tried
that
and
what
they
found
is
it
didn't
hurt
traffic
it.
B
The
bus
can
actually
line
up
with
the
curb
so
when
the
passengers
are
getting
on
and
off,
it's
quicker
because
they
can
actually
step
from
the
curb
onto
the
bus
instead
of
step
from
the
curb
down
to
the
street
up
onto
the
bus,
so
the
bus
gets
his
business
done,
gets
out
of
there
more
quickly.
It
actually
had
any
traffic
Oh
better,
as
well
as
making
the
bus
go
cut
and
then
consolidating
stops.
We
just
have
way
too
many
stuff.
B
B
Often
will
have
my
students
have
to
work
on
projects.
You
know
this
part
of
part
of
education
got
to
work
on
a
project
instead
of
Mickey
Mouse
project
I,
give
a
real
project
so
figure
out.
Why?
What's
why?
The
buses
are
getting
stuck
in
CT
and
come
up
with
a
solution.
They
usually
can
come
up
with
a
solution.
For
instance,
last
year
I
had
a
student
look
at
the
silver
line
on
Washington.
B
It's
got
bus
lanes
for
most
of
most
of
its
corridor,
but
no
bus
lanes
at
to
it,
no
bustling
a
Dudley
around
Dudley
station
and
that
last
stretch
coming
from
Melanie
a
cast
getting
into
Dudley.
The
buses
were
going
on
average
four
and
a
half
miles
an
hour.
I
mean
you
may
as
well
walk.
They
were
gabbing
two
to
four
minutes
of
delay,
just
trying
to
get
in
there.
So
we
studied
it.
We
studied
the
observations,
filming
modeling
with
Mike
simulation.
B
We
found
with
the
problem,
there's
the
bottleneck
it's
actually
after
the
station,
but
that
was
causing
a
backup
and
I
jam
which
is
propagating
backwards
and
slowing
everything
down
with
our
model.
We
could
replicate
current
conditions,
including
pedestrians,
walking
like
crazy.
For
us.
They
want
to
remotely
manage
to
model
that
and
showed
how,
with
with
some
improvements
to
the
traffic
signal,
we
take
care
of
all
the
traffic
we
take
care
of
the
buses
and
the
delay
goes
goes
down
by
by
by
two
minutes
on
it.
B
We
did
a
study
at
ruggles
station.
You
can
see
the
results
there
we
saw,
you
can
go
from
80
seconds
of
delay.
This
is
at
just
four
signals
in
the
vicinity
of
ruggles
station
down
to
20
seconds,
with
some
standard
solutions
and
down
I
mean
down
to
40
seconds,
with
standard
solutions
down
to
20
seconds,
with
some
smart
signal
priority
and
as
far
as
the
DD
street,
where
the
silverline
buses
are
stuck.
B
There
are
five
easy
solution,
so
I'm
going
but
I'm
going
to
give
you
a
number
six
just
put
a
police
officer,
there
stop
traffic
and
let
the
buses
go
now.
I
know
the
main
objection
of
that
that
costs
money.
Well,
maybe
if
it
costs
money,
somebody
would
finally
have
an
incentive.
Hey
till
we
hit
the
machines
to
do
this,
so
we
don't
have
to
spend
all
this
money
you're
taking
60
people
and
making
them
wait,
even
if
it's
just
an
unnecessary
half
a
minute
and
you're
doing
that
about
20
times
an
hour.
B
B
We
shouldn't
have
to
waste
a
waste
of
the
person
hour
to
stand
there
and
do
it.
We
should
be
able
to
have
machines
that
you
detect
there's
a
bus.
You
turn
the
light
red.
The
bus
get
the
green
light.
The
bus
only
needs
like
six
to
ten
seconds.
I
got
it.
I
forgot
one
of
my
standard
lines.
If
we
can,
if
we
can
put
a
man
on
the
moon,
we
ought
to
be
able
to
get
the
light
to
turn
green
when
the
bus
gets
there.
B
Ok,
how
does
signal
priority
work?
We
have
to
have
some
way
of
detecting
there's
a
bus,
the
old
way
we
we
actually,
you
know,
put
in
put
put
a
loop
in
the
road
that
acted
like
it
that
antenna.
They
could
pick
up
a
very
weak
signal.
The
bus
gives
off
a
low
on
the
bus,
but
nowadays
we
can
have
virtual
in
sentences.
The
GPS
systems
are
so
good.
B
We
can
just
have
the
bus
programmed
when
you
get
to
the
point
when,
when
you
are
forty
two
point
three
meters
from
the
stop
line
make
you
know,
send
out
a
send
out
a
signal,
so
I
can
have
a
virtual
detector
or
check
in
for
checkout,
and
then
the
the
bus
can
send
a
message.
So
I
actually
that
that's
cool
the
gps
advances
mean
we
can
do
this
without
digging
up
the
street
without
really
adding
any
more
traditional
infrastructure.
So
the
bus
can
just
a
test
when
it's
just
at
the
right
place.
B
It
sends
a
signal
to
the
traffic
signal
controller,
hello,
I'm
a
bus.
If
the
light
is
green
I'll,
be
there
very
soon
hold
the
light
green.
For
me,
that's
the
basic
transit
priority.
We
actually
had
transit
priority
on
the
green
line,
starting
in
the
late
nineteen
eighty,
but
by
the
1990s.
When
I
asked
about
it,
they
told
me
that
most
of
the
wires
leading
from
the
loop,
the
detected
had
been
torn
up
by
the
MBTA's
own
maintenance
staff
and
they
were
doing
maintenance
on
the
track.
B
I
most
people
weren't
even
aware
that
the
system
was
still
there
because
note
that
the
drivers
weren't
getting
in
a
lot
any
light
saying.
Oh,
we
detected,
you
are
giving
you
priority
and
the
system
was
just
kind
of
allowed
to
fall
apart.
There's
a
there's,
a
couple
intersections
where
it's
still
working
on
virgin
could
show
them
to
you.
B
But
this
is
not
complicated,
but
now
I
want
to
give
some
may
be
more
difficult
news,
which
is
that
while
we
can
buy
off-the-shelf
software
hardware
for
doing
transit,
priority
experience
is
that
those
off-the-shelf
solutions
are
often
pretty
anemic.
Sometimes
we're
only
getting
delay
reduction
to
two
or
three
seconds
for
intersection.
We're
not
getting
that
much
Washington
Street
silver
line
is
the
one
place
where
Boston
has
been
running
priority
and
it
doesn't
really
do
that
much
good.
We
studied
it
to
find
out
why
and
it
turned
out
its
kind
of
logical.
B
So
you
can
group
the
intersections
warewashing
Street
has
a
bus
lane
into
three
classes.
One
class
is
where
its
intersecting,
with
a
minor
street
and
at
those
minor
streets,
the
light
is
almost
always
green
for
Washington
Street,
say
70
seconds
green
for
Washington
Street
20
second
screen
for
the
other
speak,
so
the
buses
are
always
nearly
always
they'll
get
a
green
light
most
of
the
time
without
any
priority
so
putting
in
priority.
B
That
makes
things
better,
but
things
are
so
good
already.
You
can
hardly
make
things
better.
So
that's
that's
one
group,
then
we've
got
really
busy
intersections.
Nasa
have
Melanie
a
calf,
and
the
priority
system
is
set
up
in
such
a
way
that
if
the
cross
street
has
a
lot
of
traffic
while
we
just
disable
the
priority
completely
so
no
priority
at
all
at
those
and
then
there's
only
one
in
between
intersection,
that
was
at
East
Berkeley.
So
that's
why
we're
not
getting
too
much
out
of
that.
B
So
what
I've
learned
is
that
to
get
good
performance,
you
got
to
do
more
than
just
take
your
off-the-shelf
solutions.
You
have
to
then
work
with
it.
So,
for
instance,
the
the
one
I
was
talking
about
on
for
the
silver
line
on
Tremont
Street,
where
once
they
come
out
of
temple
to
get
them
agreeing
that
these
all
these
other
places
see
the
reason
that
the
standard
solutions
wouldn't
work
is
that
when
the
boss
is
on
Temple,
it
can't
send
a
signal
down
the
westin
Avery
because
that's
around
the
corner.
B
So
it's
about
very
complicated,
but
there
has
to
be
some
way
of
saying
when
the
bus
is
detective
heat
at
this.
This
controller.
This
controller
talks
to
that
controller,
which
box
for
the
next
and
tells
them
I've
got
a
bus.
We
can
do
that.
We
got
real
smart
people.
I.
Can
you
know,
program
things
and
wire
things?
B
But
let
me
let
me
show
you
for
a
concert
or
describe
how
is
in
Zurich
that
it's
the
transit
priority
is
unbelievable,
but
they
have
a
staff
of
people
who
are
working
on
this
all
time,
they're
thinking
of
new
things,
new
ideas
when
I
visited
last
time,
they
thought
of
an
interesting
transit
priority
idea.
What
they
discovered
was
that
when
the
buses
came
to
a
stop,
I
mean
it
not
buses,
trams.
The
terms
were
kind
of
in
the
middle
of
the
road
like
like
some
of
our
green
line.
B
People
wanting
to
get
on
would
run
across
the
street
and
sometimes
they
got
hit
by
cars
because
it
was
you
know
they
were
running
across
the
street
because
we
were
given
priority
to
transfer.
There
was
a
green
light
button
people,
so
they
figured
here's
what
we
do
when
we
detect
the
tram
coming,
we'll
turn
the
light
red
so
that
it's
safe
for
people
to
run
across
the
street.
B
But
the
light
will
be
read
only
for
as
long
as
it
takes
for
the
bus
to
open
and
close
its
doors
and
then
one
mr.,
but
I
mean
the
tram
when
the
tram
is
ready
to
go.
It's
got
a
green
light
again
and
that
way
it's
safe
for
people
across
the
street
and
the
term
gets
priority.
So
they
cook
this
up.
They
program
it.
They
make
it
work,
they
test
it
out.
It
works
through,
but
that's
that's
the
kind
of
attention
that
we
need
the
first
time
around.
It's
never
that's
good.
B
Now
you
can
be
measured,
you
improve
it
and
so
on
sometimes
there's
so
much
traffic
that
you
can't
do
priority
for
transit.
Only
with
time
with
traffic
lights,
you
have
to
give
them
priority.
In
space,
one
of
my
students
looked
at
Huntington
Avenue,
the
section
in
Mission
Hill,
where,
where
the
Green
Line
is
not
in
its
own
reservation,
the
green
line
there,
it's
so
slow
that
it's
just
as
quick
to
walk
I
mean
it's.
It's
a
it's
terrible.
So.
A
B
Eat
my
students
came
up
with
two
different
options,
but
basically
the
solution
is:
let's
make
this
street
the
way
streets
are
in
Amsterdam.
The
way
streets
are
in
The
Hague.
The
way
most
streets
are
in
sienna,
we're
okay
for
each
direction,
as
one
is
a
reservation
for
trim,
there's
one
lane
for
car
and
then
there's
the
rest,
barking
bite
incident
and
and
the
the
tram
reservation
will
be
paved
in
such
a
way.
So
buses
can
use
it
to
so.
B
Basically,
I
have
a
transit
laying
in
the
middle
and
a
car
Lane
one
lane
for
car,
so
yikes
two
lanes
for
cars
that
you
only
made
it
one
lane
for
card.
How
can
you
do
that?
Well,
what
we
found
is
we
had
to
divert
twenty
percent
of
the
food
traffic
and
with
twenty
percent
of
the
through
traffic
diverted,
we
could
get
the
train
delays
from
7.7
seconds
down
to
1.8
seconds.
This
was
a
PMP
when
out
when
out,
Don
was
bad
in
the
am
peak.
B
The
same
thing,
huge
improvement
in
perform
now
I
know
it's
it's
fair
to
say
yeah,
but
you
just
you
just
assumed
away
twenty
percent
of
the
traffic
like.
We
can't
do
that.
So
here's
my
answer.
First
of
all,
isn't
it
interesting
I
only
had
to
assume
away
twenty
percent.
You
might
have
thought
I'm
going
from
two
lanes
for
direction
to
one.
Don't
you
have
to
assume
away
fifty
percent
of
the
traffic?
No,
we
only
have
to
divert
twenty
percent
of
the
to
track
and
it
is
possible
to
do
that.
Of
course,
it
is.
B
We've
got
all
kinds
of
other
routes.
There
are
people
who
are
driving
from
Framingham
to
the
longwood
medical
area,
coming
down,
Route,
nine,
but
there's
another
Road,
that's
been
open.
Since
then,
I
should
tell
them
about
it's
called
the
mass
pike.
We've
got,
you
know
we
got
started
drive,
we
got
Jamaica
way,
we've
got
other
roads,
they
can
use
and
they'll
find
their
way
and
a
road
like
that
needs
to
be
prioritized
or
trend.
And
then
the
last
thing
is
the
basic
framework
of
our
traffic
signals.
Most
places
in
the
city
is
not
inherently
friendly.
B
It's
been
our
standard
mode,
the
mode
we
use
that
most
of
our
traffic
signals
is
coordinated,
actuated
and
when
you
try
to
lay
our
transit
priority.
On
top
of
that,
you
get
a
very
small
benefit
because
it
has
long
cycles.
That
means
long
red,
serious.
It's
inflexible,
it's
based
on
having
fixed
offset
and
it
doesn't
allow
for
compensation
by
compensation
that
I
mean,
if
I
take
away
some
of
your
green
time
in
one
cycle,
I'll
get
it
back
to
you
in
the
neck.
If
you
can
have
compensation,
then
you
can
have
really
aggressive
iron.
B
My
boss
needs
green
right.
Now.
Stop
everything
give
my
bus
screen.
Okay!
Thank
you
very
much.
Now,
I'm
going
to
give
you
back
a
green
I
took
away
from
you,
and
so
you
don't
develop
these
long
queues
and
everything.
So
in
order
to
have
good
priority,
we
need
to
shift
the
emphasis
from
ordination.
We
still
need
coordination
in
some
places
where
signals
are
close
without
coordination,
we'd
have
gridlock,
but
a
lot
of
places
where
the
signals
aren't
that
close,
we
can
break
the
coordination.
We
can.
B
Let
signals
run
free
as
they
say,
because
buses
don't
come
in
the
coordinated
greenway.
The
green
wave's
are
helping
cars
on
the
two
street
and
they're
hurting
everybody
else.
The
pedestrians,
the
buses,
the
left
turning
vehicle
across
street
and
then
I've
also
done
some
studies
with
some
some
smart
signals.
B
Smart
signals
that
do
their
coordination
in
a
in
an
organic
way
without
being
fixed,
and
we
get
in
really
good
benefit.
One
study
that
we
did
in
brookline.
We
showed
that
with
self-organizing
signals
and
signal
priority,
we
could
reduce
the
delay
for
the
train
down
to
seven
seconds
per
intersect
and
the
average
delay
for
cars
no
worse
than
it
was
before
and
and
another
test
that
we
did.
This
was
on
an
arterial
in
Phoenix.
We
were
able
to
reduce
the
delay
for
transit
here.
B
It
is
down
to
five
seconds
from
its
original
20
seconds,
while
the
delay
for
cars
originally
up
here
goes
down
to
here.
So
that's
that's
what
we
should
be
looking
to
for
the
scoop,
but
but
a
conclusion:
if
we
want
to
give
priority
for
transit,
the
first
day
is
for
is
for
the
agencies
involved
to
take
responsibility.
B
Mbta
take
responsibility,
City,
take
responsibility,
state,
take
responsibility,
just
have
goals,
performance
measures
and
rewards
so
that
there
are
mechanisms
that
will
we'll
see
where
the
problems
are
will
find
solutions
and
we'll
keep
working,
silly,
fine,
good
to
lose,
and
then
on
the
technology
side
we
can
still
do
a
lot
with
low
tech.
If
we're
clever
it
using
the
controllers
we
have,
we
can
get
better
performance
than
just
throwing
priority
on
there
and
then.
A
B
Shelf
well
way
and
then
working
to
the
future
to
try
to
get
some
really
smart
control
logic,
that's
flexible!
That
cannot.
It
has
that
compensation
mechanism
where
we
could
not.
We
can
give
the
bus
priority
when
it
needs,
and
still
we
have
lots
of
time
left
to
serve
the
cars
that
we
consider
everybody.
What
so
came
in
under
the
wire
time.
A
A
Will
officially
conclude
the
section
for
the
live
stream
and
adjourn,
and
then,
if
there's
a
few
minutes,
then
we
can
take
questions
from
the
audience
in
the
chamber.
So
if
anyone
has
questions,
please
make
your
way
down.
You
can
sit
at
any
of
these
five
teeth
and
do
so
now,
while
you're
thinking
and
formulating
I
just.
B
B
Capacity,
oh,
it's
not
so
much
car
delay,
but
it's
just
our
capacity
gets
and
how
the
car
starts
backing
up
and
walking
intersection
more
then
then
they
going
to
back
up
and
block
other
sweets
and
buses
are
in,
go
back
and
still
back
and
goes
back.
That's
the
message:
that's
what
we
want
so
and
I
think
our
Boston
transportation.