1 minute read
Traffic Signal Control and TSP
from BRT Playbook
by Sauced Media
machines but does not indicate whether they would be available at every BRT station. Furthermore, MBTA has not concluded how it will enforce proof-of-payment bus fares and how such a policing effort would be made equitable across the system.
The type of transit signal priority desired along the Everett‒Boston corridor is active TSP that grants signal priority to all transit buses, not only those that are behind schedule. Among the major stakeholders of this project—MBTA and the cities of Everett and Boston—there is limited experience with this type of TSP.79 Everett and Boston have discussed implementing TSP along Lower Broadway to improve transit now that the casino is open, and Everett officials suggest that this would not be a major undertaking.
Advertisement
The TSP hardware on the MBTA buses using the BRT corridor will need to be compatible with traffic signal hardware in Everett, Boston, and along the Chelsea busway extension and Silver Line. The TSP protocols used in each location need to be compatible as well. Decades-old traffic systems will likely need to be upgraded. A traffic signal technology inventory along the corridor will clarify possible paths toward effective TSP in a multijurisdictional BRT corridor. This will likely need to be part of a region-wide discussion of signal priority.
Ideally, the TSP would operate seamlessly end to end, even as the BRT corridor crosses municipal boundaries. This will require early coordination and hardware integration between MBTA (which owns the fleet), City of Everett (which owns the traffic signals in Everett), and the City of Boston (which owns the hardware in Boston). DCR will also be an important stakeholder for TSP on bus priority lanes that cross parkways, such as through Sweetser Circle.
Important next steps for advancing TSP along this corridor include:80
Early interagency coordination and communication.
Inventory existing traffic signal and in-vehicle hardware to assess TSP
compatibility. This should include the Everett‒Boston corridor, Cambridge/ Somerville route alignment, Silverline, and MBTA buses plying routes on these corridors, with the aim of understanding current technology, ownership of the signal hardware, signal phasing, and how to optimize it all for BRT operations.
Review of lessons learned from TSP implementations along other
(multijurisdictional) bus and BRT corridors in the U.S. This ought to include Albuquerque, Richmond, and Hartford.
