Gov. Deval Patrick was in New Bedford Wednesday getting South Coast residents all excited about the prospect of commuter rail service to Boston.
Of course, no funding source has been identified for the estimated $1.4 billion it will cost to build the new line connecting New Bedford and Fall River with South Station; and the completion date is optimistically scheduled for 2016. As to how many might be willing to spend two hours or more each day riding the rails from beyond Cape Cod to Boston and back, is anyone's guess.
Nevertheless, the governor's announcement served to remind those living on the North Shore and Cape Ann of the many promised improvements in rail transportation that remain unmet.
Forget about the extension of the Blue Line rapid transit services to Lynn. (It seems many have put it out of their minds already, as the project appears off the radar screen on Beacon Hill and at the state transportation offices in Park Square.)
Forget about the idea of building a rail spur connecting the Northshore Mall and downtown Peabody with the commuter rail station in Salem; or running a shuttle between the commuter rail's Chelsea stop and Logan Airport. Both ideas make a lot of sense, but would require an investment of money and imagination, both of which seem to be in short supply at MBTA headquarters these days.
But here are a few recycled ideas that have been endorsed many times by several previous administrations and for which money was at one time said to be available.
* More frequent service. Run the trains more often on the Rockport and Newburyport lines.
You can catch an inbound train from Beverly and points south every half-hour during the morning rush, and from Boston north during the evening. Why not maintain this frequency of service throughout the day during the week, and add trains on weekends and holidays?
Salem's David Pelletier, who has been a tireless advocate of improved rail service to the region, points out that service every half-hour would be almost the equivalent of what currently exists on some branches of the MBTA's Green Line.
* More parking. This is a must, particularly at Salem and Beverly where the lots are full by 7:30 in the morning. Many have given up trying to use commuter rail because know they won't have any place to put their car at the time they want to catch the train.
Of course, no funding source has been identified for the estimated $1.4 billion it will cost to build the new line connecting New Bedford and Fall River with South Station; and the completion date is optimistically scheduled for 2016. As to how many might be willing to spend two hours or more each day riding the rails from beyond Cape Cod to Boston and back, is anyone's guess.
Nevertheless, the governor's announcement served to remind those living on the North Shore and Cape Ann of the many promised improvements in rail transportation that remain unmet.
Forget about the extension of the Blue Line rapid transit services to Lynn. (It seems many have put it out of their minds already, as the project appears off the radar screen on Beacon Hill and at the state transportation offices in Park Square.)
Forget about the idea of building a rail spur connecting the Northshore Mall and downtown Peabody with the commuter rail station in Salem; or running a shuttle between the commuter rail's Chelsea stop and Logan Airport. Both ideas make a lot of sense, but would require an investment of money and imagination, both of which seem to be in short supply at MBTA headquarters these days.
But here are a few recycled ideas that have been endorsed many times by several previous administrations and for which money was at one time said to be available.
* More frequent service. Run the trains more often on the Rockport and Newburyport lines.
You can catch an inbound train from Beverly and points south every half-hour during the morning rush, and from Boston north during the evening. Why not maintain this frequency of service throughout the day during the week, and add trains on weekends and holidays?
Salem's David Pelletier, who has been a tireless advocate of improved rail service to the region, points out that service every half-hour would be almost the equivalent of what currently exists on some branches of the MBTA's Green Line.
* More parking. This is a must, particularly at Salem and Beverly where the lots are full by 7:30 in the morning. Many have given up trying to use commuter rail because know they won't have any place to put their car at the time they want to catch the train.
There are new garages in Lynn and Lawrence that stand half empty, but were built due to the political clout those communities wield. Our guess is that similar facilities in Salem and Beverly would be full the day they opened.
* Improved stations. Someone observed the other day that it's hard for Salem to lure tourists from Boston via public transportation, since when they arrive in town they find themselves in what looks like a concrete bunker rather than the gateway to one of the most historic communities in the commonwealth.
Here and elsewhere along the line, a few amenities, some simple signage and more protective shelters, would go a long way to convince people that taking the train was a preferable alternative to battling the highway traffic on the way into work.
According to Pelletier, who has studied the mass transit picture North of Boston longer and more extensively than anyone else, these simple improvements could pick up 90 percent of the ridership that might be attracted by a Blue Line extension, at just 20 percent of the cost. Certainly they would cost a lot less than $1.4 billion, and could be completed much sooner than 2016.
If the governor is truly intent on encouraging more people to use public transportation, he'll turn his eyes north.
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