BLOG: Local and Regional Transportation: A Swampscott Community Concern

We live in an area of the Massachusetts that is very attractive to live in, both for the natural setting and for our excellent neighborhoods.  In addition, this area attracts many visitors to our historic sites, state beaches, beautiful vistas and antique and craft shops. Car traffic in Swampscott is to say the least, congested. There is basically one route into Boston and a long winding route to the major highways of Route I95, MA 128 and US 1.

On the side of public transportation, we do have our own Commuter Rail stop, (Purple Line). For the typical morning/evening work-home commuter this provides an excellent alternative to the sluggish stop-and-go-and-stop traffic on 1A during that same time. As a past user of that service, the trains adhere to the schedule a good 90 percent of the time approximately. Unfortunately, that 10 percent or so of late or cancelled service was a real hassle since there’s rarely an alternative provided by the MBTA or its agent who runs the commuter rail. Also, heaven forbid you missed the train during evening rush hour as the next one was (at that time) at 9:30 pm. That’s a long wait in a mostly empty North Station.

We don’t have a rapid transit train service after Wonderland of the Blue Line. As of now, there are several bus lines from Wonderland that stop at various stops in Swampscott, mostly along Humphrey Street and Rt 1A/Paradise Road, north/south and along Rt 129A/Eastern Ave East/West. There may be more service than this, but this is the broad picture anyway.

We, like all other Americans, prefer to get in our turtle shells (cars) and drive off to places near and far. The convenience is too much temptation. Here in Swampscott, I’ve found, for practical purposes, there are few places in the town where one can walk to an area that provides easy access to convenience stores.

If one is off the ‘beaten track’ of Humphrey Street and Paradise Road, you need a car to access the most viable of the shopping areas which is in Vinnin Square. Humphrey Street from the Red Rock to Fisherman’s Beach which aspires to be a ‘downtown’ is whimsically developed with some of those antique and craft stores. Most space is for hair and nail services. There is a tailor along the way also. Nobody needs to tell you that, with the traffic congestion and limited on-street parking, that area is not as convenient as it could be. I am not one to want to stop any commercial development, but when the new storefronts are built and open, the empty lot left by last year’s fire will be missed by the locals who have been using it for overflow parking.

Into this cauldron of a transportation stew, goes a major proposal for fare increases and service reductions from our regional public transit authority, the beleaguered MBTA. Saddled with debt accrued from new public transportation construction required by the Big Dig, the authority is stuck between increasing demand and lack of income by the state and cities and towns served by the MBTA. The taxpayers are standing with their pockets turned inside out: no more money available for a system that everyone loves to hate.

So, the next step is increasing fares and decreasing services. There are two different “scenarios” presented by the MBTA to deal with its fiscal problems. Both will have a direct impact on Swampscott. The commuter rail will stop service at 10 pm and there will be no weekend services. Many bus routes will be curtailed or eliminated. For a complete list of all these proposals, go to: http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/?id=23567. From there you can download a PDF or Word file version of the plans.

In addition to the hearings being held by the MBTA throughout their service areas, there will be a Community Forum hosted by State Sen. Tom McGee and State Representative Lori Ehrlich on Wednesday, March 7, from 7 pm to 9:45 pm at the Swampscott High School. This is part of a series of Community Forums sponsored by the Swampscott Democratic Town Committee and is a NON-PARTISAN event. There is no fundraising or political campaigning. It’s a time for all of Swampscott citizens to discuss concretely what is your current use of transportation resources and if there was one part of your commute you could change, what would you do?  These ideas will be presenting our lawmakers with the hopes they will become building blocks for further efforts by all involved.