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At DFACambridge, Shai Sachs pronounces his support for a Central Sq.-Cambridgeport-Allston Rapid Bus line.

City Councillor Craig Kelley and Jeff Rosenblum, founder of Livable Streets, both agree that the term "Bus Rapid Transit" is misleading, since the new line would be more of a bus than a subway. But that discussion is itself a bit of a sideshow: there’s nothing wrong with buses. Any transportation system worth its salt will have heavier reliance on buses than subways, since bus routes are more flexible and cheaper to run (and are consequently more affordable for commuters).

So put me down as in favor of a bus route - or a BRT, if that’s what the MBTA really wants - going from Central Sq. to Allston over the BU bridge. And while we’re at it, let’s increase the frequency of the 64. That’s a great bus line and serves a wonderful purpose - connecting Central Square with Allston/Brighton - but it doesn’t run nearly often enough.

But let’s not ignore other parts of Cambridge, shall we? From my vantage point we could use better connections between Lechmere/East Cambridge, Kendall Square, and Central Square. And maybe a few lines crossing over from Kendall into Charles St. via the Longfellow. Luckily, it appears that the Urban Ring is already making some overtures in that direction, with routes from Kendall into Chelsea.

I disagree with Shai: I think the discussion of Rapid Bus Transit is what’s at stake here. The T isn’t simply thinking of running more 64 buses, but is instituting a new route as part of a fairly expensive and potential misguided hybrid bus-based Urban Ring.

First, my points of agreement, though: one of the biggest public transportation challenges in Boston is cross-town transit. The subway-trolley system has spoke-hub layout with lines going into and out of downtown, whereas the city’s growth over a century has meant that economic activity and social relations cut across outer neighborhoods. The paucity of cross-town thoroughfares means conjested automobile traffice; the Charles and Mystic rivers mean a natural barrier to cross-transportation. We can’t cover every cross-town path equally, but connecting Cambridge to Allston, Back Bay or Chelsea or Dorchester to Jamaica Plain or Brookline… these connections might become increasingly important as the city grows. They’re important now, even.

Also, Shai’s right, buses are cheaper. I don’t know that they’re cheaper to operate, since labor costs are higher and automotive fuel surely costs more than the electricity required to operate trains. But subway, light rail and trolley lines are inordinately expensive to build and even expensive to maintain. It’s essentially a choice between really high fixed costs/lower operating costs and fairly low fixed costs/higher operating costs. Given the fiscal difficulties of the T and its debt, there’s an argument to be made against taking on high fixed costs of capital improvement now.

But - how do I put this delicately? - buses suck. In some places (some European cities come to mind), buses run remarkably on time, but in a congested city like that’s impossible… even if the MBTA were to put forth the effort, which I’m not sure they do. The cross-town routes in fact are hit the hardest. The #1 and the #66 theoretically run every 10 minutes during the day, but in practice you can wait forty minutes for one. Furthermore, the schedules list only three or four times points; given the distance the cross-town routes cover, riders have to guess when it might pass their stop. I like the 47 route but rarely take it for that reason. If riders can’t expect some guarantee of reliability or regularity (preferably the latter), they’re not going to ride unless they absolutely have to.

If it were just the matter of running more #64s or #47s or whatever, one could accept the pitfalls of buses, but the problem is that the MBTA has deluded itself that "rapid bus" is as good as rail. It’s not. Double parking is a huge problem in Boston and would have ground the Silver Line to a halt were Washington Street more trafficked. Try a dedicated lane on Mass Av. or Harvard Av. and see how far you get. Buses still face cross-town traffic and are still especially vulnerable to the elements (ever see the 39 stuck in the snow?). Rapid buses still have awkward interfaces with rail transportation, and it remains to be seen if the Charley Card will make any difference.

Any public transportation system worth its salt has rail covering and connecting most of the city.

At the least we shouldn’t get so bus-happy that we run buses between Kendall and Charles St. The Red Line serves that route admirably.