The MBTA says it has been looking closely at the Wellesley commuter rail stations, and the train system as a whole, to address accessibility barriers and map out a vision for prioritizing what steps it needs to take.

The T warns on its web pages for the three Wellesley commuter rail stations — Wellesley Square, Wellesley Hills and Wellesley Farms — that “significant accessibility barriers exist.” As we discussed in our recent post on this topic (“What will it take for Wellesley commuter rail stations to become accessible?”), residents are looking to make their voices heard and the town says it will push to get changes made.

 

One strong possibility for the Wellesley Square station at least is if a redevelopment of the Tailby and Railroad parking lots sandwiching the station really does take place, then accessibility accommodations would be a part of the deal. Investment by Natick in a conceptual design plan has put its downtown commuter rail station on a fast tracker for improvements by the MBTA.

Spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the MBTA’s Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI) is still in the early stages, but outlined the following efforts that could affect accessibility at Wellesley stations and beyond (Note: We bolded key items below):

• ​Staff developed conceptual designs for bringing accessibility to each of our inaccessible Commuter Rail stations.   To meet federal standards, the renovation at Wellesley Square Station would have to include two full-length 4-foot high platforms connected by a pedestrian walkway (via elevators and stairs).
• The PATI external advisory committee has voiced support for prioritizing bus and subway improvements based on the fact that the subway and bus networks carry far more customers than commuter rail.
• However, relative to other inaccessible Commuter Rail stations, Wellesley Square ranks in the top tier of stations that would benefit from access upgrades.
•  A funding request for a full design of an accessible Wellesley  Square station was recently submitted for consideration in the MBTA’s 2019-2023 Capital Investment Plan (CIP).  Projects are evaluated and scored based on a set of consistent project selection criteria, including impact on system preservation, cost effectiveness, social equity, economic impact, safety, mobility, environment and health effects, and policy support.  The final project prioritization is underway, and the draft FY19-23 CIP will be made public later in the spring.
• Staff is beginning to discuss if a mobile lift would serve as an appropriate interim measure to provide a degree of access at the station, but it’s important to note that the use of a mobile lift is not ideal (and feedback from a number of customers has not been favorable).

The MBTA did not share any specifics about the Hills and Farms stations.

Fortunately for Boston Marathon runners heading through Wellesley the course didn’t veer onto Rte. 9 East heading towards the Rte. 95 ramps. Otherwise, they would have been swallowed up by this minefield of potholes.

A reader passed the photo along to us, and we’ve reached out to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to see if anything can be done about the tire-trashing stretch.

UPDATE: MassDOT got back to us on Tuesday and wrote the following: 

“We got a complaint earlier today about potholes on Rte. 9  near the Sunlife Building.  I reached out to the construction engineer who assures me he will have a crew patching the area in the work zone.  As for the rest of Rte.9 the maintenance supervisor is working to get a truck full of hot mix tomorrow to run the rest of Rte. 9 in Wellesley.”

So, it looks like smoother driving is ahead. Now for those lane lines heading west on Rte. 9…

 

 

Wellesley’s lucky to have 3 stops on the MBTA commuter rail line that runs between Framingham/Worcester and Boston, but if you’re in a wheelchair and want to board a train at one of Wellesley’s stations you’re pretty much out of luck.

Wellesley Square’s station has ramps as well as parking spaces set aside for those with disabilities, but it lacks the sort of raised platforms that can be used to wheel onto a train. The web pages for each of the Wellesley stations — Wellesley Square, Wellesley Hills & Wellesley Farms — warn that “significant accessibility barriers exist.”

Meanwhile, there are accessible stations in West Natick, Framingham and Boston on the line that goes through Wellesley, and the nearby Needham stations are accessible, too.

The accessibility issue came to our attention when Wellesley Assistant Executive Director Meghan Jop mentioned the lack of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance at Wellesley Square’s commuter rail station (and the other Wellesley stations) at recent Board of Selectmen meetings while discussing a request for proposals to redevelop the Tailby and Railroad parking lots that sandwich the train. She suggested that any new development there could help to make the Wellesley Square platforms, at least, ADA compliant. ADA requirements are typically triggered by new construction or significant building/site upgrades.

 

Jop also shared the gist of a message she received from a frustrated Wellesley resident whose son lives in Wellesley Square, but can’t get onto the trains because there’s no way for him to board them with his wheelchair. Jop says the Tailby/Railroad parking lot project could be a perfect opportunity to address the problem, and vowed to work to resolve the problem even if the Tailby/Railroad development doesn’t materialize.

I followed up with the resident, Liz Fahey, who had sent email about her son William’s predicament to Jop after learning about the Tailby/Railroad lot plans.

Fahey says she’s been making efforts since 2014 related to commuter rail accessibility, but really hasn’t gotten anywhere. For starters, she’d at least like to see a sign at the Wellesley stations alerting people to the fact they can’t get onto trains with wheelchairs.

“I’m green with envy about what’s available in Needham,” she says, adding that the Yawkey station that would be her son’s destination for his job as a ticket taker for the Red Sox at Fenway Park is new and accessible. She’d settle for even a temporary platform to assist those in wheelchairs trying to get onto trains.

Local officials, including State Rep. Alice Peisch, have been supportive, but also have struggled to make headway (Peisch says “the bottom line is funding” and is circling back with the T to see where things stand). These local officials, and Fahey, acknowledge that a political campaign might be required to enact change at the Wellesley stations. This could involve starting a petition or getting those directly affected to band together in another way to get their voices heard.

MBTA on accessibility

 

We’ve attempted to reach Keolis Commuter Services (operator/maintainer of the commuter rail system) and the MBTA in various ways, including via public relations, on social media and through a contact form on the T’s accessibility page. Keolis contacted us on Monday morning, though said because our questions largely focused on capital issues, the MBTA is the better source.

Note that while Wellesley has responsibility for parking lot snow removal, maintenance and fee collection, Keolis/MBTA handles the platforms in town and is exempt from local zoning/permitting.

The T has taken many steps to make its train, subway and bus stations — as well as is vehicles — more accessible across the state. Investments in commuter rail accessibility improvements are mentioned in the most recently published Capital Investment Program document.

And as Josh Ostroff, chair of the Natick Transportation Advisory Committee pointed out in the comments section of this post, “the MBTA is taking a comprehensive look at accessibility on its entire system through a project called PATI, or Program for Accessible Transit Infrastructure. That looks at commuter rail and rapid transit stations and bus stops, and will help prioritize investments. This is run through the MBTA’s Office of System Wide Accessibility.” Interestingly, Natick funded an $80K feasibility study and conceptual design plan for the Natick Center commuter rail station back in 2012 that has resulted in the MBTA incorporating such plans into its investment initiatives.

We’re not suggesting that Wellesley deserves to be next in line for improvements, as we understand the T has had ongoing financial problems and doesn’t have endless resources to put towards immediate accessibility upgrades. We’re just curious about whether Wellesley’s stations are on any sort of timeline for upgrades that T officials can share.

Wellesley Assistant Executive Director Jop says her view is that “the Town and MBTA should find any solution, temporary or permanent, to assist our disabled residents in accessing public transportation. We have 3 stations in town, and none of them are handicapped accessible. I think it has to be a political campaign.”

Let us know in the comments section or by email ([email protected]) if you’d like to get involved or have ideas on how Wellesley can make progress on train platform accessibility.

MORE: Train teen critiques Wellesley’s commuter rail stations

That pesky not-really-a-crosswalk that connects one side of Washington Street to the other near where the new Smith & Wollensky restaurant will be has crept out of the crypt and is back causing confusion for pedestrians and motorists.

As you might recall, we solved the Case of the Crazy Wellesley Sidewalk last year, learning that the Belclare developer had been in touch with the town and was working to cover over the crosswalk with black paint. The crosswalk had been painted onto the street temporarily back in 2016 while Belclare gussied up its building for those paying well over $1M per condo.

But then the “temporary” crosswalk was left like that for months, leaving people to wonder whether it was a crosswalk or not. It looked like one, but it also went straight through a metered parking space. It caused all sorts of grief for Blue Ginger, whose patrons could never figure out if they were parked illegally or not. I always worried someone was going to get hit there, with the pedestrian thinking it was a crosswalk and a driver assuming it was not.

Indeed, the crosswalk did eventually get painted over this past September, but it appears as though the road treatments over the winter did away with the black make-up, and now the crosswalk has reappeared.

According to the town, a painting crew will spring into action at least before the Boston Marathon on April 16, but probably sooner.

Miles Taylor, a high school senior from Cambridge, has earned his 15-minutes of fame by reviewing hundreds of public transportation stations across the state. WBUR and boston.com are among media outlets that have profiled Taylor and his Miles on the MBTA blog, where this young man has been documenting his efforts to ride all 1,280 miles of the T, plus a bunch of non-MBTA public transportation options.

But The Swellesley Report hasn’t really taken notice until now: Taylor this month braved the throngs of coffee-carrying Canada Goose coat-wearing train riders packing commuter rail stations at Wellesley Square, Wellesley Hills and Wellesley Farms, and shared his observations.

A post shared by theswellesleyreport (@theswellesleyreport) on Mar 14, 2018 at 7:52am PDT

Taylor tells me he’s not sure why he’s obsessed with public transportation. “I think the best reason I’ve come up with is that I never grew out of that little boy train phase. The obsession has matured over the years, of course – it’s less about the vehicles now and more about what happens behind the scenes and how it’s all planned.”

Taylor likes the look of downtown Wellesley, but he’s much less impressed with our commuter rail stations:

“For its busiest stop and its downtown, you would think Wellesley would ensure that Wellesley Square is as nice of a station as possible. A valid thought, but a wrong one…” he writes. Among other things, he hates on the “dingy” shelter on the platform and the lack of good signage in the area directing people to the train station.  Wellesley Square station gets a 3 out of 10 on his rating system.

As for Wellesley Hills station, Taylor compliments the station building/Caffe Nero and the “weird boardwalk” that lets you cross from one platform to the other, though I was surprised he didn’t mention the rare 3-wheel bicycle rack space.

Overall, he rates the station a 4 out of 10, pointing out that there’s “nary a bench” on the outbound side and criticizing the lack of space for the MWRTA bus stop (and don’t get him started on the MWRTA).

Wellesley Farms station is also a 4 out of 10 in Taylor’s book.

First off, he puzzles over the name of this place: “Well, that station name is misleading. I don’t see any farms, just a ton of huge houses!”

Welcome to Wellesley, Miles…

He likes the wooded and winding path to the station, and appreciates the Nirvana-inspired “Come as you are” graffiti in the station building. He wonders about that fake owl in the rafters of the building (we assume it’s to spook pigeons).

 

As a new regular commuter rail rider myself, I’ve developed a better understanding in recent months of the good and bad of the Wellesley train stations. But reading Taylor’s reviews has inspired me to take an even closer look. So thanks for visiting Miles, and I hope you’ll get a chance to spend a bit more time outside the stations if you return.