Recent content by lexicon506

It's truly wild. In Germany, a monthly pass valid on every bus, tram, U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and regional train in the entire country costs.... 49 euros. The only transit I can't ride on that pass are the high speed IC/ICE trains. People are always shocked when I tell them how much a monthly pass for a...

What bold changes occurred during the Walsh era? Nothing against him but he was mayor during a building boom, so buildings got built... ok. Wu is pursuing comprehensive, permanent change in the city's zoning code to allow greater density by right in the places that desperately need it. And...

Interesting New Yorker profile on Michelle Wu, focused on her housing/development policies. The money quote in my opinion, finally a mayor that gets it: "This new City Hall is so confident in its policies that it can seem unmoved by public opinion. Homeowners resent Wu’s quest for density...

I don't get what's so "alarming" here. Obviously we should do everything possible to address concerns about affordability/transit/etc, but people in their 20s are a highly transient demographic, I'd be surprised if there's a big city out there that does much better than Boston on this metric. In...

Exactly! This project as proposed is so.... lame. A once in a lifetime opportunity to redesign some of Boston's worst infrastructure mistakes and no one at MassDOT is thinking big. Merge Soldiers Field Rd. into the 8-lane Mass Pike at the throat. Storrow can remain but as a two-lane boulevard...

Thank you for making a great counterpoint, although the reality is the market to/from these small cities is tiny. Your example of Charleston, WV doesn't even have service to LGA/JFK/EWR/PHL, so clearly those folks are being accommodated just fine through other connections. The handful of people...

A. Yes. I've traveled with international luggage (moving luggage, not just a fun trip) from both Boston to NY and from DC to NY. B. NY connections from Boston are largely irrelevant. Today, there are countless ways to re-route those connections causing minimal inconvenience to travellers. C...

Sorry I don't buy that. Maybe that was the case once, but search for a flight from Boston to anywhere in the world.. Nairobi, Bangalore, Rio, Taipei. The vast majority of connections run through Europe, the Middle East, East Asia, and other major US airports like ATL, SFO, ORD, MIA. Sure, taking...

Maybe call this a crazy transit pitch, but I hope the NE Corridor gets to the point sooner rather than later where we can talk about banning flights between BOS-NYC/PHL (as well as WAS-NYC/PHL). It's ridiculous the amount of emissions and air congestion that result from these short-haul routes...

Wouldn't it make far more sense for places like PQI and EPM to have service to BOS rather than PWM? A 5 hour drive isn't great, but it's doable, and access to the "capital city" of New England and all of its institutions would seem to offer so much more, including onward connectivity. Is it a...

Serious question: is grey paneling significantly cheaper than other colors? I can't fathom why a designer would cover a building like this in shades of grey when colors would make it so much more vibrant, inviting, and engaging, even leaving the massing exactly as is. On a cloudy day this...

^^ Thanks for the flashback to my 16-year-old self! Oh, to be young and optimistic about the future 😂

It "closes at midnight" but in reality the system is functionally useless by 11:30pm. Since the lines are so long, service at an outer station like Dulles will end by 10:45pm in order to reach the other end of the line by the midnight closing time. I've been stranded countless times throughout...

DC's Metro has its pluses, but one of my main issues is that it shuts down ridiculously early. I had a flight land at Dulles at 10:20pm and wasn't able to make the last train into DC, which is absurd. The T's ~1am closing time feels enlightened in comparison to DC.

Feels like we're blowing things way out of proportion... it's some minor elevation, not Boston's own Everest. Still falls squarely into the "casual/commuting" category, just not the "I don't even want to pedal" category.