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  1. R

    MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

    Gonna reply to @The EGE in this thread: I actually am less cynical in this case. This seems related to the decision to have Providence trains start stopping at Readville again. In both cases, this sounds to me like Eng did a tour of the commuter rail and said, “So we’ve got these perfectly...
  2. R

    Fantasy T maps

    Also full agree with all of this, and nicely said -- the scale problem is a good way to articulate it as well. But yeah, the examples of place names coming from railroad station names is one of my favorite examples of transit making the place.
  3. R

    Fantasy T maps

    Full agree on this, and wonderfully articulated. It's always an awful challenge, just super difficult all around.
  4. R

    Fantasy T maps

    Ink Block?
  5. R

    Fantasy T maps

    I missed the edit -- this is looking great! Yeah, it's been similar for me with Paint.NET. I think there's value in practicing making maps like this, but it's definitely got its limitations.
  6. R

    Green Line Reconfiguration

    You might find this piece I wrote about the B & C Lines interesting. It sounds like you are describing what I call the "Kenmore Model"; I am critical of that model in the linked piece, but I do think there is value to it. I also imagined a system where more examples of the Kenmore Model were...
  7. R

    Green Line Reconfiguration

    I have more thoughts I might share later, but the other big piece (in my opinion) is the question of grade-separation. With light rail, you have some flexibility for things like grade crossings at streets and even sometimes street-running. With heavy rail, you have no wiggle room at all...
  8. R

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    Full list of service changes here. Maybe I'm feeling sentimental today, but I was surprised at how happy I was to hear about the 30 minute headways on the Fairmount Line. The Indigo Line concept has been around for something like 20 or 30 years, and, like, we've actually gotten amazingly close...
  9. R

    Green Line Reconfiguration

    Hello and welcome! Well, let me ask you this: what benefits do you see to converting the Green Line to heavy rail? (I of course have my own ideas but would love to talk about your thoughts specifically!)
  10. R

    Fantasy T maps

    Mind if I ask what you were using before? (I myself have used Paint.NET for many years now, for better or worse.)
  11. R

    Transit Planning $h!tposting (Ideas so bad, they're good)

    You're totally right about turning the Southwest Corridor diagonal, I think that would work. Yes, I wanted to avoid diagonal text at all costs, and yeah, I was worried about the streetcar lines looking messy so did try to focus on making them clean. But, if I turn the Southwest Corridor diagonal...
  12. R

    Fantasy T maps

    I finally made a map in Illustrator! (Which is truly embarrasing to say, but still!) There are actually three versions of this map, presented and discussed on my blog. Aesthetically, I think I like this one the best. The thick vs thin purple lines create a good visual effect delineating...
  13. R

    Transit Planning $h!tposting (Ideas so bad, they're good)

    Well, it's certainly no longer a shitpost, but I now offer not one, not two, but three versions of the map I described upthread, of a system I've called the Boston Metropolitatn Railway. Full versions (and background and explanation) on my blog. I'm gonna write a separate blog post...
  14. R

    Transit Planning $h!tposting (Ideas so bad, they're good)

    Very cool! I've been working on a diagram version of the original map I described, so I'll use this opportunity to tease that:
  15. R

    Transit Planning $h!tposting (Ideas so bad, they're good)

    Just want to say that I think this is a super interesting idea and I hope to come back and comment on it further!
  16. R

    Transit Planning $h!tposting (Ideas so bad, they're good)

    Yeah, this is one of my favorite routes to crayon, actually. The potential for a "Brickbottom Bypass" opens up interesting possibilities such as a Porter <> Sullivan service. Oh awesome! I didn't want to arrogantly presume :) I'm particularly appreciative because I actually started to draw a...
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    Transit Planning $h!tposting (Ideas so bad, they're good)

    ^ I think it’s really interesting what happens to the Orange Line corridor in this concept. The branching on the southern end is modestly parsimonious in terms of decreasing frequencies against decreasing density; the northern end a bit less so, giving that Malden Center is currently a major bus...
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    Crazy Transit Pitches

    Been a hectic day but here is my blogpost: https://railsroadsriverside.com/the-long-lasting-impact-of-the-transit-land-grab-in-boston/ Key points: I argue that the Cambridge Subway, the Washington St El, and the East Boston Tunnel provide illustrative examples.
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    Crazy Transit Pitches

    ^ This is an excellent analysis. I've been drafting a blog post on this, so I'm gonna see if I can finish that up first and then I'll add more comments after. But, one of the tl;dr's here IMO: the underserved areas highlighted on your map overlap remarkably with the shorelines and existing...
  20. R

    Crazy Transit Pitches

    I agree that that is an intermediate option -- tbh I tried to articulate something like that but couldn't put it as succinctly as you did. In any case, though, in that scenario my first thought would be to look at triple (if not quad) tracking the mainline in strategic locations, with the aim of...

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