Search results

Having only about 6 dispatchers for 600+ buses on 100+ routes on the road at once means there's basically no headway control - the dispatchers are busy dealing with emergencies, disabled buses, rerouting around crashes, etc. There's simply no time to deal with ordinary bunches and gaps. There...

^ fully agreed. Like any traffic control device, they have to be implemented responsibly, with safety rather than revenue as the guiding principle. Bad practices like shortening yellows go against every safety principles; there needs to be stronger controls to prevent politicians and...

I simply can't imagine a surface connector with tight curves and traffic signals being useful for anything but non-revenue moves, especially connecting to the surface tracks on Huntington. It would be a substantial downgrade from the grade-separated Highland Branch. Currently, Brookline Village...

Yes, ferry does tend to have relatively high fixed costs. With decent ridership and relatively fast trips that's not as big of an issue; the MBTA ferry system actually tends to have some of the highest farebox recovery of the various modes. But for a slow, small boat that can make at most 2...

No, it's about 300 feet between the existing platform tips. And, as we've discussed before, that's at the very tips of both stations. The actual walking distance between Red and Blue would be about 1500 feet - triple that of the Winter Street Concourse - with multiple stairs/elevators required...

With GLX active, Lechmere is no longer a bus hub anywhere near the importance of Sullivan et al. The only high-frequency route with BNRD will be the 101, which also serves Sullivan anyway.

The new RL and OL cars are specced to accelerate at 2.75 mph/s up to 16 mph and rated for a maximum speed of 70 mph (63 in service). Acceleration typically tapers off at higher speeds; making some rough assumptions about that, you're probably looking at about 1/3 mile to hit 60 mph, or about 1/2...

I continue to maintain, only half-jokingly, that Boston needs a kayak-share system.

No - it was built for 70 mph speeds (as were the 01400 series "Silverbirds" built for the extension), though I'm not sure it was ever consistently operated above 55 mph. Getting back to 50 mph is primarily a matter of maintenance standards and shouldn't require any change to track geometry.

As jbray said, this is the likely area for such a station: Unless Main Street gets new ramps from 128, the most likely access would be from US 20 slightly west of the interchange.

Shirley, Ayer, West Concord, Concord, and Lincoln are all village center stations, as are all the inside-128 stops. They need densification of the surrounding development and improved non-car access; expanding parking at any of them is generally a bad idea, and the existing lots are too small...

A lot of the challenge with Alewife is that there's simply no good alternative for a lot of people in the Route 2 (and to some degree, Route 3) corridors. Most of the other major commuting corridors have one or more good park-and-ride locations between 128 and 495 that typically have...

The lack of intermediate stops in the alternatives is baffling. Four of the six have no stops between Greenfield and Fitchburg, even though Gardner and Athol+Orange combined are both larger than Greenfield. Throwing down mini-high platforms for flag stops in most/all of Charlemont, Shelburne...

Reading this discussion has led me remember a precept I know I've voiced before: the accuracy of a map should reflect the expectations created by the complexity of the network and the geography. That is to say: a simple map can be fairly distorted and serve its purpose, while a complicated map...

Four crossings just to continue along Route 27 as a pedestrian. Two crossings at pedestrian-only signals (which drivers widely ignore) on ramps. Bus stops that require multiple crossings to reach from any kind of civilization, and god help you if you want to transfer. Everyone involved in...

Does anyone know why the Riverside Avenue entrance to Campello station has been closed since last September? There doesn't appear to be any construction going on that would cause it, and the concrete blocks that block off the entrance are pretty substantial. Given the amount of tire marks in the...

One thing I just noticed about this - unlike previous updates, Blandford, Griggs, Allston, and Warren are listed as being planned for accessibility renovations. They're listed under the same entry as the other B Branch stations, though presumably they're not as far along in design.

Here's a 1915 postcard of the waiting room:

As HBH notes, lots of schedule slip since the last update. Last update, the next round for Forest Hills - upgrades to three existing elevators, plus a new elevator connecting the two busways - was expected to be finished with design in mid 2024. Now it just says "The design for the broader...