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  1. Koopzilla24

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    A lot of the terrible bus-bus and bus-train transfers can be chocked up to the MBTA's "bus stop safety standard" or however they word it. It really just means they don't want to slow cars so they put stops on the far side of intersection where possible, or in Mountfort St's case on the 47, as...
  2. Koopzilla24

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

    Franklin Line Double Track project page has received an update displaying some updated timeline elements. Over a year to finish 1.5mi of track that has largely already been sitting out on ties but with no ballast for years now says to me that they're committing the absolute minimum of...
  3. Koopzilla24

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

    I thought the whole issue with doing more frequent but shorter consists on the weekends that was discussed in the forums before was that the MBTA particularly likes to keep the same consists assembled and assigned to the same lines most of the time to avoid a lot of yard action? I've been riding...
  4. Koopzilla24

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    I was wondering what these "bags" they kept mentioning for covering the new signs were gonna look like and that is not at all what I expected.
  5. Koopzilla24

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    Coincidentally I was reading through the Bus Stop Feedback (starts on pg.30) the other day and it may give some insight into the opinions of community members on stop placement. Residents seem very concerned with stops being placed at some major intersections because of the danger of drivers...
  6. Koopzilla24

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    MBTA Open Data Portal. It has monthly ridership data by mode going back to January 2016.
  7. Koopzilla24

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    September was the best month for weekday ridership so far following the pandemic. Commuter Rail ridership is up to 94% of September 2019. Bus, 81%. Rapid transit 56%, which isn't great but relative to its prior peak of 51% that's a sizable jump and the first time rapid transit ridership has...
  8. Koopzilla24

    Green Line Type 10 Procurement

    I really like what's going on in the left screen there and hope it makes it to the final product. Digitizing the system map could potentially mean it could be live updated to reflect active service outages and the like. It's also preventative of having out of date system maps if any line...
  9. Koopzilla24

    Green Line Type 10 Procurement

    I'm right with you that the new hard flat plastic seats are both uncomfortable and not very ergonomic. It would've been nice if they made them more bucket-shaped like the NYC subway seats at the very least. I guess it's pretty subjective what is considered a long commute. Even with the Red Line...
  10. Koopzilla24

    Transit via the Grand Junction Corridor | Cambridge and Boston

    Accusing me of not reading the study when that was not at all their "number 1 study conclusion" not that they necessarily ordered the concluding remarks of the executive summary on the first page following the table of contents which is where those "downsides" pull from but rather bulleted them...
  11. Koopzilla24

    Transit via the Grand Junction Corridor | Cambridge and Boston

    Well I had a thing with pictures typed but then the page refreshed and it didn't save a draft and I'm not typing that again so the tl;dr/10% summary of it is: 2012-2016 studies are barely relevant the city and especially the study area of MIT and Kendall have changed so much since then with...
  12. Koopzilla24

    Transit via the Grand Junction Corridor | Cambridge and Boston

    Things to consider: A rail shuttle on the Grand Junction serves a lot more purpose than just a 64 without traffic or another Charles Crossing. If it were a timed transfer with the Worcester Line it'd be a much faster more reliable/direct route for people out along Route 9 to get to jobs in...
  13. Koopzilla24

    Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail (South Coast Rail)

    Stations are officially done
  14. Koopzilla24

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

    Unfortunately it's a toss-up which publicly available datasheets contain this info or not. Stadler's RS Zero which is basically a modern battery train equivalent of a Budd RDC lists a max starting accel. of 0.95 m/s^2 but it's unsure if the more powerful motors of the heavier FLIRT Akku...
  15. Koopzilla24

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

    UK rail forums and Reddit have discussed the acceleration concerns of BEMUs v EMUs fairly extensively and for the Fairmount Line there's negligible difference in performance depending on the specific BEMU. The main penalty is in the reduced top speed over EMUs primarily to preserve batteries...
  16. Koopzilla24

    Other People's Rail: Amtrak, commuter rail, rapid transit news & views outside New England

    Making it more difficult to evade fares has been shown to have a significant effect on reducing antisocial behavior such as smoking on the train. Those antisocial behaviors while often not an actual serious threat to people can make them uncomfortable and discourage riding transit. What St...
  17. Koopzilla24

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    Hence Phase 2 in early 2025 where they're gonna need a significant number of new drivers to support service changes, unlike for Phase 1. December 2024 isn't the start of full BNRD only Phase 1 which is much more of a resource re-allocation than an expansion and does not require the full roster.
  18. Koopzilla24

    Biking in Boston

    I will say there is one nonsense one by Prentiss/Rox Crossing. At Prentiss, heading south, it shows that pedestrians should take the left path that leads down to the sidewalk.... But from Roxbury Crossing going north, following the pedestrian signs leads first to the sidewalk... Then when...
  19. Koopzilla24

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    1,571 + 128 operators actively in training = 1,699. That's 26 shy of 1,725 (if all complete training). In training drivers are not part of the active roster because, like you said, they could not complete the training. There are additional factors to consider such as moving from running training...
  20. Koopzilla24

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    Why would they need to fill all the vacancies back to a full budgeted headcount by December '24 if they're only rolling out ~88% of pre-pandemic service? The routing changes in the area are largely made up by reallocation of drivers needed for consolidated/eliminated routes plus the additional...

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