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Re: T construction news I'm not so sure we can judge how Government Center will go based on Science Park for two reasons: GC is underground while SP is elevated and GC has more than 10x the number of boardings SP has in addition to serving a massive transfer role in the system. Can't be a...

Re: T construction news Considering Park/DTX/State are all relatively close so if GC is your origin or destination, it's not such an issue in terms of getting to where you need to be as you can easily walk between any of those and the surrounding areas. What is at least a bit concerning is...

Re: T construction news Surprised this hasn't hit here yet: MBTA: Government Center Station to close for 2 years starting in Sept. 2013 for $90 million overhaul Taking one of the four transfer stations completely out of commission? What a nightmare. Hope I'll be all moved somewhere off the...

What makes parking on a suburban street any different from parking on a city one? You don't need parking minimums to incentivize developers to include parking in the suburbs... the fact that they decided to build in a transit wasteland works wonders on its own.

We could have the general fund route in place as of yesterday with zero technology (i.e. transponders, extra meter reading, etc.) required. So easy it'll never happen! :) VMT for truck traffic is also an excellent idea - it's been far too long that trucking companies have received a heavily...

Yes - drove on it a few times over the past week. It is VERY nice right now. Can't help but think, though, that the fourth lane should be an open HOV lane like San Francisco has: HOV-only during rush hours but otherwise open to all traffic.

This. I don't see how it can be difficult to comprehend that western MA is subsidized by Greater Boston. Just as MA pays into the federal tax system far more than it receives in return, so to does Boston's population pay into a system that redistributes funding across the state.

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos A rather simple yet entirely nonstarter of a solution: buy longer articulated trains that can train line and control doors from front, and move to proof of payment. The unions would never endorse either, unfortunately. Also, like Matthew said, the B...

Leominster-Worcester doesn't even qualify as low-hanging fruit when we're talking about linking a suburban bedroom community of 40k to a smallish-sized city of 140k that are separated by 20+ miles of mostly undeveloped land. South Coast Rail is likewise a horrific fail of a proposition. But...

MA already does this: 2.5% excise tax on the vehicle's list price based on the vehicle's model year and a formula for depreciation.

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos It is indeed quite alarming. Not sure I see things being better at the MBTA when the issues will be bigger, she has more people to manage, and there's a lot less money to go around in a substantially more expensive metropolitan area. Something just...

While I agree a 757 is better for BOS-MAD, there's no way BOS-BCN would cut it outside of peak summer season, even with Vueling's BCN network. BCN is just an infinitesimally small market from BOS compared to the connecting opportunities via BA/LHR and IB/MAD. I'd be surprised if they end...

^ We're talking about a city with I-93 a mile or less to the east of those roads, for crying out loud. They don't need to be limited-access and grade-separated. Bottom line: the SWX didn't happen and isn't coming back. So if the argument is what kinds of upgrades should happen to make road...

The biggest issue with Boston's southwestern neighborhoods is that they have almost zero transit access. There are several high-capacity roads that crisscross the area in a haphazard way, but by and large there's literally no way to go anywhere without a car. Cramming more lane miles through...

Street parking in Paris is not remotely close to a parking lot, though. Paris has the density and street level activity from pedestrians and bicyclists that more than makes up for the hideous amount of cars that line its myriad of small streets.

You'd get a hell of a lot more than "five more spokes of trains" for the cost of the Big Dig. Even half the amount of the Big Dig would be able to nearly triple the size of our rapid transit network. And the goal isn't remotely close to providing "every citizen with a 10 minute trip to...

If anything, your example shows the pitfalls of Boston's hub-and-spoke rapid transit network and its over-reliance on buses where density and demand could be more efficiently served via some sort of rail. Whereas untold billions have been spent on roads to create a level of network connectivity...

How would the SWX and Inner Belt be useful for connecting those places? I think the only city without an easy (in terms of direct routing) connection to Boston is Lowell because the detour along 128 to 93 is pretty out of the way. There would still be a jog along 128 to get to 24 for Brockton...

I don't see how that would be the case since the vast majority of Boston's transit system as we know it today was already in place before the Southwest Expressway was killed... notable exceptions being the Red Line extended from Harvard to Alewife, Red Line from Quincy Center to Braintree...

The 77L would definitely be short - it has a max range of somewhere near 9,300 mi. Not to mention BOS-Australia would be a waste of resources - the vast majority of US-Australia traffic is headed to/from California and NYC and BOS-Australia would overfly 99% of any potential connecting...