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  1. Brattle Loop

    MBTA Fare System (Charlie, AFC 2.0, Zone, Discounts)

    I've never understood why the cards expire like that, and why apparently the only place than can help is the CharlieCard store at DTX. I feel like that might be more to do with technical issues with the original AFC system than an MBTA decision, but I don't know, and it's extremely stupid either...
  2. Brattle Loop

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    I think part of the issue is in presenting things as if oversight and internal culture are independent of each other. I would agree to an extent with JeffDowntown that you can't really force quality through external oversight. I think that's overstating things a bit, because competent quality...
  3. Brattle Loop

    General Infrastructure

    I mean, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they didn't investigate this one, but they don't tend to be dismissive of safety concerns in their reports (they tend to be politely if noticeably annoyed when the actual regulatory agencies ignore their recommendations). I fully agree that the...
  4. Brattle Loop

    General Infrastructure

    No clue what in that quote you're responding to.
  5. Brattle Loop

    General Infrastructure

    I get the satirical point, though I am legitimately curious as to whether this one would be big enough to draw the NTSB's interest. (Seeing as how it sounds like the tanker hit a car that had a blowout or something, it seems like more "freak accident" than anything else.)
  6. Brattle Loop

    MBTA Fare System (Charlie, AFC 2.0, Zone, Discounts)

    Am I misremembering, or is part of the problem with AFC 2.0's snail-pace rollout Cubic having its hands full with OMNY?
  7. Brattle Loop

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    I don't know if FTA standards are necessarily more stringent, so much as the FRA's least-stringent track classification has a 10 mph max speed restriction but also forbids passenger trains of any kind (for a while I think the Grand Junction fell into that dubious category at least in parts...
  8. Brattle Loop

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

    Keolis' ham-handed faregate installation is part of that. At least they patched the glitch where you could re-use the same (single ride) ticket over and over...after they put the gates in service (seems like a pretty obvious problem that should have been anticipated pre-rollout). I suppose too...
  9. Brattle Loop

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    I don't know the answer to this, though it's worth noting that the CR is under a different regulatory regime than the RT system (FRA versus FTA).
  10. Brattle Loop

    Infrastructure to Nowhere (The Vestigial Infrastructure Thread)

    But, again, that's not baked into the state constitution. There's like eighty million Democrats in the state house, if they (well, a majority of them, at any rate) decided that they didn't like living under the Speaker's petty dictatorship, they can change the rules. You're not wrong about the...
  11. Brattle Loop

    Infrastructure to Nowhere (The Vestigial Infrastructure Thread)

    I'd add "tell your rep to fix the House's warped power structure", it's not as though there's any legal reason the House Speaker is so absurdly powerful.
  12. Brattle Loop

    The Official MBTA System Map

    To be fair, the map is further inaccurate for the other color lines. It'd be fine if it said "Transit", but, "Rapid" is a leap too far. Tourists might accidentally get the impression that transit could get them to their destinations quickly. 🙃
  13. Brattle Loop

    Infrastructure to Nowhere (The Vestigial Infrastructure Thread)

    I'd consider that a good thing, or, at least, better than the reverse. The T ultimately answers to the state, and even if the T was highly interested, if the legislature (cough*the Speaker*cough) wasn't on board, it'd do no good. Obviously if the legislature were to mandate an electrification...
  14. Brattle Loop

    Infrastructure to Nowhere (The Vestigial Infrastructure Thread)

    Now that's a question for the state legislature (whose madness, unfortunately, has long proven particularly incurable).
  15. Brattle Loop

    The Official MBTA System Map

    Pedestrian connection, looks like.
  16. Brattle Loop

    The Official MBTA System Map

    Might have more thoughts later, but there's something bizarrely jarring about the squared-off ends of the lines and the curved turns on some of the lines. Also, it'd probably good to have a box or shading or something to indicate the segment that's geographically-accurate and the parts that aren't.
  17. Brattle Loop

    Infrastructure to Nowhere (The Vestigial Infrastructure Thread)

    If by "ran fine" you mean that they had little to no redundancy to handle any of the myriad problems that crop up on transit systems. That things didn't melt down so frequently (and recovered more quickly) when there were more, and more reliable, vehicles in operation doesn't mean that they...
  18. Brattle Loop

    If You Were God/Goddess | Transit & Infrastructure Sandbox

    Definitely. Chicago has (or had, at least) a fondness for the HRT-in-median approach, which added notably-longer walks through lower-density areas than their older elevated lines (which were usually more convenient...at least when they weren't as bogged-down in track work as the T...)
  19. Brattle Loop

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    What even is this? (And does it have anything to do with the stated desire for Commuter Rail storage at Widett?)
  20. Brattle Loop

    Crazy Transit Pitches

    Less than useless, pretty much. Amtrak has no interest in sending the Acela any further north than Boston. (I'll concede that they might, in an NSRL universe, consider an Anderson RTC station for extra northern catchment if they had a Woburn layover yard, but even then that'd more likely be the...

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