Search results

No, it shouldn't. It should be appropriately funded by the public, and failing that, it should only seek to collect exactly as much funding as it needs to span the difference between what the public provides in operational funding and what the actual costs of operation are. In this particular...

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011 A great many people, actually. To contextualize my frustration and my resignation, consider this article, particularly the section I've quoted: (emphasis mine) Now, in the context of that, consider how much less of an impact running a pair of...

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011 Like I said... I'm done. I'm through caring about the impact my line-drawing may or may not have on neighborhoods or communities, since nothing gets done either way. We're all going to choke to death on asphalt and gasoline. I've resigned myself to...

Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011 I want to just quote this part of your post because, absent the side conversation about politics and ideologies - the general sentiment of "everything is behind schedule, everything is always delayed and bogged down and studied to death" - this is why...

Mass and VT won't invest in HSR along that route, because absolutely no federal support is coming for it ahead of the route that NYC wants to build. The "Knowledge Corridor" is never going to be HSR for the same reasons that Chicago is never going to get separate HSR routes to Detroit and...

The gas tax is actually the worst possible mechanism for funding anything other than driving. You see, gas tax revenue goes down as fewer people drive. This means that when you're like Rhode Island and you fund your mass transit network out of the gas tax, your mass transit will be punished...

It's not just Toronto. Toronto's the big one - but it's also Cleveland, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Quebec City. And the intangibles of a complete network without any missing links (like a gaping hole in western MA) cannot be understated. Exactly. This isn't even close to an either-or...

It's been done before. We have the technology to carve through mountains - here's an example of us doing exactly that for I-295 in Rhode Island - we just no longer possess the will to do or even try such things. We immediately throw things like this out as unreasonable. It's not unreasonable...

No, really, it is a key intercity corridor. Not on its own merits (because Albany has dropped under 100,000 people), but as a vital component of BOS-TOR (and also several other cities within HSR compete range largely due west of Boston, such as Cleveland) and probably also BOS-MTL because the...

I'm not so sure a push for ALB-BOS is actually coming before the renewed push for Inland Regionals, but I'm open to being pleasantly surprised here. On the other note... you could have also reminded him about the six trains Springfield gets to New Haven.

The Lake Shore Limited is a piece of shit train for reasons above and beyond the general state of American Passenger Rail. I'd put it in the same category as the Sunset Limited and the Cardinal without a single hint of hyperbole or sarcasm. The damn thing needs to be broken down into three...

It's bad food. The cafe cars aren't equipped to really prepare anything - you've got a microwave, you've got refrigeration, you've got storage space, that's all you've got. The Acela does a little better because it has a sous vide machine for at least the comped first class meals but I don't...

Re: Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail Right. For once, we're in agreement that this is the best possible routing (by default, being the only possible routing). Where I'm disagreeing with you is in RIDOT's willingness to throw in on South Coast Rail in spite of all its many difficulties...

Re: Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail Rail access to Newport is now functionally impossible for the next 35 years* because the only remaining option for getting into Newport that didn't involve billion-dollar bridges and/or fighting Bristol County every step of the way was over the Sakonnet...

Re: This thread is now about doge Such meme, very comedy. Wow. Many laughs. Much photo editing. How two thumbs up, wow. EDIT: Let's take this thread

Poll is missing an "AMERICA!!!!" option, did not vote

Even if it does (or did) make sense to combine runs this way, the life expectancy of the Springfield shuttles is short, and quickly running out. The minute NHHS Commuter Rail opens (and I think we're on track for 2016, but I would need to confirm) - all of those runs probably evaporate. Amtrak...

Let me try and explain the pay-twice logic a little bit better, because I get how it can seem obtuse. You've done a very good job in outlining all the separate projects/enhancements that need to be completed and open for business before we can actually take over the Grand Junction. Some of...

Yeah, I'm imagining that - closed six months out of the year due to unfavorable weather conditions (see also: every outdoor theme park / thrill ride in New England pointedly including Six Flags New England on the other side of the state, going in on a sweetheart deal with MGM last I checked so...

The thing is that the capacity over the Grand Junction is so low (and the impact of using it so relatively huge) that I don't believe they can just come up with other things to run across it whenever fancy strikes them after the capital decision is made. As you've said yourself, there's at...