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For whatever reason, the crosstown lines (predecessors of the modern 47 and 91) went through Central rather than Harvard. Harvard didn't have any crosstown service until the bus era.

2: Still open. If we're including bus frequency, I'm sure that section of Talbot (and maybe Huntington) would be in the sub-minute frequency range. However, only two of the routes on that part of Talbot, and only one on that part of Huntington, were streetcars. 4.1: Correct. The was a horsecar...

Last call for guesses, otherwise I'll post the answers sometime Monday afternoon. I try to make these quizzes hard but not too hard! The answers to 4.1 and 6, and some clues to 2, can be found in old maps. 2 and 6 are definitely mentioned in BSRA books as well. Everything in 10 comes from public...

Anecdotally, it seems a much higher percentage of them live in the suburbs and drive to work compared to their equivalents at the MBTA or the city transportation departments. And not just the greybeards either - I once attended a meetup for young(ish) transportation professionals, and met a...

Great work you two! One or both of you got most correct; a few still remain open. 1: Ratmeister got both. Prior to 1987, there was no Dudley-Mattapan route. (The 1 was [re]created in 1962 as a through-routing of existing services. The extension of the 66 to Harvard was during the MBTA era, but...

The key routes designated in 2004-05 (routes 1, 15, 22, 23, 28, 32, 39, 57, 66, 71, 73, 77, 111, 116, 117) are largely replaced in MBTA publications with the frequent routes. Some questions about them (and BNRD): Which two routes were created during the MBTA era? Which of them was on a routing...

Obviously I'm in the "transit + ped + bike should always be priorities" camp, but this location is especially important. It's such a choke point for so many modes, with no alternate routes for a mile on either side. The vast majority of auto trips through the intersection can and should be...

South Coast Rail was in planning for 25 years and in construction for 4 years. Every single alignment used that section of track. The station was planned for that site beginning in 2018. I'm not really sure what they expected.

The garage is supposedly big enough for 120 buses: https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2021-11/2021-11-18-quincy-bus-facility-mod-meeting-presentation.pdf_1.pdf Perhaps the 88 is just sufficient for existing service?

The cut was already planned by May 2022. It's strange that Somerville still constructed the islands well after that.

An interesting oddity from the service changes effective today: the cutback of route 85 to Bow Street is now permanent. The cut occurred in July 2023 due to street construction; it was supposed to be short-lived, but was never reversed for reasons that aren't clear. (It was also planned as part...

Part of it is a self-inflicted wound - it appears that internal policy insists on applying tunnel egress standards to non-tunnel stations, requires backup generators at every station, and other cost-bloating factors. But I fully agree - this is not a station that should be horrendously...

December 2025 accessibility update is out. The big news is that the MBTA is in substantial compliance with the 2006 Daniels-Finegold settlement agreement (presumably this is to be certified at Wednesday's meeting). Individual project updates: Additional crossovers on the D Branch, which will...

I think it's possible to integrate some elements of branding (like the T logo) without having the MBTA itself run RTA services. There definitely is a need for state-level coordination of route numbering, inter-system transfers (especially to MBTA Commuter Rail and future statewide services), and...

It's too bad that the project couldn't be coordinated with an effort to remove the awkward hump in Hyde Park Avenue. For southbound traffic, it really inhibits visibility of the Milton Street signal. The hump has a mysterious history. As seen in mssrro's image, it's the result of a...

Also worth noting: tolls on the Mass Pike have stayed far, far below inflation. In 1957, West Stockbridge to Weston was $2.45, equivalent to about $28 today. The current cost is $4.25.

I would assume that data is not fully processed, and that internal teams are working with corrected data. All of the issues noted above are very typical of raw transit data, and are fairly easy to correct en masse.

Unfortunately, the 1960s-1980s era of subway expansion absolutely whiffed on transfer design, as have many of the rebuilds since. (Ashmont and Fields Corner are particularly egregious examples.) It's not just a Boston problem either - every rapid transit project since midcentury seems to have...

Massachusetts should follow Connecticut's lead and renumber all buses statewide into a single system of 3-digit numbers. This is a first approximation of the map; I'm sure it would need tweaked to reflect the actual distribution of routes. 1 to 199: Greater Boston (approximately inside 128) 200...

All of the rail extensions (ie not infills) from the past 35 years: Project Cost (at opening) Cost (inflated) Daily one-way riders Cost/rider South Coast Rail $1,047 million (2025) $1,047 million ~2,000 (2025) ~$524k Greenbush Line $534 million (2007) $776 million 3,741 (2024) $207k Old...