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In MA, over the next 5 years we need something like 40k home per year *to keep pace with demand* . Right now we're under 20k/yr. We could double housing production it would keep home prices *stable*, not decrease the average home value. No, middle class MA homeowners are not at risk of their...

Piling on... in the past 5 years, Brockton housing prices have gone up 50%, Lowell 57%, and Fall River 70%. It's not just Boston and the suburbs that are unaffordable, it's the "gateway" cities too, which were called such because they were supposed to be an affordable gateway into the middle...

Without making any comments as to whether or not 60% is the right number, just some quick stats: Women+minorities make up 75% of Boston residents, 65% of MA residents Women make up 40% of MA business owners Minorities make up 15% of MA business owners. Following from the above, women+minorities...

After being closed since 2021, the Winchester CR Station partially reopens on Sep 30 and will be accessible.

14 units, commercial space, and no off-street parking. Nice.

I'm also completely aware of where I am on my regular lines, but hearing "Approaching Fields Corner" when I'm on the northside RL will never not get my attention!

You lost me there. Despite the fact that I disagree with @DominusNovus I'd rather not jump to bad faith conclusions. If I wanted to jump all over people's character I'd go back to arguing on community Facebook pages lol

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but has anyone noticed that the automated stop announcements on the new Red Line cars are all out of whack? Heading to Harvard from Porter, it announced the next stop as Davis, then Fields Corner, then Central. It never actually said Harvard lol. This...

You're right, transit is a means, not an end. It just happens that the real end, urban vitality, is closely into transit ridership (Forbes): It's understandable why Boston would want to coax businesses into RTO. To your other points-- sure, some managers are control freaks. Personally, my...

Do we really need to subsidize this? If fully remote work is all it's cracked up to be (full disclosure: I don't think it is) then companies should naturally jump on the cost savings of not having an office in Boston, not to mention the hiring benefits of remote flexibility. If they are willing...

Would it be crazy to switch from a license-as-an-asset system to permit-with-an-annual fee system? Imagine a $10k/year fee to serve, but all existing licenses are converted to a ~60-year fee waiver, thus preserving their $600k value whilst opening up licenses to anyone who can pay the fee? If...

Somewhat relevant : https://archboston.com/community/threads/crazy-transit-pitches.3664/page-292#post-476342

In addition to what @TheRatmeister already said, you don't need to validate every passenger. You just need to validate enough to send a message to the bulk of riders that paying the fare is worth it. If there's only a 1% chance my fare is validated, but the penalty is a $240 ticket plus the...

Or, hear me out: Hire 10 fare inspectors, 5 for the GLX and 5 for the western surface branches. Loudly ticket fare evaders. The threat of public confrontation would be enough to get 97% of people to pay. At $100k/yr each it would take a thousand years for them to cost as much as a $1B fare gate...

Agreed in theory but, so what? We seize the property from the owners?

Sadly and ironically I've actually begun paying *less* frequently since the recent AFC2.0 rollout. That's because I ditched the Charlie Card in favor of my credit card, but the fare "validation" machines on the GLX don't take just credit. I would pay with my credit card using the new readers on...

Sure, and (1 - (1 - 0.01)^100yrs) = (64% chance of happening every 100 years), which in this sort of estimation game is close enough to 100% that it's reasonable to say "basically guaranteed to happen every hundred years" because the implications for building should be the same whether it's 64%...

Your detailed post probably deserves a more detailed response than this, but I think the answer is simply: Boston's inner core of 1.6MM residents (orange), which roughly corresponds to the "sea of gray" you see on our satellite view, is significantly denser than the core of American metro areas...

I understand that BLX to Kenmore is on the GLR map because it'd provide a Lime->Blue connection that'd otherwise be lost with Lime's terminus being cut back from Govy to Park. Imagine a world where there's funding & willpower for GLR, but not for the BLX to Kenmore. Was there any analysis of an...

Would that really be a good use of time and funds? I ride this path twice a week, and while I wish the crosswalk were a bit wider to accomodate 2-way ped+bike traffic, I never wait for more than 10 seconds and have never had a close call. I would rather that effort and money be spent on one of...