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  1. TheRatmeister

    Logan Airport Capital Projects

    Option 3:
  2. TheRatmeister

    Multi-Family Zoning Requirements for MBTA Communities

    Denisification of existing built up areas does come with some downsides. But what's the alternative? Build more single family homes in conservation land and stretch municipal services even further? Let home prices in Boston rise and rise until there's nobody left to work service jobs and...
  3. TheRatmeister

    Biking the Boston 'Burbs (Trails, MDC, & Towns beyond Hubway area)

    It depends. Generally the actual difference is in the motor's power and therefore the maximum possible speed, but also the illegal ones do tend to be noticeably larger even if they don't strictly have to be. If I were writing the legislation the 'soft' criteria would be maximum speed and tire...
  4. TheRatmeister

    Biking the Boston 'Burbs (Trails, MDC, & Towns beyond Hubway area)

    To be blunt I would describe the restrictions as either idiotic, regressive, or both, a bit akin to trying to ban cars from public roads in 1905. The only way I can reasonably explain a rule like that is the the councilors fundamentally do not understand what an e-bike actually is, and they...
  5. TheRatmeister

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

    Russia has been under a diesel export ban for months at this point, and this deal only creates more incentives for Ukraine to strike Russian export terminals and refineries, especially as the war continues to dive deeper into a civilian infrastructure slugging match. I think it's pretty dubious...
  6. TheRatmeister

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    Sure but it's not an isolated case, and there will always be some need for route variants. Take the 'variant' of the 15 that runs from Haymarket to Mattapan. That's not the 15, that's (almost) literally an entirely different route that happens to share part of its run with the 15.
  7. TheRatmeister

    Regional Rail (RUR) & North-South Rail Link (NSRL)

    Still more expensive than European orders generally are at this point (seemingly a ~1.5-2x ratio, ish) but given the lack of scale in North America so far it's honestly pretty good for transit project pricing. Now if only we could actually learn from European best-practices for BEMU operations...
  8. TheRatmeister

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    Okay but that's all arbitrary, the MBTA controls what the SDP says. If a stupid numbering scheme meets the SDP as written but a sane one doesn't, then the MBTA should change the SDP to align with a better numbering scheme.
  9. TheRatmeister

    MBTA Buses & Infrastructure

    It drives me crazy how the T operates different routes with identical numbers as if they're allergic to having route numbers that only run during the peak or something. That is the route of the old 72, just call the short-turn the 72 and the full run the 75. Or if you don't want a different...
  10. TheRatmeister

    Other People's Rail: Amtrak, commuter rail, rapid transit news & views outside New England

    Yeah for rail/real-estate you really need extraordinary patience. I can't imagine you'd find a public company willing to do it and even for a private company it's reasonably risky. A lot can go wrong with both infrastructure construction and real-estate development, as Brightline has learned.
  11. TheRatmeister

    Other People's Rail: Amtrak, commuter rail, rapid transit news & views outside New England

    Yeah it's been a long time coming. It's a rough time to be a real estate developer right now and intercity rail like Brightline hasn't exactly spurred demand like regional rail or a metro line does.
  12. TheRatmeister

    Red Line Extension to Arlington Heights

    As @KCasiglio said, this is exactly what MPOs are for.
  13. TheRatmeister

    Urbanism/Infrastructure Tools, Databases, and Resources

    The MA interactive property map which lets you see the borders and ownership of every parcel of land in MA. I imagine a decent chunk of people here know about this already but I figured I'll post it anyways.
  14. TheRatmeister

    Other People's Rail: Amtrak, commuter rail, rapid transit news & views outside New England

    It's truly impressive just how much damage SEPTA has done to basically everyone at least tangentially connected to it in the past 50 years. Should be the first lecture in Transit Governance 101 under "What not to do"
  15. TheRatmeister

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    I've seen the design plans, that's my source and unfortunately I can't elaborate further. You would be correct that it's not hard to design the platforms that way, they were originally designed that way and then changed to the current design to have a smaller footprint. I believe this happened...
  16. TheRatmeister

    Massport Logan/Back Bay Shuttle

    It's been running since 2022, I'm not sure what they're talking about. Maybe the weird re-invention of the van by Uber/Lyft.
  17. TheRatmeister

    Red Line Extension to Arlington Heights

    I believe the CIP team has said it's in the works and expected next year or so.
  18. TheRatmeister

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

    The most popular one in my experience was the free fridays, so I don't think so. It's also a pretty similar figure to what was reported at North Station after those gates went in.
  19. TheRatmeister

    General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

    I can tell you firsthand that they're not, although it's mainly the Town of Brookline's fault and not the MBTA's. Some of the station access ramps will need to be rebuilt because they won't be ADA compliant with 14 inch high platforms, and in some cases electrical equipment is being placed where...

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