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This is why we can't have nice things. The MBTA is footing the entire bill for accessibility improvements at all Newton stations. And the response? An elected neighborhood council is complaining about the "historic character and neighborhood impacts" of a canopy, that is next to a large...

The article seems to mostly be excerpts from this MBTA press release: https://www.mbta.com/news/2026-07-31/interim-secretary-and-general-manager-phil-eng-mayor-michelle-wu-announce-community Of note, the new plans will be "providing a two-way protected lane for bicyclists" which is somewhat...

New Neighborhood Housing Zoning (NHZ) districts and maps are out. Overall, looks like a good-faith effort to legalize existing housing while also leading to some modest upzoning. Main takeaways: Make significant portions of Hyde Park, West Roxbury, and Roslindale zoning-compliant. Basically no...

Looking into it a bit, production estimates are all over the place. CommonWealth Beacon sites a study putting the estimate between 60,000 and 500,000, while CHAPA says Whatever the true number is, advocacy groups site a number of churches/synagogues/other religious organizations trying to...

Senate economic development bill is proposing legalizing duplexes statewide: https://commonwealthbeacon.org/housing/in-the-face-of-state-housing-shortage-could-single-family-zoning-be-on-the-chopping-block/

I largely agree with you here. However, may of these projects become much more valuable if other improvements are made. The Capitol Corridor is a great example here. While it's probably worth pursuing on it's own, it becomes a better project as more Regional Rail upgrades are made on the Lowell...

If you view Levy's blog as intended for transit advocates and railfans, instead of politicians, I think these arguments make a lot more sense. While I agree Alon Levy can often be too single-minded, what he describes is much closer to how infrastructure investment decisions should be made...

Another write-up about the Newtonville station reconstruction, as well as a full recording of the meeting. The render showing 5 cars with the fifth one extending past the platform does not inspire confidence...

Don't know if this is the case for the new Downtown zoning, but zoning can absolutely mandate first-floor retail with maximum areas and maximum storefront widths. I believe Squares & Streets does this with XS, S, M, and L retail allowances

Looks like PLAN: Downtown is bearing fruits: https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/11-21-bromfield-street

Cleary Square final S+S districts were also just released, and don't zone for anything over 6(!) stories. BPDA even made a new zoning district to avoid 7 story buildings. https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/0ec00e41-562c-453e-8b13-380e7a34f4ed

With regards to the Fairmount BEMU order, TransitMatters has provided almost no push back. I can't find any reports or media statements against it. While they have advocated for RR best practices (albeit at pretty rosy cost projections), they have not been good about advocating against...

If MassDOT/MBTA got some property taxes, and sales tax was reduced (or given to towns) in a revenue-neutral way, I think much of the same benefits could be realized. Transportation investments most directly increase land values, so the agencies would inherently get some value capture for new...

Looking back over the Board meeting from last week, I don't think this is the case. Full quote below, but it sounds like the T requested the door heights get fixed even if it means needing additional FRA approvals. That also explains the jump in timelines (which make the argument for BEMUs even...

Just to be clear, it seems that these trains will be significantly less accessible than single level coaches with all high-level doors. The only "accessible" trip someone can make with the low-level doors would be Readville to Fairmount, which should be a vanishingly small portion of trips...

Some notes from the RFI: - Considerations: Not sure why the T would consider installing screen doors before moving the Red Line to a uniform fleet, and I doubt there will be any interest for Red Line stations until then. - Info requested: We'll see what happens, but I don't expect this to...

They don't mean California in the sense of how the development looks; it's California in the sense that no one can afford to live there. And this definitely seems like a step in the right direction

This is an awful thing to brag about. There's nothing inherently wrong about pursuing expensive projects, but they are done in spite of their cost, not because of it. Showcase the actual benefits, whether that's shorter commutes, better access to school/jobs, reduced pollution from traffic...

Everything here is well said, but I completely understand why the T would want to avoid working with municipal DPWs and, to a lesser extent, utility providers. These are mostly small departments subject to severe micro-management from local public officials. Regardless of how capable these city...

This has certainly been brought up before, but I always like to add in these conversations that modern trolleybusses with modest batteries can handle discontinuous electrification, with wires only strung for part of the route. This means (mostly) less infrastructure to maintain, less overhead...