General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

stick n move said:
Yea seattle is spending 54 BILLION on line additions and 550 million on new cars. Its outrageous. The question though is why cant we even kick the tires on a half mile tunnel for not even 1% of that that we are going to be in dire need of in short order. Im not saying match them and go for 50 billion ourselves, not at all.

If you think about it though they had their entire waterfront cutoff and a miniscule transit system. Im not sure what our total rail build out would cost in todays numbers but Id say right there or more. They had like 60 light rail cars total. We have like 150 on the Orange line. Im sure if we had to build an entire rail network itd be ungodly expensive too. So it seems to be more of the fact that theyre just catching up now along with building it in todays day n age when things are more expensive. They know that it has to get done though, so theyre doing it. I aint mad at it.

Anyways its just crazy that besides the glx using existing ROWs theres really nothing else going on. There has to be more were capable of we cant just build and build and ignore expanding transit even if the numbers may not be fun right now. We either grow it or car traffic will grind the city to a halt.
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But...like I said, Seattle is doing it with MAJOR cost blowout problems, especially with the highway tunnel project. It is not the model city to be citing for a major short-term scale-up, because their own Big Dig syndrome is brewing as a result of this and will probably cast a chill on more projects over the next 20 years as they contend with a debt service much larger than they were prepared for.

It's not enough to get a lot of projects in the pipeline. It's got to be managed relatively cleanly, too, in order to be sustainable. Seattle ended up making a lot of the same budgeting mistakes 1990's Boston did, and is going to pay accordingly.
 
stick n move said:
Anyways its just crazy that besides the glx using existing ROWs theres really nothing else going on. There has to be more were capable of we cant just build and build and ignore expanding transit even if the numbers may not be fun right now. We either grow it or car traffic will grind the city to a halt.
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Not much going on except for 40% and 50% capacity improvements on both the Red and Orange lines, serious contemplation and study of redoing the green line with all low floor vehicles (leading to capacity increases), Silver Line out to Chelsea completed, and a whole bunch of other things like transit signal priority, Charlie Card 2.0, etc.

I do agree, though, that we desperately also need a whole bunch of other projects/real expansions to be done, though. Red/Blue, Urban Ring, Regional Rail, Needham Line converted to rapid transit, Blue to Lynn, etc.
 
Speaking of Red-Blue, please join us for a free Beer & Transit with Fred Salvucci tomorrow night: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beer-transit-what-can-red-blue-do-for-you-tickets-54802475680

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So I'm guessing from the lack of angry ranting in here the T survived the snow, ice, and extreme cold of the past few days. So congrats, unless that's premature and you're all stuck on a disabled train right now, unable to post.
 
Lowell Line inbound lost 1 train mid route and Passengers had to transfer to another train. Green Line seemed choppy (probably due to crush loading)
 
Jouhou said:
They aren't doing any of that cheaply. I think the big dig traumatized multiple generations, people are hesitant to commit to any large project that could have similar ballooning costs. My childhood memories of Boston are marred by the constant construction and insane traffic created by the big dig. I wasn't driving and I remember how awful that was.
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No doubt there is still a heavy hangover effect from the Big Dig. But we need to get over that. It was disruptive, it was expensive, and Boston is a demonstrably better place today because it happened. The same would be true of a comprehensive urban rail upgrade.
 
Lowell line was a mess this morning after that mechanical failure, which had a domino effect on the entire line (and haverhill line) for several hours. Was also delayed prior due to "late equipment arrival."
 
T shoveling at stations has been abysmal.

30 min delays on the OL this morning.

The T is not prepared for anything.
 
datadyne007 said:
T shoveling at stations has been abysmal.

30 min delays on the OL this morning.

The T is not prepared for anything.
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Yeah, Government Center was a skating rink. Legitimately dangerous in all directions.

The OL was awful, the Red Line was a bit delayed early on and you could feel the residual. But it was functional at least.

I know it's been beaten to death and the fix is incoming, but the rush hour headways on the OL on a good day are just an abomination.
 
I'll be at the event tonight. Either wear a clown costume or dress like Dracula so that we know you're from AB. "Slutty Meals on Wheels driver" also acceptable.

The OL was a disaster this morning.
 
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Coyote137 said:
I'll be at the event tonight. Either wear a clown costume or dress like Dracula so that we know you're from AB. "Slutty Meals on Wheels driver" also acceptable.

The OL was a disaster this morning.
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I will be there in blue pants and a blue gingham shirt in honor of the Blue Line. I'll have my TM staff nametag that says Tim. Come say hi!
 
Figured that the freeze would make for a miserable commute, especially on the MBTA.

Lucky for them we are getting a rare warm spell, albeit rain.
 
HenryAlan said:
No doubt there is still a heavy hangover effect from the Big Dig. But we need to get over that. It was disruptive, it was expensive, and Boston is a demonstrably better place today because it happened. The same would be true of a comprehensive urban rail upgrade.
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Yup, cant let the big dig stifle growth for the rest of time. Its been a success time to move forward on more big infrastructure/transit projects.
 
HenryAlan said:
No doubt there is still a heavy hangover effect from the Big Dig. But we need to get over that. It was disruptive, it was expensive, and Boston is a demonstrably better place today because it happened. The same would be true of a comprehensive urban rail upgrade.
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It is, but I think Boston could do ok doing one moderately big project at a time. Like finish glx, move on to red to blue connector. All while doing a boat load of smaller improvements across the system.
 
Jouhou said:
It is, but I think Boston could do ok doing one moderately big project at a time. Like finish glx, move on to red to blue connector. All while doing a boat load of smaller improvements across the system.
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I suppose, but how does GLX impact Red/Blue and vice verca? There actually shouldn't be a lot of pain associated with completing GLX, so why wait on something else? Similarly, converting Needham to rapid transit wouldn't really cause too much trauma. Same with electrifying South side regional rail, etc., etc., etc. In total, these might cause a similar amount of disruption, but it would be geographically disbursed, making it a much less intensive experience for people.
 
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