Non MBTA buses, School buses and electrification

[KCasiglio]

is poised to launch a system of "several new shuttle routes to supplement MBTA service throughout the city," apparently as DRT (given the mention of app based booking) and apparently currently under the name of LINKUP Boston, apparently focused on areas like Charlestown, Seaport and Allston-Brighton. That's an... Interesting... Idea that I think should be discussed.

A small part of it is on-demand microtransit in dorchester, but the routes you're referencing are fixed route, every 30 minute shuttles provided by Via.

 

[stick n move]

I didnt know where else to put this but it falls under electrification.

Cambridge gets a charge out of new garbage trucks​

“Cambridge today rolled out the first of four battery-operated trash trucks it's buying to reduce carbon emissions from city vehicles.
Along with the first Mack LR Electric trash hauler, the city installed two DC fast chargers to keep its 376-kWh battery pack fully charged at the start of each trash day.
The city plans to accept its next two electric trash trucks in early 2025.”

https://www.universalhub.com/2024/cambridge-gets-charge-out-new-garbage-trucks

 

[The EGE]

Permit me a little bit of bragging: after 6 months of research and writing, I've finally finished my article on the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway. It's probably the longest thing I've ever written aside from my thesis. It has 445 sources and 42 images. (Despite that, several major abandonment dates are still an open question.) It traces the history and operations from the first horsecars in 1861 to the WRTA takeover in 1978. I've managed to identify and photograph a dozen powerhouses, carhouses, substations, and waiting stations that still exist.

Worcester Consolidated Street Railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[themissinglink]

Permit me a little bit of bragging: after 6 months of research and writing, I've finally finished my article on the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway. It's probably the longest thing I've ever written aside from my thesis. It has 445 sources and 42 images. (Despite that, several major abandonment dates are still an open question.) It traces the history and operations from the first horsecars in 1861 to the WRTA takeover in 1978. I've managed to identify and photograph a dozen powerhouses, carhouses, substations, and waiting stations that still exist.

Worcester Consolidated Street Railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Great job!

Seeing this makes me very sad that Worcester doesn't have any trolleys/streetcars anymore:

 

[cubalibre]

Permit me a little bit of bragging: after 6 months of research and writing, I've finally finished my article on the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway. It's probably the longest thing I've ever written aside from my thesis. It has 445 sources and 42 images. (Despite that, several major abandonment dates are still an open question.) It traces the history and operations from the first horsecars in 1861 to the WRTA takeover in 1978. I've managed to identify and photograph a dozen powerhouses, carhouses, substations, and waiting stations that still exist.

Worcester Consolidated Street Railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Excellent! I recall that there once was a street car (light rail?) link along route nine, with an hourly service between Boston and Worcester. Was that somehow integrated into this railway system?

 

[The EGE]

Excellent! I recall that there once was a street car (light rail?) link along route nine, with an hourly service between Boston and Worcester. Was that somehow integrated into this railway system?

Yep, that was the Boston and Worcester Street Railway. It used WCSR tracks and crews from downtown Worcester to just east of Lake Quinsigamond. It was the only streetcar line entering Worcester that didn't become part of the WCSR.

 

[themissinglink]

‘Deceptive and unfair:’ Lawsuit filed against Peter Pan Bus Lines for hidden fees - The Boston Globe

Junk fees can substantially add to the cost of the bus line's fares, and often those fees aren't apparent until the end of the checkout process for customers, the lawsuit says.

www.bostonglobe.com

 

[themissinglink]

EPA Will Finance 177 New Electric Buses for Mass. School Districts - Streetsblog Massachusetts

Boston, Springfield, Hingham, and the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District will together receive about $50 million from the new Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program.

mass.streetsblog.org

 

[FK4]

Permit me a little bit of bragging: after 6 months of research and writing, I've finally finished my article on the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway. It's probably the longest thing I've ever written aside from my thesis. It has 445 sources and 42 images. (Despite that, several major abandonment dates are still an open question.) It traces the history and operations from the first horsecars in 1861 to the WRTA takeover in 1978. I've managed to identify and photograph a dozen powerhouses, carhouses, substations, and waiting stations that still exist.

Worcester Consolidated Street Railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

View attachment 59616

Great article and a lot of work. Did you come across anything about the rail spur that snaked through this neighborhood in the 20s and 30s? It was a very peculiar line, since it was not a street railway but had its own ROW, just as a little short jaunt off the mainline to get to the park. The yard of the house I lived in out here for three years was where this ROW went, and there was an old structure in the back that the owner had the RR tracks stored in. He told me that this structure was a very primitive ice storage house (it had weird materials on the inside, like primitive insulation), and that they'd harvest ice in the lake, store it in the shed of this old house, and then it would get picked up and distributed. Some of the houses still have the tracks in the yard around here. There's nearly nothing I can find about it online.

 

[The EGE]

Great article and a lot of work. Did you come across anything about the rail spur that snaked through this neighborhood in the 20s and 30s? It was a very peculiar line, since it was not a street railway but had its own ROW, just as a little short jaunt off the mainline to get to the park. The yard of the house I lived in out here for three years was where this ROW went, and there was an old structure in the back that the owner had the RR tracks stored in. He told me that this structure was a very primitive ice storage house (it had weird materials on the inside, like primitive insulation), and that they'd harvest ice in the lake, store it in the shed of this old house, and then it would get picked up and distributed. Some of the houses still have the tracks in the yard around here. There's nearly nothing I can find about it online.

You didn't specify a neighborhood - are you talking about this line west of Lake Quinsigamond?

If so, that's the Worcester and Shrewsbury Railroad, which was a narrow-gauge steam line from 1873 to 1900, and a streetcar line from 1896 to 1933. (Both were in use for 4 years.)

 

[FK4]

You didn't specify a neighborhood - are you talking about this line west of Lake Quinsigamond?
View attachment 59617
If so, that's the Worcester and Shrewsbury Railroad, which was a narrow-gauge steam line from 1873 to 1900, and a streetcar line from 1896 to 1933. (Both were in use for 4 years.)

Nice, yes, that’s it. I accidentally posted my file (a screenshot from historic aerials) within the quoted text of your post, and it didn’t load. This house (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZfDvjWFxXt6PrtaB9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy) had tracks still in its backyard, but that was over ten years ago.