Transit history/trivia quiz

Teban54 said:
While I was drafting another comment and doing some brief preliminary research for it, I came up with this question. I already know how to find the answer, but just for fun, I'll now present it as a betting game for you guys before I analyze and reveal it.

Out of all Key Bus Routes (edit: except 71 and 73) (1, 15, 22, 23, 28, 32, 39, 57, 66, 71, 73, 77, 111, 116/117), and a few other routes with route-specific data available (SL4, SL5, 9, 16, 21, 34/34E, 47, 61/70, 86, 104), in 2022 (largely post-Covid), which bus routes have the lowest and highest proportion of riders taking it for home-based work, respectively? (In other words, which routes are the most and least commute-centric?)
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I'm going to guess 23 for lowest and 39 for highest.
 
How well do you know the Red Line? Between November 2023 and October 2024, which Red Line station was the least busy (defined by gated entries) during the morning rush hour?
 
By that definition, every stop on the Mattapan- Ashmont equal zero gated entries because those stations don't have gates
 
Scott said:
By that definition, every stop on the Mattapan- Ashmont equal zero gated entries because those stations don't have gates
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Despite what the MBTA might like you to think, the Mattapan Line is not part of the Red Line. (Although the data is included on the Gated Entries sheet, but all lumped together.)
 
TheRatmeister said:
How well do you know the Red Line? Between November 2023 and October 2024, which Red Line station was the least busy (defined by gated entries) during the morning rush hour?
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If it's by gated entries, would it be Park Street or something central like that?
 
TheRatmeister said:
Despite what the MBTA might like you to think, the Mattapan Line is not part of the Red Line. (Although the data is included on the Gated Entries sheet, but all lumped together.)
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It is part of the Red Line because they say so, but not rapid transit as the state would like you to believe
 
737900er said:
I have a sneaking suspicion the actual answer has something to do with the way they split GSE by line.
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Wait, that's actually super interesting. So is the idea that they assume that half of GSE at DTX go to Red and the other half to Orange? And that most GSEs at GC are for Green?

1733179663159.png
 
Riverside said:
Wait, that's actually super interesting. So is the idea that they assume that half of GSE at DTX go to Red and the other half to Orange? And that most GSEs at GC are for Green?
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Exactly, yeah. It can generate some very interesting results. I think what we were talking about was that the boardings and gated entries data at some of the transfer stations don't make any sense when compared, so not sure how valuable those data points are.

I don't want to go back and dig too much into it yet before the answer is revealed :)

Like, more people can't enter the station at Government Center to ride the Green Line than actually get on the Green Line there.
1725458616799.png
 
Here's the full list, Park St is actually quite high up even with the "GL" entries counted.
Screenshot 2024-12-03 at 10.31.45.png
 
I've been thinking about the Stoneham/Fellsway Line a lot (not news if you're in Crazy Transit Pitches) which had me wondering, is there any other significant streetcar infrastructure that's been just abandoned in situ? Obviously there's plenty of track buried under asphalt which sometimes pokes out, a few trolley poles, and some tracks at Watertown Yard, but what other large infrastructure has been left abandoned? (Not counting road medians.)

Ones I'm aware of:
  • Southern Half of the Tremont St Subway (duh)
  • Surface Massachusetts Station
  • Much of the Fellsway Line ROW
  • Adams Sq stub and small bits of old Haymarket
  • Broadway streetcar level, although that's mostly either gone or reused now.
 
TheRatmeister said:
I've been thinking about the Stoneham/Fellsway Line a lot (not news if you're in Crazy Transit Pitches) which had me wondering, is there any other significant streetcar infrastructure that's been just abandoned in situ? Obviously there's plenty of track buried under asphalt which sometimes pokes out, a few trolley poles, and some tracks at Watertown Yard, but what other large infrastructure has been left abandoned? (Not counting road medians.)

Ones I'm aware of:
  • Southern Half of the Tremont St Subway (duh)
  • Surface Massachusetts Station
  • Much of the Fellsway Line ROW
  • Adams Sq stub and small bits of old Haymarket
  • Broadway streetcar level, although that's mostly either gone or reused now.
Click to expand...

Within BERY territory, there are:
There's a few dozen powerhouse, substations, carhouses, and waiting rooms scattered throughout the state. Lots of bridge abutments, and at least two intact bridges: the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, and a Springfield Street Railway bridge in Brimfield.
 
Large sections of the private ROW of the former Fitchburg and Lowell street railway still exist in Westford as walking trails. Also a former powerhouse on East Prescott St. https://maps.app.goo.gl/Mk5HaH4HKJCQU6Pi8 (ROW was behind building adjacent to current CSX rail line)
 
BERY ran comfort stations, basically public restrooms, like this one in Uphams Corner. This sat abandoned for almost 50 years until it opened as Comfort Kitchen restaurant just last year.

(BTW, everyone I know who's been says this is the best restaurant in Boston. I've heard so many positive recommendations and I really need to find time to go.)

Upham's Corner Comfort Station

Have you ever had dinner in a bathroom? You have if you’ve dined at the Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester! The Upham’s Corner comfort station is a single-story stucco and clay tile Mission Revival style building constructed in 1912 as a public restroom to serve passengers using the streetcar that...
www.bostonpreservation.org www.bostonpreservation.org
www.comfortkitchenbos.com

Comfort Kitchen Boston

Located in Upham's Corner, Dorchester, Comfort Kitchen is a cafe by day, a restaurant by night with a full bar, celebrating the flavors and ingredients of the African diaspora — global comfort food — connected from Asia to the Americas. We are a Black-owned, immigrant-owned, and woman-owned business
www.comfortkitchenbos.com www.comfortkitchenbos.com
 
737900er said:
Exactly, yeah. It can generate some very interesting results. I think what we were talking about was that the boardings and gated entries data at some of the transfer stations don't make any sense when compared, so not sure how valuable those data points are.

I don't want to go back and dig too much into it yet before the answer is revealed :)

Like, more people can't enter the station at Government Center to ride the Green Line than actually get on the Green Line there.
1725458616799.png
Click to expand...
Boardings would include transfers but not include "pass-through" traffic from people going to the other line, yes? That would make sense since a boarding at Park, DX, State, GC, Haymarket, or North would have a lot of pass through to the other line?
 
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