Life Insurance Actuary, 8x NYC Marathon Finisher, Pasta Aficionado
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Okay, you're right. On the 2/3, would 8/8 tph each off-peak work for Wakefield/Dyre and 12/12 tph each work for peak? 16/24 tph off-peak/peak is probably all the operating costs New Yorkers are willing to pay to send trains from 241 or Dyre to Brooklyn College.
I'd just love for Boston (and DC) to get as serious as Seattle is about rail expansion. Like South End and Roxbury still don't have the grade-separated rail they were promised after the Washington St. Elevated was taken down. The Green Line needs ... a lot fewer track merges ...
WE DID IT!!! 82 hours. 201,701 steps. Countless stories and supporters along the way. I’m proud, I’m sore, and I’m more certain than ever: Pennsylvanians won’t stop until we #FundTransit.
Tomorrow, 11:00 AM. Capitol steps, Harrisburg. 201,701 steps. 105 miles. One message: Fund Mass Transit. Bring a friend, a sign, and your voice. Let’s finish strong. #WalkForTransit
The one good thing about having you on bsky is that even if you lack confidence, you know you'll never be the dumbest person on this app.
[There are still tons of rapid transit deserts on dense corridors in Queens (e.g., Northern Blvd), too.] The outcome of increased *overall* access is greater prosperity and equity (for the same amount of traffic) with minimal damage to the environment.
That's why I wrote *more people having greater* access to things. I mean Maspeth, has access to high-wage jobs in Midtown right now; Triboro RX *increases* their access the same way a mythical Queens to 3rd Ave. Line *increases* Queens's access to the east side of Manhattan.
Elevated station transfers aren't a dealbreaker -- they're just a strike against the proposal the same way failing to provide grade-separated rail coverage to dense rapid transit deserts in EJ communities (e.g., Morrisania, Claremont, Belmont) is.
Also, emerging markets piggyback off the frequency of the major markets in order to become major markets (e.g., LIC or Rosslyn and Ballston in NoVA). You want emerging markets on the same line as major markets.
This I strongly disagree. The point of transit is to give more people greater access to the things they need -- jobs, school, errands, hospitals, recreation, etc.
A 5-car train running every 6 minutes on Sundays for IBX still sounds like too much service for its route, which doesn't hit any major or emerging market. You can save on construction costs with shorter trains/shorter platforms.
The demand for IBX doesn't merit 490-600 ft. subway trains, and would greatly increase construction costs. My bet is a 200-300 ft. train running every 6 minutes on Sundays and peak being whatever will be more than enough supply of service to match demand.
Also, if you look at my proposed route for 3rd Ave., it goes from 125th/Broadway to Pelham Shopping Center via 3rd Ave. (incl. 3/149), so there are multiple places to transfer (including 125/Broadway, 125/St Nick, 125/Lenox, 125/Lex, 138/3, and 3/149).
Bx12 has high turnover, is further out, and the only underground station for good connections is the Concourse/Fordham.
Third Ave. covers Bx15 and Bx41 -- a major rapid transit desert in the Bronx serving some of the poorest areas, and which combined (at least pre-COVID) have higher ridership than Bx12. You can get rid of the SBSes and Bx19 with a 3rd Ave. or Webster Ave. ALM.
The point of getting rid of the 4/5 at 59-Lex is to prevent the 2/3 from transferring to the 4/5 at 149/GC, and have 2/3 riders instead transfer to the "Q" at mythical 125/Lenox to go to 63/3 (which is essentially the same as 59-Lex), decongesting both the 4/5 and the 149/GC and 59-Lex Stations.
We don't design transportation policy for an entire MSA of millions based on one person's lived experience. I'm not sure why from the N/W in Queens, having to transfer to the 6 instead of the 4/5 at 60/Lex, and go an extra two stops (68/Lex & 77/Lex) to 86th St. will absolutely crush you.
... should have to transfer at Union Sq. to go Express Downtown (or just continue to enjoy the one-seat ride to FiDi).
I'd go one step further, and argue that w/ SAS connecting to the West side lines, the Lex Express stop at the 59/Lex Station should be discontinued. The West Side Lines uptown should have to transfer to SAS for a two-seat ride to 63/3, and from Queens, the 60th St. Tunnel ...
This I agree with. You can't de-interline IRT Bronx w/o SAS connecting to Lex.
I wanted to do something for western Bronx to E. Bronx hospitals, but that is just a lower priority than serving the markets I listed. www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/e...
(2) 125th/Broadway to Pelham Shopping Center via 125th St., 3rd Ave., Webster/Gun Hill Rd. This is basically restoring the 3rd Ave. El. with crosstown features. (3) Bx6 for Yankee Stadium and Hunts Point Meat Market.
This lets Dyre keep its 3rd/149th and GC/149th Connection while adding Hunts Point and transfers all the Manhattan-bound lines except SAS-125th. Also, gives Washington Hts. a stronger connection to South Bronx Hub.
For ALM in the Bronx, I think Fordham is grossly overrated for both trams and ALM. South Bronx Hub/Melrose is growing as a place of employment, so I have (1) 145th/Broadway to Dyre via 145th/St. Nick, 145th/Lenox, 149/GC, 149/3, and Hunts Point.
If money were no issue, could you do something like 12/12 tph Nereid/Wakefield peak and 8/8 tph off-peak -- all to IRT 7th Ave. Express -- and convert Dyre and Harlem to pocket tracks (or some ALM Line from Dyre to across 145th St. connecting to all the lines)?
Patrick forfeited $750M of federal funds for Red-Blue Connector; Healey at least didn't do that. Advantage Healey. But I didn't vote for either Patrick (only 2010 as I wasn't living in Mass. in 2006) or Healey because of their grand transportation plans. Neither did most Massachusetts voters.
What is the terminal capacity at 242 Wakefield, and is it possible to add tail tracks? I think with three tracks on White Plains Road, the line should be a full trunk. Another option would be no express tracks at rush hour and half service past Simpson off-peak and full service peak.
Healey is the best Massachusetts has done on transit since ... checks notes ... Mike Dukakis, whose specialty was TOD. The T is going to be open longer at night, and that's not nothing.
I do agree that you almost certainly have to tunnel under the cemetery to make IBX competitive with the L to Midtown. Absolute rights of way matter when the competition has absolute rights of way.
I personally think the Myrtle Ave (and Dyre Ave) Line should be a forced transfer to go to Manhattan as it is at night. The lower operating costs from the shorter line line length could be invested in higher frequency.
Voters pushed for ALM for IBX. I thought ETA was advocating the subway for IBX of making a Yamanote-style loop with the Myrtle Ave El to QB Local. That, to me, was a really bad idea.
Because it's Massachusetts -- not California (or Europe for that matter). We're more allergic to taxes than many would like to believe (though less than almost all of the US).
... from Metropolitan to Bay Ridge (or just not do this line). But I think Hochul is absolutely right on ALM for IBX.
Nowhere else in the U.S. has a congestion tax, so I'd argue that any governor being able to enact one is huge. I do think IBX should be ALM. I might argue to convert the Myrtle Ave Line to ALM, and break up IBX into 2 grade-separated lines with one line from Broadway El to Queens and the other ...
That's ridiculous about Hochul when CHI, PHL, POR, and CA are on the brink of major transit service cuts. Hochul got the congestion tax, SAS Phase II, and is now serious about Triboro as ALM. She is better on transit than Maura Healey here, who has essentially given up on RBC & CR electrification.
Without regional rail, it’s a political non-starter here to take away RTE from Acela. That’s just not something Boston will take seriously.
Folks around here aren’t going to take seriously any proposal that demands they give up two stations — including the 8th busiest Amtrak Station in the country — if they’re going have to deal with the disruption and pay the operating costs of HSR.
I think you and Eric will quickly learn that even with regional rail folks around here don’t consider any HSR proposal that excludes BBY — particularly when folks here are already asked to give up RTE — to be a serious proposal.
I think the Democratic party’s base — black women — got the message fairly clear last November.
@boston.gov, @mbta.com Plan New Center-Running Transitway On Huntington and South Huntington Avenue - mass.streetsblog.org/2025/08/25/b...
Thanks, Yonah! How are platform screen doors coming along on the DC Metro?
Mr. Secretary, do you know if current Red-Blue Connector proposals point the Blue Line towards Back Bay or Kendall Sq. for an extension past MGH?
I have been hard on my Governor’s transportation policy when I compare her to the governor of New York, but then I realize given what Philly is going through and Chicago and Portland about to go through and California is up to the voters next year, I really take my governor for granted.
But the E Branch should likely be fully grade-separated anyway as it serves the full western part of DT Boston, Tufts, the full east-west Copley potential, Northeastern, LMA (sort of), and some of the densest neighborhoods in Boston in Chinatown, Bay Village, Back Bay, Fenway, and Mission Hill.
The tail of the E on Huntington Ave, if you take out parking, is wide enough to have a dedicated lane. Not so much on Centre St in JP if you want to return the E to Arborway. The stations on Centre St at least would be … interesting. …
The problem with that is that then you have to live in a Columbus exurb. And for a lot of people, it’s hard to find a job in Columbus that pays enough to live in a $3K Sq ft house in a Columbus exurb. And the moment you lose that job, you likely have to move to another area to find another job.
This only happens because of the leadership of Mayor Wu. There’s been no mayor in my lifetime more supportive of efforts to improve the built environment at the neighborhood scale for Boston residents than @wutrain.bsky.social
Gov. Healey is a lot better on transit than I give her credit. That’s for sure.
Facts.
The E has perhaps the best route of the entire network. Just the duplicative service with the 39 bus and Orange Line and it not having *any* — let alone absolute — rights of way limit its potential.
You probably have to bury the entire E Branch to get to Arborway, but that likely should be done anyway. The E likely has the best route in the entire network yet gets dumped on.
cc: @princessmom122.bsky.social, @savvysteph.bsky.social, @scribblesonnapkins.bsky.social
Okay, I have been down lately on my Gov. for essentially giving up on the Red-Blue Connector and lengthening Green Line headways while NYC is getting 2nd Ave Phase II and Triboro RX plus a (de)congestion tax. But this — and increasing the frequency on the Orange and Red Lines — is … just great. …
That’s … a lot harder … Centre St in Jamaica Plain is awfully narrow such that the stations would be … interesting.
We cannot design transit policy as if nobody can afford the fare. Nowhere in the world does this. Having to pay a fare for the labor of transit workers, the cost of the vehicles, etc. the same way the rest of the world does is just a mathematical reality folks are going to have to deal.
Everywhere in the world where transit is a legit alternative to driving. That’s just the math of transit, and math doesn’t go away because people willfully ignore it. Nor do transit employees work for free. Nor is the tooth fairy going to find transit for everyone.
The amount of revenue necessary to run service at frequency levels such that transit is a legit alternative to driving far exceeds what taxpayers are willing to dole out. Everywhere in the world. In NYC. In Paris. In Berlin. In London. In Tokyo.
People use the their cars instead of transit because transit isn’t time competitive with the cars. In order to change the mode share, transit agencies need enough revenue to run enough service such that transit is time competitive with driving.
Studies have shown over and over again that free public transit doesn’t change the mode share — it just attracts people on the busiest routes who otherwise would have walked or ridden a bike the short distance leading to more stopping and elongated trip times.
Just a white dude to white dude tip — never ever ever say “This isn’t about race …” (let alone “and everyone but you knows it”) to a black woman. You are erasing a black woman’s lived experience.
Liked just for calling me “Newton.”
But I get not connecting Caltrain and BART at Millbrae is a big miss.
Link 21 would have a Caltrain connection to the Yellow Line at either West Oakland or 12th St — depending upon the route.
Then with Link21, Caltrain would have to turn in the industrial Oakland area, which is fine, though I tend to think many folks in SF and the Peninsula living along Caltrain would like a one-seat ride to E’Ville.
That’s fine. You can probably do Caltrain from Diridon to E’Ville or even Richmond with Link 21. Line length becomes an issue after that.
My position has definitely evolved on this. I think CA Transit Nerd and Infrastructure Weak make a good point that having Napa/Vallejo — which are roughly halfway between SF/OAK and SAC as a forced transfer under standard gauge makes more sense given the opex of SF to Vallejo.
17 miles done today after 8 miles at marathon pace yesterday. What a relief!
🚏🚍 “A city whose high density makes transit essential for the city’s functioning will soon not function very well. Service cuts will push transit riders back into cars (either as drivers or as people being given rides) triggering increased congestion. It will also cause people to lose jobs…”
If you care about cities, transit and urban economies, read this today👇. And if you live in Chicago or San Francisco or Portland or Seattle, demand meaningful action on transit funding.
High transit ridership is diverse ridership -- diverse in every dimension: wealth, trip purpose, physical ability, gender, language, nationality, race ... Always push back on cultural stereotypes about "who rides public transit." Plan as though everyone counts.
Sure. NYC’s mystique does that. NYC is all about demand >>>>>>> supply. But if you can only visit one US city, then it has to be NYC.
But is a Big Mac in NYC $9? Yeah, and the person in line behind you is willing to pay $15.
You do have to be careful with the term “Midtown.” Sometimes “Midtown” can mean “Kips Bay” or “10th” Ave. Those will run cheaper, but are far less convenient, than, say, between Madison and 7th Aves. You want the precise address so you know what subway lines are near you.
Hotels on Marathon Weekend in Midtown/Upper West Side run for $500-$700/night. $500/night in NYC on a normal night is on the higher end but not unreasonable.
When it comes to transit, Republicans are always the problem. Okay, white voters, too.
D.C. has more residents than two U.S. states. They pay more per capita in federal taxes than any other state. But they don’t get a serious seat at the table to decide how they’re governed. D.C. statehood now.
Also, if you make Napa and Dublin/Pleasanton forced transfers and keep the Orange Line, then Napa has a 3-seat ride to DT Oakland and Dublin/Pleasanton has a 3-seat ride to SF. Is this okay? Sorry, just spitballing.
Anyhow, my (well, Bryan’s) idea is to let Oakland keep the BART Orange at 6 tph off-peak and run the Yellow at full service (short turning at MacArthur, Pleasant Hill, and 24th). Would the Orange be too duplicative if standard gauge rail went from SAC to SJ?
I mean both Caltrain’s moderate and high growth plans have 6 tph off-peak (and 3 CA HSR trains). Just peak service is different between the two.
If you’re into public transit, and you’re not following public transit consultant Dr. Jarrett Walker (PhD, Stanford, Humanities), then you’re not doing Transit Sky correct. SEPTA is about to have to cut the Main Line and tons of bus routes if the service cuts materialize.
This is what having the dumbest voting electorate on the planet — mostly white voters — gets us.
Hub-and-spoke is the only way to do LA and the Bay Area.
TransitMatters does 2 tph off-peak on each branch except Framingham/Worcester, which gets 4 tph but loses its express trains.
I personally think 4 tph off-peak — what París RER branches are — is fine for Caltrain’s line length. Fwiw, TransitMatters advocates 2 tph off-peak for the Providence Line (similar distance as Caltrain), and South Station, Back Bay, and Providence are fairly significant anchors.
I have Caltrain currently at 4 tph peak and 2 tph off-peak. www.caltrain.com?active_tab=r... 4 tph off-peak seems about the most amount of service necessary given the line length.
Coliseum to SF is the main line of SJ to SF via Jack London and another branch.
The headache is if you turn Caltrain/CA HSR in Oakland, you’re limiting capacity for SAC/SJ/Napa to SF. For frequencies I have Caltrain: 2-4 tph CA HSR: 4-8 tph SAC to SF: 1-2 tph Napa to SF: 1-2 tph Colliseum (incl. SJ) to SF: 2-4 tph I don’t know how easy that would be to fit into Link 21.
Thanks, California Transit Nerd. Fwiw, I may be one of the few people whose fantasy maps have the lines going to Salesforce all to terminate there. I just don’t know how reliable commuter trains going from Sacramento/Napa to SJ via SF can be w/ as many stops as Caltrain has.
@bryanculbertson.com, @catransitnerd.bsky.social, @infrastructureweak.bsky.social, @angrytransitnerd.bsky.social, @corvinb.bsky.social Do you know if the proposed 6-track Salesforce Transit Center has turnback capability going both ways the way Gov’t Center Station does here in Boston?
Is this the dumbest post of * the hour * the evening * the day * the week * the month * the year * the decade * the century?
The Bay Area and LA are like a bunch of smaller cities spread out. East Coast cities aren’t like that. DC is really the closest to the West Coast (DC/Tysons/Reston/etc.), and it’s still not anything like the West Coast.
I’d definitely never trust NH voters — who are much more allergic to taxes than Mass. residents — to pay in perpetuity the operating costs of an MBTA NH Commuter Rail extension.
As someone whose degree is in math, I’ve really come to appreciate Common Core math. I feel like I would have done better in my computer science classes and proofs classes with Common Core as it teaches kids not only how to do math but also *think mathematically.*
Sadly, of all the things politicians are willing to stick their neck out for, asking folks to transfer more often, I don’t think, ranks exactly very high on their lists.
These folks know what they’re doing. I do hope they are willing to take the political hits for getting rid of wyes in BART and their proposals, but that almost certainly requires a politician to stick their neck out for them.
Mándela likely would likely require tunneling and an underground W. Oakland Station, costing more (but less than Broadway), but I could be wrong.
I think whatever you think can be sold to the public probably is the best option. I’d argue not having to close down 12th and 19th for multiple years and get a more linear ride to SF probably is an easier sell.
I could go any which way if the East Bay gets a full service Orange Line — which has the full Downtown Oakland potential (19th, 12th, and Lake Merritt) and is a reasonable, if slower, trip to SJ — though I’d probably lean towards Mandela or I-980.
I’m also pretty sure Yellow Liners going to Giants/Warriors games or working close to PAC Bell Park will appreciate an easier transfer at West Oakland (rather than Salesforce) to 4th/Townsend. But definitely some significant tradeoffs.