Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

mbtaviz.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–29 of 29 posts

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#21

Post by kibwen »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #17
kibwen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth noting that the bicycle infrastructure in Cambridge, Somerville, and the adjoining parts of Boston has also skyrocketed in quality relative to its pre-pandemic state, it's extremely heartening to see. I don't take the T much anymore just because it's so easy to bike anywhere that I need to go. Shout out to the new path parallel to the green line extension, which makes it feasible to get from downtown to Somervi…

The bad part of the new bike lanes however is that it is now politically impossible to implement street cars or dedicated Bus Rapid Transit. There’s not enough space on the main streets and the bike lobby is very powerful. I say this is someone who bikes, but who would rather have working mass transit first as it is far more useful and also equitable.

I can name several places in Cambridge and Boston which are using dedicated bike+bus lanes as a solution to accommodating public transit and micromobility on our narrow streets. I'm sure that some bike people grumble about it, but the rest of us recognize that every person who decides to bus rather than drive is one less car that we have to contend with.

As for streetcars, Philadelphia shows that you can mix streetcar lanes with car lanes.

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#22

Post by markc »

getoffmycase wrote: post #16
pdonis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> only 3 lines? There's a fourth, the Green Line (which actually has 4 branches, B, C, D, and E, on the south/west side of downtown Boston), but it is not shown in the article under discussion. There is a link in the article to another page on the same site that shows the Green Line.

Technically two or three of the silver line buses are also considered to be subway, too. I believe SL1, SL2, and SL3. They’re subway fare and they go underground at some point

And free outbound from Logan! Though I must say, the last time I did this it was a bit of a nightmare. The SL1 was very late and we were packed in like sardines.

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#23

Post by markc »

kibwen wrote: post #9
micromacrofoot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ridership is about half of what it was pre-pandemic, so there are likely a lot of differences - the green line extension and some additional orange line stations have also opened since the whole system is a mess right now, but there's a new general manager that seems to be the best chance we've ever had at turning it around

Worth noting that the bicycle infrastructure in Cambridge, Somerville, and the adjoining parts of Boston has also skyrocketed in quality relative to its pre-pandemic state, it's extremely heartening to see. I don't take the T much anymore just because it's so easy to bike anywhere that I need to go. Shout out to the new path parallel to the green line extension, which makes it feasible to get from downtown to Somervi…

True. I chose my neighborhood in Somerville with proximity to the T as a top priority because I assumed I'd be taking it to work in Kendall every day. Then I bought a bike and found it better in almost every way: free, enjoyable (much of the time), healthier, and much faster. So much so that I biked nearly all of the time, year-round. I had dedicated lanes for most of the trip, and quiet almost car-free neighborhoods for much of the rest.

An unexpected pleasure was the schadenfreude of passing scores of cars on Hampshire/Beacon on my way home during rush hour.

An unexpected annoyance was the fair weather bikers who don't seem to know their bike has gears, and take f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to get going at a green light.

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#25

Post by miriam_catira »

shiroiuma wrote: post #10

This is very interesting, but wow, what a small system: only 3 lines? I'd like to see what a page like this would look like for Tokyo, where we have 121 lines and 882 stations in the greater metro area.

As someone who has lived in both Boston and San Francisco.... I'd choose Boston's infrastructure any day. We complained about it constantly, and then we came to SF. And desperately miss it.

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#26

Post by madcaptenor »

kibwen wrote: post #21
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bad part of the new bike lanes however is that it is now politically impossible to implement street cars or dedicated Bus Rapid Transit. There’s not enough space on the main streets and the bike lobby is very powerful. I say this is someone who bikes, but who would rather have working mass transit first as it is far more useful and also equitable.

I can name several places in Cambridge and Boston which are using dedicated bike+bus lanes as a solution to accommodating public transit and micromobility on our narrow streets. I'm sure that some bike people grumble about it, but the rest of us recognize that every person who decides to bus rather than drive is one less car that we have to contend with. As for streetcars, Philadelphia shows that you can mix streetca…

I have lived on a streetcar line in Philadelphia and sometimes people double-park. It's not ideal.

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#27

Post by micromacrofoot »

ghaff wrote: post #7
micromacrofoot wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ridership is about half of what it was pre-pandemic, so there are likely a lot of differences - the green line extension and some additional orange line stations have also opened since the whole system is a mess right now, but there's a new general manager that seems to be the best chance we've ever had at turning it around

My very anecdotal sense as someone who doesn't come into the city a lot is that rush hour traffic is worse than ever and transit is less crowded than it used to be be.

surprisingly traffic is lower than pre-pandemic overall, though possible it's clustering more at rush hour... anecdotally I do notice that people are worse drivers than ever

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#28

Post by micromacrofoot »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #17
kibwen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth noting that the bicycle infrastructure in Cambridge, Somerville, and the adjoining parts of Boston has also skyrocketed in quality relative to its pre-pandemic state, it's extremely heartening to see. I don't take the T much anymore just because it's so easy to bike anywhere that I need to go. Shout out to the new path parallel to the green line extension, which makes it feasible to get from downtown to Somervi…

The bad part of the new bike lanes however is that it is now politically impossible to implement street cars or dedicated Bus Rapid Transit. There’s not enough space on the main streets and the bike lobby is very powerful. I say this is someone who bikes, but who would rather have working mass transit first as it is far more useful and also equitable.

True, but we are getting more center-running bus lanes, which in the absence of street cars is at least a reasonable step forward

Re: An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system

#29

Post by sdeer »

shiroiuma wrote: post #10

This is very interesting, but wow, what a small system: only 3 lines? I'd like to see what a page like this would look like for Tokyo, where we have 121 lines and 882 stations in the greater metro area.

They have not included the Green Line which is underground in the central city but is more like a tram in physical dimensions. It is considered a part of the network.
Post reply on HN