Victor_Korchnoi

Victor_Korchnoi t1_j06yy01 wrote

The conversion to BRT is gradual. The most important parts of BRT are dedicated lanes and frequent service. This accomplished both of those. Other elements are well-defined stations (included in this proposal), off-board payment, and all door boarding (currently possible on the couple free bus lines).

You could argue that this is BRT. And it’s certainly better BRT than the Silver Line on Washington St.

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Victor_Korchnoi t1_iu09c1g wrote

I think a better solution is to run the commuter rail more like a subway. Have 15 minute headways instead of 1 hour. Charge $2.40 instead of $6.50. Through-run the trains to North Station and beyond.

It would be a faster trip to Back Bay and downtown, and you could still connect with the Orange Line. Building the North South Rail Link and improving service would be easier than extending the subway to Roslindale, West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Lynn, Chelsea, and Waltham. We’ve already got the most expensive part, the right of way & the rails—we just need to use them more efficiently.

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Victor_Korchnoi t1_itzapoy wrote

We don’t need to eminent domain anything. People want to develop their land. In most cases, the zoning code makes doing that illegal. Take a look at the zoning map for your neighborhood. You’ll probably see that just about every building in your neighborhood is at (or above) the maximum that is allowed to be built. http://www.bostonplans.org/3d-data-maps/gis-maps/zoning-maps

If we loosen the zoning code, we’ll get the density we need.

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Victor_Korchnoi t1_itwyo4y wrote

They’re badness is exaggerated. They usually work just fine. Occasionally they don’t. If you take it every day, you will inevitably be screwed once in a while—that leads to a lot of frustration which we vent on the internet. But on any given trip, you are very likely to have a normal subway ride.

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Victor_Korchnoi t1_itrl1e4 wrote

The Seattle metro has 4.0 million people. Greater Boston has 4.9 million people.

For the sake of talking about the size of cities, these are much more relevant numbers than how large the municipalities are. It doesn’t really matter that Cambridge, Somerville, Chelsea, Brookline, and Everett are not technically part of Boston when thinking about how big the city feels.

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Victor_Korchnoi OP t1_isxjlyv wrote

That would be helpful if I only cared about them voting “progressively” or “conservatively.” My political views are a little more nuanced—or should I say don’t align perfectly with the majority view of either party.

My area is going to elect a Democrat, so I’m not all that worried that the Mass legislature is going to be sending fake electors to certify the presidential election. What I’m looking for in my state reps is someone who wants more dense housing, safer streets where you can walk & bike, and improved transit.

Specifically I’m trying to learn about their votes on H.3931 about whether to require loosening zoning restrictions near MBTA stops.

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