How bad does it have to get! (Boston, Worcester: public schools, college)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by lrfox

But Providence and Worcester are generally the most efficient and widely used as they have the best infrastructure/fewer grade crossings which require slower speeds.

Worcester Line most efficient???

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

The Fairmount Line has the potential to be the best if improvements are made at South Station to improve headways. It has the highest population density around each of its stations and could essentially function as a new heavy rail line. But 40 minute headways at peak times is not cutting it.

How do you do that? Wrecking ball the post office and add an upper deck structure on South Station to more than double the number of platforms? 4% grade ramps to an upper deck for a 30 foot rise to the upper deck, you'd need 750 foot ramps. I think there's enough room to do that.

[BosYuppie]

Hey, here’s some good news for once: https://commonwealthmagazine.org/tra...ail-on-a-roll/

RE the Worcester line, it is maybe the most important line but certainly not the best. Between the Newton stations being functionally obsolete and the impending Alston Curve little dig, it’s only going to get worse.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Worcester Line most efficient???

The on time performance is pretty good, it's faster than driving at rush hour, and they run relatively frequently during peak hours (close to every half hour). Like I said in my last post, It's hard to pick a clear best line, but those are the reasons I'd pick Worcester over most of the other lines.

Originally Posted by GeoffD

How do you do that? Wrecking ball the post office and add an upper deck structure on South Station to more than double the number of platforms? 4% grade ramps to an upper deck for a 30 foot rise to the upper deck, you'd need 750 foot ramps. I think there's enough room to do that.

Apart from acquiring the post office and demolishing it to allow for horizontal expansion, I'm not sure on specifics. The big hurdle, from what I understand, is getting the post office to vacate the space.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by GeePee

https://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2018...nts-fall-short
They are on some sort of honor based suggested payment system and they consistently fall way short of suggested payments.
Imagine you or any other business could optionally pay as much tax as they wanted?

Ha! Based on the info from that article, Northeastern paid 13% of 25% of what they’d have to pay in property taxes. That’s 3.25% for anyone who’s following. The 25% number correspond to $11.2 million, so they’d owe $44.8 million without tax breaks.

Northeastern’s annual tuition cost is about $52,000 per undergrad, and that doesn’t include the cost of on-campus housing. Northeastern had about 20,300 undergrads in the last year. Even assuming that none of those undergrads lived on campus (I believe 1st and 2nd year students are required to) that amounts to a little over $1 billion in tuition money.

According to Wikipedia, the average attendance cost after aid is around $29k. Even adjusted for that, Northeastern makes around $589k off their undergrads from tuition alone not factoring in housing.

They should be able to pay at least $11.2 million to the city.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by lrfox

The on time performance is pretty good, it's faster than driving at rush hour, and they run relatively frequently during peak hours (close to every half hour). Like I said in my last post, It's hard to pick a clear best line, but those are the reasons I'd pick Worcester over most of the other lines.
.

Well I would certainly hope it's faster than driving the Pike at rush hour. Travel times are still an embarrassment though, and parking/placement of most stations are a joke. I'm aware some of the other lines are worse.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Well I would certainly hope it's faster than driving the Pike at rush hour. Travel times are still an embarrassment though, and parking/placement of most stations are a joke. I'm aware some of the other lines are worse.

I agree on all fronts. There isn't a single line that I would say I'm proud of.

[little ben]

Whats the North Station to Lowell line like.?

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I agree on all fronts. There isn't a single line that I would say I'm proud of.

This isn't a P ing contest, but just to highlight how unremarkable the Worcester Line is even compared to the others.


Here is a sample of travel times to Boston from stops just inside 495 (or the equivalent to):


North Billerica (Lowell Line): 38m/33m express
Mansfield (Providence Line): 46m/36m express
Andover (Haverhill Line): 52m/39m express
Lakeville/Middleboro: 58m
Franklin: 59m/55m express
Newburyport: 1h3m/59m express
Littleton (Fitchburg Line): 1h4m/46m express






And lastly Southborough (Worcester Line): 1h4m/53m express!


Of course distances aren't exact, but close enough where you get the point. I believe Lakeville and Plymouth are significantly further than Southborough. That the line connecting the state's two largest cities is that slow, is truly pathetic.

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I agree on all fronts. There isn't a single line that I would say I'm proud of.

I'd pick the Providence as the fastest/most efficient line.