Are we finally headed in the right direction? (transportation) (Boston: city hall, hotels)

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by RBThescot

Raising the gas tax unfairly penalises Western Mass residents, and all rural residents, who don't benefit from public transportation and are dependent on driving private autos for their survival.

I couldn't care less about Boston's transportation woes. We in Franklin County already pay too high a price to subsidize the extravagant lifestyle of the elite royal families of Boston.

Do you not think this would benefit the people in Franklin county that are trying to get to actual jobs that are mostly concentrated where us elite royals are. Either by the commuter rail, or getting cars off the road?

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by GeePee

Do you not think this would benefit the people in Franklin county that are trying to get to actual jobs that are mostly concentrated where us elite royals are. Either by the commuter rail, or getting cars off the road?

not a realistic commute

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

not a realistic commute

We have offices in Western MA. There are more Franklin County - Boston Area (especially 128 ring) commuters than you think. And traffic gets backed up on the Pike and even Route 2 loooooooooong before you get to downtown Boston. So again, removing cars from the roadways in and immediately around Boston benefits everyone, not just Boston.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by RBThescot

Show your data.

Show yours first. You’re the one that made the claim. I’m the skeptic here.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

ehh, people arent going to stop driving or ridesharing over 15 cents. I think it gimmicky

We raise MBTA fares and it barley makes a dent. Or it does for a month or two and then people adjust. And thats not even a comfortable ride.

I think what it really does is make it feel more expensive


I’ve seen people drive a mile to the .02 cents cheaper gas station to get $12 in gas. They are wasting their time for like 7c.

Similarly seeing 2.62 vs 2.48 or 3.07 vs 2.92 is a big difference in someone’s head

[ben young]

Beyond rt.128, " There Be Dragons " or so Bostonian's and the State House think.

[RBThescot]

Originally Posted by GeePee

Do you not think this would benefit the people in Franklin county that are trying to get to actual jobs that are mostly concentrated where us elite royals are. Either by the commuter rail, or getting cars off the road?

Out here in Franklin county we're all lumberjacks who wear red plaid woollen jackets. When people start out with a phrase like "Do you not think..." we turn off Masterpiece Theater and get our girlfriends to rough them up.

As other people have pointed out, Franklin County to Boston is not a
"commute." It's a day trip. Or possibly an overnight trip depending.

The western counties - Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire - should really be part of southern Vermont, or eastern upstate New York for parts of Berkshire, both culturally and economically.

Western Mass isn't dependent on Boston. It's largely structurally self sufficient. Our real estate is a different market. Our economy runs on a different paradigm. We have our own water resources and farm to table food production.

Boston is entirely dependent on western Mass. If we turned off the tap at the Quabbin (and I'm obviously not suggesting that should happen) one million people in the Boston area would be dead within a week.

It's something to think about when the big shots in Boston are paying themselves first. When they're spending $ billions on the Big Dig, the MBTA tunnels and trains to pick up people from places like Concord and Newburyport, we don't even have decent bus service to our government offices in Boston, or locally, and large swathes of w Mass don't have internet service. It's a little bit like colonization - extraction of natural resources without the benefits of modernity.

[timberline742]

Except those "colonies" receive a disproportional amount of the state budget looking at it per capital, and its even more disproportional when looking at it per person relative to production wise.

In other words, unlike a "colony" situation, theyre being subsidized.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by RBThescot

Boston is entirely dependent on western Mass. If we turned off the tap at the Quabbin (and I'm obviously not suggesting that should happen) one million people in the Boston area would be dead within a week.

I’ll attempt to take a deep dive on mass.gov later to get some data about where the state’s money is generated vs where it’s spent.

In the meantime, I wanted to point out that the Quabbin was created by Boston, for Boston. The agency that built it and continues to run and maintain it, the MWRA, serves the Boston area. None of the towns around the Quabbin have the ability to flip a switch and shut off the reservoir.

Western Mass isn't dependent on Boston. It's largely structurally self sufficient. Our real estate is a different market. Our economy runs on a different paradigm. We have our own water resources and farm to table food production.

It's something to think about when the big shots in Boston are paying themselves first. When they're spending $ billions on the Big Dig, the MBTA tunnels and trains to pick up people from places like Concord and Newburyport, we don't even have decent bus service to our government offices in Boston, or locally, and large swathes of w Mass don't have internet service. It's a little bit like colonization - extraction of natural resources without the benefits of modernity.

So is western mass a self-sustaining, pastoral paradise or a resourceless wasteland without modern amenities? Get your story straight.

I do agree that it’d be nice for the state to invest more in bus & train routes between the east and the west. The Boston area is expensive and overcrowded. If we could somehow shift the population growth and economic development west a bit, it’d probably be helpful to everyone in the state.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

I’ll attempt to take a deep dive on mass.gov later to get some data about where the state’s money is generated vs where it’s spent.

In the meantime, I wanted to point out that the Quabbin was created by Boston, for Boston. The agency that built it and continues to run and maintain it, the MWRA, serves the Boston area. None of the towns around the Quabbin have the ability to flip a switch and shut off the reservoir.



So is western mass a self-sustaining, pastoral paradise or a resourceless wasteland without modern amenities? Get your story straight.

I do agree that it’d be nice for the state to invest more in bus & train routes between the east and the west. The Boston area is expensive and overcrowded. If we could somehow shift the population growth and economic development west a bit, it’d probably be helpful to everyone in the state.

Actually Chicopee, Hadley and Wilbraham are Quabbin Towns too actually.