The Most Dangerous Subway in America

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Writing by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation led by Max Moser
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster
Select visuals courtesy the Boston Globe
References
[1] transitapp.com/apta
[2] www.massdottracker.com/wp/div...
[3] cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/fi...
[4] news.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...
[5] www.mbta.com/leadership/mbta-...
[6] www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta...

[@nschur897]

I've worked in the T tunnels as an engineer during many of those shutdowns mentioned in the video. It's honestly incredible being down there, almost like walking through a time capsule. You can see the difference in construction practices between the decades as you pass through different parts of the tunnels, but what you said in the video about willpower is most apparent. These pioneers of the American subway system just wanted a better way to get around than the busy and filthy surface level streets of the time. We need to attack this problem with the same willpower of the past. Thank you for bringing attention to this issue.

[@Redmenace96]

Well said. The will to change is in short supply, these days.

[@WouldntULikeToKnow.]

​@@Redmenace96 in politics maybe, not for the people.

[@Medley3000]

With the Americans' love of cars, it is unlikely that a functioning and inexpensive public transportation system will be established. But cars are another matter. Today, the average EV costs $47,000. That's too expensive for 80% of people. What will they drive instead? Scooters? Bicycles? Welcome to the future!

[@doorsfan173]

The point about willpower is very important. People want change, but there is little appetite to tolerate the period of disruption that it requires. I get it, but nothing will ever get done otherwise. Obviously, we don't want another Big Dig level of going over-budget and nearly a decade beyond expected completion, but a massive modernization of the MBTA would take time, money, and a hell of a lot of patience. I'd imagine any governor overseeing the bulk of it will probably get reamed, and they likely don't want to be the ones overseeing it, either (people's needs be damned).

[@nicholaspearson4246]

Maybe the solution is to hire the engineers of the Peoples Republic of Chiina to upgrade our system. They could do so in a fraction of the time we could and on a much smaller buidget.

[@vlogbrotherdave]

As a Boston area lifelong resident, thanks for highlighting this! One point you didn't touch on that I was hoping you'd discuss was the debt the MBTA was forced to take on from the Big Dig.

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

I DONT CARE WHY WOULD I, MY CONTENT IS SUPERIOR

[@1987FX16]

Bostonian, the word you're looking for is Bostonian.

[@michaelpare5997]

Much of this debt is from projects that improved transit as an agreement from the Big Dig. Yes, they are from the Big Dig, but the debt is exclusively from MBTA related projects. This includes projects such as the new GLX.

[@matthewennis3591]

@@michaelpare5997crazy thing is isn’t that like one of the ONLY original mitigation projects to finally get completed other than the old colony commuter lines? I know Arborway was laughed off. Red/Blue and blue to Lynn kicked down the hall, north/south rail was also ignored. I’m actually shocked GLX ever got completed. Can’t wait to come back home and hopefully see it running

[@dubbleplusgood]

It may not have been mentioned directly but he did point out 20% of the annual expense was due to debt. The specifics would probably require its own video.

[@bookcat123]

I was in Boston with no car for two years in grad school. It very much seemed like there were two Bostons, layered on top of each other and yet largely isolated from each other. If you didn’t have a car you lived a certain way and went certain places on a certain schedule. People with cars often couldn’t or wouldn’t be there because there was no parking and/or the timing wasn’t synced with the commuter rail where they might leave their car. Meanwhile people with cars lived a certain way and went certain places on a certain schedule - and without a car you either couldn’t join them at all, or the timing didn’t work with the T’s schedule/reliability. Some employers had a rule that employees had to be let off at the end of the day before the T closed. Others had parking lots. Rarely did anyone have both.

[@WinstonSmithGPT]

Very astute obligation.

[@jabbermocky4520]

Very true. I lived in North Quincy and worked at a law office on Tremont St., kittycorner across the street from the Park St. station. No parking anywhere near that part of downtown. Unless you pay a HUGE amount to park in a garage - IF you can even find a space. Taking the T was the only viable way to get to work on time anyway since the traffic jams on the Southern Artery and Rt.3/128 are insane in the mornings and evenings. Reliably insane. I totally understand what you mean.

[@neuroseptember1020]

This is very true, and I never thought that other cities would have it differently. I’m envious.

[@WillaGem]

yep i've had people who mostly drive try to ask me, a person who mostly walks/takes the train/bus and it was pretty much impossible for us to communicate

[@michaelmann8800]

As a former MIT student and Boston resident, this saddens me. I have fond memories of riding the T all over the place, and being able to explore the Boston area without a car (as I was not licensed to drive). The T was one of those things that really made me thankful to be attending college in Boston. I certainly hope these problems can be sorted out. That subway system is a piece of American history, and it can not be allowed to just go away.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

That is what keeps the cities going like a well-oiled machine.

[@jimalcott760]

Not licensed? Does anyone care about that these days??

[@michaelmann8800]

@@jimalcott760 What are you asking?

[@laurat1129]

@@michaelmann8800He’s not making a dig at you for not having a DL then, but rather more the awful number of unlawful “motorists” here in the present day, just being sarcastic (don’t you miss it?😉)

[@RickySTT]

I lived in eastern Massachusetts from 1982 to 1996. I was a student at Northeastern University, and even after I graduated and moved to the suburbs, I regularly drove to Wellington station when I needed to go downtown. Two years ago, I visited Boston for a conference downtown, and I enjoyed riding the T to visit old familiar places, as well as to shop for items I couldn’t get at home, although I was quite disturbed at the condition of the Orange Line trains. I do not want to see the T fail. I also love using trains to explore other cities I’ve visited, such as Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Beijing, and others.

[@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2]

Fun fact! The green line extension, which cost 2 billion $ and is less than 2 years old, had to shut down because the rails were installed too wide and rather than fix it right when they found out about the issue (a year before it opened) , the T decided to ignore the problem for 2 years until trains were being slowed to under 3mph to stop trains from completely going off the tracks

[@sextond]

Too narrow, but the rest of the comment is right.

[@quadcorelatte8217]

That’s not quite true. It shuts down early at night to fix the rails, not all day as implied. And the 3mph restrictions were only in place for a few days until safety was verified.

[@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2]

@@quadcorelatte8217 no, it was completely shut down for something like 2 weeks this fall. The slowdowns also definitely weren’t 3 days long, every time I take it there’s numerous sections of walking speed slowdowns

[@k1mgy]

This video slid over the ineptitude, sloth and corruption that are hallmarks of this and other big-city systems. The T probably sits at the top of the heap in these departments, and it shows. They enjoy an enabling legislature, an apathetic public and media that's in the pocket of politicians. It should have been totally re-structured in the image of the Japan Rail system, with infrastructure publicly owned and operations provided by for-profit private corporations. Get it out of the political arena and encourage it to run efficiently through competition. To do so will be to bring down one of the largest taxpayer funded job and money schemes in existence, so that idea will never fly. Instead it will collapse, with a pile of dirtbag hacks battling over the spoils.

[@farmpunk_dan]

I moved out of south Medford right when they finished the line. Glad to hear I’m not missing much 😂

[@jaycie5021]

Just a quick note from another Bostonian, The MBTA being a useful and reliable means of transit isn't something from our grandparents childhood. It was the 2000's. The T has driven off a cliff over the last 10 years, before that I could on getting all over the place in quick order.

[@liams923]

And a big part of the reason for this is that the Big Dig diverted funds away from the MBTA. I wish this was mentioned in the video

[@SK-lt1so]

Nonsense It's been a mess forever.

[@cmt6997]

@@liams923no amount of funding can fix widespread corruption and incompetence.

[@opinionatedopiner]

The denser the area and the more business and people concentrate themselves into one big clusterfuck, the worse it's going to get. There are no laws preventing the cluster from happening.

[@jenniferstrong8737]

Agreed. I've been using the T to get work since the late 90's. Back then it was reliable and efficient. Now it's a mess.

[@jasonevers6561]

I work at an indie theatre in Boston. Annually, there's a production of a musical about how bad the MBTA is. It follows three people just trying to get home on the train, but the T's management conspires to ruin their commutes home. This is how bad the subway is in Boston.

[@B-rock-braga]

Where and when can I see this show? And what is it called?

[@Jeffdow1987]

@@B-rock-bragait’s called T: An MBTA Musical. It ended last month. It was okay.

[@rockstc955]

A script that would really help the people would have it as the governor and state rep trying to ruin the people's commutes, because thats the reality of the control over the subway

[@jiafeiskinnyproducts]

Was this the one in Porter? I remembered seeing some posters of it up there

[@lmnop29]

I lived in Boston in 2017 and did not have, nor could afford to get a car. The MBTA was my only option to get to work from the lower income suburbs I was staying in. My commute took 2 hours one way, which means I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home, and still had to make lesson plans and cook, etc. I took the Orange, Red, and Green Lines primarily. I was increasingly frustrated by the slowdowns, the closed stations, and the trains that were so packed, I had to wait for a couple to go by before finally being able to fit onto one. Boston has the bones for a more robust transit system. I really hope they figure it out because it could be a game changer for not just low income people like myself, but for everyone.

[@tombeegeeeye5765]

The green line is a mess it must compete with cars at every intersection.

[@lmnop29]

@@tombeegeeeye5765 The Green Line single handedly solidified my deep disdain for light rail. Is it better than nothing? Sure, but just barely. 😂

[@daviiiid.r]

I speak for all people from Worcester: nothing is quite possibly as bad as being stranded in Worcester for 2 hours because you missed your train

[@perfectallycromulent]

you sound like a person who's never been stuck in the NY Port Authority bus terminal at 3am.

[@Dondeenie]

Jeez, and I thought we new yorkers had it bad with long time waiting in our subway system...

[@donwald3436]

At it least it gives you time to practice saying Worcester. Rooster? Worsher?

[@foodgasm648]

Lived in Worcester for 2 years back when the commuter rail was every two hours, without a car, and I concur

[@FlightX101]

@@perfectallycromulentnewark Penn station is like that too. Its a freak show at 3am

[@benoftheweek]

the real most dangerous subway is the chain that has yoga mat plastic in their bread and 0 tuna in their tuna subs

[@zukacs]

and bread is considered cake in UK

[@woah99]

Yes, you’re right Ben!

[@beejwalden2009]

Yoga Mats sure taste good

[@TheFireGiver]

It's a misconception that there's no tuna in the tuna at subway. The way tuna is processed destroys the DNA as it is cooked at high tempature and pressure. Then it's mixed with ingredients that interfere with PCR. It's not that there's no tuna, it's that there's no proof there's tuna because the tuna dna is either destroyed or being hidden by other ingredients. At least this was true when I was in the food science industry.

[@Gnomezonbacon]

I'VE BEEN EATING YOGA MAT PLASTIC?! WHAT THE HE11?!?!

[@R3dhawk95]

15:54 important thing to note. People make such a big deal about "revenue shortfalls" for operating a transit system. yet roads by and large make approximately.... 0% of their costs both construction and operating. yet no one says we shouldn't build more roads, increase funding for it or can't find the funding for repairs

[@ItbeEternal]

Holy crap I never though about that lol. That's a great point.

[@techspeak5801]

No. While I agree with your sentiment, roads do pay for themselves multiple times over. This is because they allow for the economy to function, allowing for the transport of goods and people, which will both make money. That money will go toward taxes, which will go toward the roads.

[@justinwatson1510]

Who do you think rides the subway, parrots? Public transit is also far less detrimental to the environment and reduces pollution (and this, the burden on the healthcare system and also each individual's contribution to climate change) in urban centers. Just because they aren't also used for cargo doesn't mean they don't save money, genius.

[@justinwatson1510]

Private cars need to be abandoned unless you want climate change to kill a significant fraction of the planet's population or cause a significant influx of immigrants who are trying to escape starvation.

[@techspeak5801]

@@justinwatson1510 please re-read my comment, as that was not the point I was making.

[@Broaclese]

I was a NYC dockbuilder when they were doing the big dig in Boston. Some of the boys were sent up there to help with the tunneling. They were a bit shocked by the methods used to hang massive cement slabs on the ceiling. Holes were drilled into the roof slab and pins were glued in place. Slabs of precast cement were then hung from the pins. Meaning, the only thing holding these very heavy sections up was glue. This was very different from how it was usually done. The glue was 2 part and had a complex mixing nozzle that combined the glue and hardener as it was dispensed. None of them were sold this method's functionality and they advised anyone who would listen against using the tunnel. Within a couple of years, the slabs began to fall and people lost their lives...

[@rbspider]

They went with the regular Elmer's, not the heavy duty. Was stuck in that tunnel every day for 9 years and don't think for one second that the ceiling falling hadn't gone through my brain more than once. Epoxy in cement holding a four ton slab, what could go wrong? They ran out of money and never dressed the ceiling correctly. They also installed a railing system on the catwalks in the tunnel that had to be removed after a person on a bike lost and arm from the sharp edge design or they pulled it out before that happened, I can't recall. Plus the tunnel is impossible to clear. It's disgusting.

[@timothycormier3494]

Yup I remember when that happened. I believe it was an old woman and her kids or something like that. But she was crushed by one of those ceiling panels. Same thing here. I’ve been stuck sitting in those tunnels for more hours of my life than I care to remember. Laughing with the other guys in the truck about when is the next one gonna fall and crush us. I don’t work in the city anymore and I don’t care to ever go back to the city. I’ve lost hours that have added up to days that add up to weeks and months and years of my life sitting on the southeast expressway. Good riddance!

[@rbspider]

@@timothycormier3494 I wish I still had the special edition magazine that said you would whisk through the city during rush hour in a gleaming tunnel. It was a woman who was crushed , she was in her PJ's , had decided to take the ride into the airport with her husband at the last minute who was picking up a relative or friend flying into Logan late at night . A young woman was killed when a manhole cover was dislodged south bound near the end of the tunnel by a vehicle traveling well over the speed limit ( Of course nobody went the speed limit , it was fast and furious when light traffic was the case) The manhole cover flew through her windshield and took her head off . Two second either side of time and she may have not died. I guess it just wasn't our time. I wonder how much poison we all breathed sitting there?

[@timothycormier3494]

@@rbspider that’s right! I forgot about the manhole cover. Yeah that was brutal. And yes, I can’t imagine how much break dust and exhaust fumes we’ve inhaled from sitting forever inside of those tunnels. Especially on a hot summer day when that unmistakable stink of the tunnels is at its worst. So humid that it can’t escape because the air is so wet and heavy. Yucko! Remember deciding whether or not to take the expressway or the pike. Because one of them might…possibly…maybe moving…at all. I don’t know how old you are. But if you remember back before the big dig. Before the highway was the way it is now. The southeast expressway was a whole lot worse than it is now. If you can believe that. But even today. Heading home or outbound on the expressway. Ya got the HOV lane dumping out with the RT3 people crossing over the hov people crossing over to get on 95. All in the same spot. It’s a nightmare! 😂😂😂

[@rbspider]

@@timothycormier3494 I saw Boston when Jordan Marsh would setup Santa's village, back when the Annex had the toys and record department . I sold newspapers at North station when it had the elevated orange line . Later on I worked at the phone company in the Combat zone . That phone company building was used as the HQ for the all girl Ghost Busters movie. On the bright side , brake pads are no longer made with asbestos , but I recall people saying that working in the city was like smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. I ended up with a dashcam and have images of cars traveling horizontal in front of me to cut across lanes. One night there was a roll over inside the north bound side , a child had been ejected and died. I saw cars and motorcycles go through there at over 100 mph . Fridays and Saturdays were the worst at two am. Do not miss it one bit. They also missed the chance to finally connect North and South Stations. 13 billion seems cheap these days . Since 2021 we have spent 450 billion on immigration

[@Trevor-hs5km]

Having rode the MBTA on a regular basis, it does suck. But also it still has a rather large group of wealthy people using it and advocating for it. The D line runs through almost exclusively wealthy neighborhoods, most notably Brookline and Newton. The Red Line runs through some of the wealthiest parts of Cambridge and that's the reason why it's underground there. The MBTA is bad right now, but they're digging themselves out, the slow zones have decreased significantly in the past month with a comprehensive plan, and new rolling stock is arriving on all lines. Although expansions haven't been proposed, there is a large group of people who would advocate for them and our mayor is extremely pro transit and uses it. We just got a new general manager, heralded with fixing the terrible reliability of the Long Island Railroad. So things are looking up, and I hope they'll follow through because I still have hope.

[@SaxPanther]

I feel like people are just gonna ignore this but its true. And despite all the bad things you can say about it its still one of the best transit systems in the nation. I live way out in the suburbs and I never take my car farther than Riverside or Alewife, it's very convenient.

[@kaicandoit]

Grew up in Boston here. I left and live in NYC now. I have spent too much time over the years advocating for better transit and reliability for the city and region. For the first time, I actually do believe it's finally going in the right direction under new leadership. As much as we love to praise Baker, he horribly misread the situation and managed to worsen the MBTA in his early years. His original concept of privatizing the T, paired with not fundamentally understanding how deeply broken the system was back in 2015 (even if he was aware, he miscalculated just how bad it was), brought years of additional mismanagement, accidents, delays, poor design quality for new trains, and a staggering laundry list of repairs not being made. Wu and Governor Healey definitely gave me hope as they knew this was a huge issue. Both have my vote to this day and since Baker left, suddenly most of the major problems his administration mishandled seem to be finally getting addressed. Its not Baker's fault entirely, he was given a system in terrible repair, but again he only tried to improve it minimally all while his appointees at the MBTA lied to everybody as to just how bad the state of the infrastructure was. Fun fact, there are multiple stations on the orange line alone that have come close to imminently collapsing but the MBTA did not want to disclose that, so they did 'quiet' repairs by shutting the stations down claiming they needed to do minor improvements when in actuality, they were emergency repairs to avoid the absolute worst. And unfortunately, Haymarket station collapse would happen, to which was mostly the T's fault and not the construction happening above... It is a constant story where instead of the system being proactive, it's only trying to avoid the absolute worst case scenario. Trains on fire, derailments and even minor ceiling collapses are almost nothing in comparison to what situations the MBTA was keeping under wraps. I know I wrote a lot here but its years of anger all of us from the area have felt about the T. I hope that the repairs continue to happen, I hope the state releases the 'big dig' debt that was tacked onto the MBTA, I hope the state votes to give additional funding to bring it to a state of good repair + that one day, we can finally get a real proper ring line around the core of Boston and Cambridge. Additional NSRL needs to happen, electrification of the CR (pollution levels of diesel, along with their noise, has caused health defects to residents living near these lines) to improve reliability, speed and higher frequencies. So much that needs to happen and we need to be serious about making those investments for the future.

[@duncanmcauley9450]

@@kaicandoit this was amazing to read, darn good comment. I worked on parts of the OL tunnels doing inspection work almost 2 years ago and got to see first hand how inefficient things were run, before the new GM entered the picture

[@kaicandoit]

​@@duncanmcauley9450 I work in Architecture & CM and have heard insane stories about those tunnels. Had a friend who had to analyze the conditions of Chinatown station a few years back which I'm sure you've heard or seen what the condition of those support beams/columns were like prior to the emergency repair.

[@drjustino]

​@@SaxPanther"best transit systems in the country" -- have you actually been anywhere? It is BY FAR THE WORST

[@mepeck316]

I was a student in Boston (early 2000s) and now live in Paris. Can confirm what was said about the Paris metro network, but we also have a really good bus system that fills in the gaps between the metro stations. I've been here for three years and have NEVER needed a car. The commuter rail goes to the airports, the rail stations service the regional trains, and plenty of delivery services exist if you want someone to bring a couch home for you from Ikea. In addition, bike share is incredibly popular with our plentiful new bike lanes, and taxis are available in a pinch.

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

I DONT CARE WHY WOULD I, MY CONTENT IS SUPERIOR

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

I DONT CARE WHY WOULD I, MY CONTENT IS SUPERIOR

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

I DONT CARE WHY WOULD I, MY CONTENT IS SUPERIOR

[@shahrukhsariarkhan]

to add to this, the (network manager? i don't know the english name, but IDFM) also finances the car pooling system. i stopped physically using the subway/tram/bus lines in favor of car pooling as my commuter pass also pays for the car trip. much faster, more comfortable, but for the same price as public transports.. aka using the already traveling cars for commuting and reducing the load of current public transports. and to avoid abuse, this is only for suburb to suburb or Paris to suburbs, not paris - paris system

[@Stellar-Cowboy]

Wesh mgl

[@xander1052]

the fact that the London Underground, with it's ancient tunnels and trains, has significantly less issues even with TfL's money issues, shows that this really is an issue of Boston not solving the problems in time. Also that map of the Underground you showed at 10:05 is literally over a decade out of date.

[@mynameismyname2973]

Didn’t we kick you guys out of boston?

[@thesteelrodent1796]

nearly all inner-city train systems in Europe were established several decades before the US started building theirs, and all of the European systems work many times better than any kind of commuter system in the US. It's a matter of how the public transport is perceived. In Europe, public transport is generally something we see as required for society to function, while in the US there's an overwhelming belief it's something for the poor who can't afford a car, and thus the ones who can do something to improve it, refuses

[@user-acs64]

when i saw that part again after you pointed it out i got furious because the DLR was colored Pink and the rest of the Overground wasnt there, just the East London Line

[@laurat1129]

@@thesteelrodent1796Yes, it’s the impact of car culture here w/the idea of “freedom” and independence. The USA is so vast, our freeways/highways/roadways and vehicles are much bigger as well.

[@maxpowr90]

Sam didn't get the actual roads right either by deliberately excluding Rt9. That said, The "Boylston squeal" shows how tight/old Boston's subway is. It's almost charming; but Boston has also had over a century to fix that problem and has done nothing.

[@cre-kate-ive]

I'm from Boston and extremely passionate about public transportation. This is the video I wish I had the time and skill to make. Great job!! I remember when a lot of the MBTA horrors happened. From burning trains to the dragging death to brake failures, safety always comes last. On top of that, riders have no say in the system, which has made people feel hopeless, distrustful, and angry. I hope the city I love can someday have the safe and accessible transportation we deserve.

[@MyLinguine]

It’s shocking to see such a critical piece of infrastructure suffer so much neglect for so long

[@TheMasterhomaster]

That’s all of America.

[@M1911jln]

As a Boston-area resident, no it's not. Go into most major city in the US and look at the underside of your typical highway overpass. Chances are you'll see one heck of a lot of rust.

[@mcpr5971]

this is the result of big government. what wendover didn't discuss is how the politicians then use these struggles as political weapons against their opponents come election year. this creates a perverse incentive to not actually solve the problems because if you can't blame the other guy for something, you have a lower chance of being elected.

[@whiterabbit5600]

He said to him "'You shall love the Lord your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it : 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

[@langjie7281]

in the 90's and 2000's, the T was pretty good

[@mollyroughan1154]

As a Bostonian who takes the T almost every day, yes, it is seriously in bad shape, although extremely necessary for Boston citizens!

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

DIDNT ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

DIDNT ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

DIDNT ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER

[@h8GW]

@OFFICERJIMMYUTTP I don't get it, what is your grift? To hope that some people who check to see if your videos indeed have been stolen by Wendover to actually click on your unrelated videos?

[@Unknowngfyjoh]

​@@NUMleaderNUMleaderbut do you play tag across Europe?

[@gonzoengineering4894]

My God, good and reasoned transit content outside of the transit nerd bubble. Truly a rare sight. On my last trip to Boston I was shocked to discover that a 50 minute walk from South Station to the concert hall was faster than both the public transit option and the rideshare option. Truly an urban planning nightmare.

[@maxpowr90]

The only solace with Boston's transit, is that Logan Airport is a legit T stop. Other cities, you have to travel well outside the limits to get to the airport. You can take the Blue Line or the Silver Line, to get to where you need to go from Boston's airport. The Silver Line goes to South Station, which is also the terminus for the Acela.

[@thomasalton1220]

Philadelphia, where I nowl live, is another city where one can go from downtown to the airport on one train.

[@rbspider]

I believe a subway line travels between the Philadelphia Airport and the city?

[@ghillenberg125hillenberg8]

Although I am frustrated with the state of the T, I'm glad it exist. I recently moved to Boston from Indianapolis, which has no local rail system, and barely has a bus system. I am unable to drive, so having the rail option was a huge game changer. Although I'm apriciative of the opportunity it's opened for me, it's also highly frustrating. The commute to my first job here was 3 hours due to it being in Weymouth, and me living in Dorchester (still beats walking). I was eventually able to find something closer, but still have a long, hour and a half commute.

[@dandarr5035]

yeah, wait until people find out about the part where the State of Indiana outright banned Light Rail Transit from being built in the state (2014), that'll be a fun one too.

[@Ben1bx]

Indianapolis’ public transit is the worst in America for city size -lifelong resident

[@atibadrayton8246]

3 hours is wild. I understand you're new to the area and it's an improvement from back home. I am from Weymouth and I hate the T because of how long it takes to get to Boston compared to a 20 minute drive

[@robbietremblay9745]

I'm from Weymouth and have no clue what u and the other guy from Weymouth in this thread are talking about. I havent lived there in a few years but when I did I would just get on the redline in Braintree and I'd be in Boston within 30 minutes. The other dude says he'd rather take the 20 minute drive but it's only a 20 minute drive at like absurd hours. Basically from 4am till 1am it's at least an hour drive with the traffic

[@bradw3461]

Right?! There's no possible way it would take 3 hours.. I'm confused..or maybe they were.

[@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2]

Fun fact! The Ts incompetence extends to its hiring process too, someone on Reddit applied to be a bus driver (which their desperate for and are quite literally begging for people to apply to be) and the hiring process spanned multiple MONTHS and involved a medical check where he went in, got told to sit in a room and wait for the doctor, and then was quite literally completely forgotten about (he asked the nurses when he got frustrated and left, and they straight up forgot he was in there) for over 5 hours

[@Rhapbus1]

Well they clearly arent that smart if they sat there for FIVE HOURS and didn't even go out once before that lmao

[@drjustino]

Can't say I'm surprised -- their incompetence is at EVERY level

[@matthewjbauer1990]

Its hard to believe a medical place can sign in someone and forget about them. That's highly unlikely.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

As a native New Yorker, I see that your forum about the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the first subway in America, is great. Thank you for your forum because it is the best and a blessing to railroad buffs like me.

[@bbmikej]

Living in the DC area, it's been nice to see what the WMATA has been doing. The setback of the 7000 series a few years ago didn't help, but it's nice that most lines have 6 minute service. When this helps create near 3 minute service in downtown. It will be nice whenever the Purple Line gets finished because the group of Bethesda to Silver Spring to College Park is currently a terrible option. It's probably 45 minutes to go from Silver Spring to Bethesda on the Red Line right now, but that will be only 2 or 3 stops of grade separated running on the Purple Line cutting out a large amount of time. Another subway line is also being planned that would hopefully be a ring going from Rosslyn to Georgetown connecting with Union Station down through National Harbor, across to Alexandria, and back up to Rosslyn. I hope they can get the funding to keep pushing in the right direction.

[@katarjin]

If only they could extend Branch (green) down closer to me...a hour drive north to get to a train is still not great. (I would have explored more of DC by now if it was easier to get there...never driving in DC ever again...once made Florida drivers look polite)

[@wanderlustspirit4607]

I took the Boston subway once after a red Sox game. I didn't know you could fit that many people on a subway. You were on a molecular level of closeness with people

[@LeeTomaVideo]

Kind of a different meaning for these lyrics: "Hands, touching hands... Reaching out, touching me, touching you"

[@cocodojo]

Depending on what time and which season you're in as well as which line you're riding, you can definitely find out how it feels to be "packed like sardines in a can" 🤣 Everyone knows that going out of Boston on the Red Line, once you get past Downtown Crossing and South Station going southbound, you can claim a seat somewhere on the car. Likewise happens after Copley / Prudential on the Green Line going outbound, and most definitely an empty car after North Station. Same thing happens at Haymarket stop on the Orange Line as well as around Ruggles station. Sometimes... its just faster walking from Ruggles over to Longwood Medical Center 😐

[@counterfit5]

Going Outbound towards Kendall square on the Green Line before a Sox game is to test your faith in other people's hygiene

[@agentorange153]

I guess you've never seen the New York subway at rush hour! (Been there, done that -- if the passengers in the Boston subway are "on a molecular level of closeness", then the Flushing line (7 train) in New York at morning rush hour can only be described as having a neutron-star level of density!)

[@mariekatherine5238]

@@agentorange153And it reeks of garlic!

[@demven04]

I live in Boston on the orange line, and they replaced all the old trains with new cars, the most modern and comfortable in Boston now. But they are going so slow in some places that you can outwalk the train. It’s insane! Appreciate a lot for covering the entire video to the problem of our city. Hope some politicians will watch this too.

[@MrSolus-ls6us]

Same here i hadnt used public transportation in a while but had 2 use the orange line 2 weeks ago for Jury duty. I was surprised the orange lane had all their cars updated but my god some of the stops the train literally went like A TURTLE, i had no idea this was a common occurrence....

[@automotiveproreviews4you201]

As a child I grew up in Boston and know the subway system like the back of my hand. Before the current orange line position it was elevated. It was ugly but seemed to be far more reliable at 75 years old than the current branch which is only 36 yrs old.

[@twistedlittlepuppy]

does the new orange like still have that dumb fabric "anti-grafitti" seats? I remember when those first started appearing and people worrying about wet spots being unseen. At least with NYC trains, you can se the puddle of water/soda/urine on the seat before sitting on it.

[@whynot7585]

@@twistedlittlepuppythey are like orange plastic seat, so very easy to see if they are dirty, but they are still pretty comfortable

[@lonewolf3536]

That Community College to Assembly stretch used to be brutal, but there has been improvement thankfully.

[@kogure7235]

I was in Paris for holidays this year, their metro is so amazing. You can get everywhere in the city so quickly and easily, and always be within walking distance of your destination. Even switching between trains is so effortless. I didn't need any other means of transportation during my stay.

[@veego161]

I was in Boston this year as well and can say the same thing. I never needed a car once. That's the issue with this video: it's more alarmist and doom and gloom than it needs to be, and focuses on a specific subset of riders. Yes, all public transportation has issues and the little bit of it that we have in America is not ideal, being that we're a car-centric country. But in all the traveling I've done, this is nowhere near the worst that I've seen. Only $2.50 to go one-way all over Boston? I'll gladly take that over the $7 one-way with limited subway lines that I have now, thanks.

[@Godisangry]

I live in Southcoast Massachusetts and the only reason I make the drive to Braintree to take the T is because driving into Boston is a nightmare. I have a commuter rail station very close to me but its schedule usually doesn't line up for when i'd need to take it. Generally, I just try to avoid going to Boston.

[@Lukehmcc]

Bostonian transit advocate here: This video is generally very good. The one bone I have to pick with the narrative painted is the idea that that, "line shutdowns don't help slow zones." The reason there have been more slow zones despite the line shutdowns to fix slow zones is that the MBTA *didn't know* where these slow zones were before. Ever since the derailments & the initial "panic slow zones" the MBTA has been running the geometry car (as Phill Eng calls it) far more often to analyze the tracks and find the deficiencies. Because of this, even though the MBTA is repairing track far faster than they have in recent past, more slow zones are cropping up because we're actually paying attention now. Barring that I appreciate the dive into our transit issues, which direly need to be fixed for Boston to continue to be a good city into the future.

[@GeneralLiuofBoston1911]

I am in full agreement with this as well. It feels this way because we, advocates, and them, the T, are paying more attention than ever before to the detail. I also think that with ridership, it's not a fair analysis since a lot of potential ridership was not there being counted resulting from shutdowns and shuttle service replacement. I am more hopeful for our system even with all of these troubles.

[@patdunne9592]

My other issue with the video was when he criticized the T for only making back 45% of its costs, deeming it not profitable. Conversely, highways and other car infrastructure are far from profitable as well because there is tons of maintenance that goes into them.

[@maxtravers1314]

Exactly, that was the problem; the previous long-term head of the MBTA had basically been just not allowing workers enough time to properly check all of the track, so a lot of damage wasn’t even recorded

[@Wilbursson]

In 5 years should they have been able to lay 7 miles of track from quincy to south station? Just wondering if youre accepting of regression or just unaware of it.

[@Wilbursson]

​​@@GeneralLiuofBoston1911Its 22 minutes between mostly empty red line trains on the middle of the day. The numbers dont lie, unless youre on the green and arent noticing because of the economic disparity within the mbta, and not just the commuter rail.

[@seanbentley439]

As a lifelong Bay Stater, regular Red Line/T rider, occasional commuter rail rider, and fan of your channel, I’m happy that you’re doing a video on my city! One issue that’s really bad I’m surprised that you didn’t cover is the lack of frequency of trains (particularly on the Red Line). Even during rush hour, the Red Line trains only arrive every 15-20 mins (assuming you’re riding past JFK/UMass). Just this morning, I just missed the train by 30 secs and waited on the platform for 17 mins in freezing weather. Thankfully I use an app that tracks the trains, so it’s not as bad of an issue especially in the evening. But it’s absolutely unacceptable that you have to wait that long for a train going into and out of Boston during rush hour (and forget about using it during the weekend)! Even the new trains have an issue, where the button for the emergency call box is too big so people will accidentally press it and that means we stop at the station for a few mins as they investigate it. That happened to me twice on one ride! With all that being said, I will say the slow zones have gotten better at least on the red line and you’re definitely right about the commuter rail being great (although it can still be delayed sometimes). At one point it used to be almost an hour to go from Downtown Boston to Quincy then it was 30 mins, but now it’s about 20 mins. I’ll probably still use the train for the foreseeable future, since my building is right across the street from the station and parking and traffic are terrible. Just thank heavens for hybrid work, as I only have to go into the office 3 days per week and couldn’t imagine doing 5! Apologies for the long comment, but I just feel very passionately about this. Thank you for covering this and keep up the good work!

[@melissahouse3488]

If you think waiting 17 minutes is horrific, try living in western Massachusetts!!! Bostonians are such spoiled wimps!!! All the funding & you're STILL full of complaints!!!

[@danmoylan3309]

JFK to Braintree was over an hour until about a month ago

[@Splucked]

It would be nice if they'd fix the rails between NQ & Wolly station. They've worked on them overnight (delightful) many times over the past year and the trains still limp between both stations, vibrating the hell out of my house. It's literally sinking. Won't even start on the Comm Rail with a single track south of NQ. Disaster waiting to happen.

[@williamjameslehy1341]

No one from Massachusetts has ever called themself a "Bay Stater". The word is Masshole.

[@roccobierman4985]

He showed Chicago CTA stock footage quite a few times here but didn't mention Chicago by name. The Chicago CTA, and several other American light rail systems would DRASTICALLY benefit from ring networks. Adding 2 or 3 meaningful ring networks would redefine those light rail systems and their utility, and increase rider consideration significantly. More train lines, more robust systems that allow for more travel opportunity using that system = more loyal riders.

[@lmnop29]

Chicagoan here, still praying one day CTA listens to the call for a Gray Line connecting all the other lines. 🙏 Given how long it took them to secure funding for the Red Line extension though, I won't be holding my breath. 😅

[@jamalx4743]

​@@lmnop29 I was thinking about black silver and white

[@AssBlasster]

We have one in San Diego for the Green and Orange lines converging in Grossmont (east county suburbs) and didn't realize its benefits for a few months. It's nice to have easy transfers to visit other nearby suburbs

[@danielbliss1988]

I mostly disagree with the ring idea in Chicago. The obvious missing feature in Chicago is seamless travel from one side of the city to the other. The commuter rail lines do not link with each other or with transit properly, there's no direct bus route up Lake Shore Drive between south side and north side, and there's only one true through rail route -- the Red Line. Link these up and establish three or four through routes, and then we can worry about circle routes, but I honestly think the only circle route that would really do well is something along the lines of the dormant Mid-City Transitway plan, going up the west side linking the two airports with the transit hub at Jefferson Park, and continuing southeast of Midway to link up with Metra RI and Metra Electric around about 75th street or so.

[@lmnop29]

@@danielbliss1988 Why not both? :) But yeah it's absolutely a disservice that the Red Line is (basically) the only non-convoluted option for traversing the city north-south. Screw anyone who doesn't live on the eastern sides I guess.

[@jacobandrewclark]

I will say that visiting Boston last year, not long after the Orange line shutdown was done, was one of my favorite trips I’ve ever taken. Living in suburban and car-centric central Illinois, only having to drive to and from a train station in Providence every day to get to downtown was such a vacation from my everyday life. The T has its problems, yes, but the commuter rail is excellent and the subway system has good frequency, even for the non-rush hour-centric trips that we needed as tourists. Obviously transit shouldn’t be focused on that demographic, but there’s good bones to expand service and reliability in the future. And get that North-South Rail Link done.

[@QemeH]

Calling Boston "almost european" is both the greatest insult and the greatest compliment you can give a city in the US on it's transportation network and city design - it's the recipient who chooses...

[@longiusaescius2537]

@QemeH if Boston was European no one would be against more transit since it wouldn't act like a garbage highway

[@tortellinifettuccine]

Almost European is somewhat accurate, but boston is very much more American car centricism than anything else. More European is only a positive saying. What on earth is there to be proud of from the usa that isn't thanks to Europe? Lmao

[@churblefurbles]

It wasn't "almost", there were a dozen black people in Boston in 1960s.

[@tortellinifettuccine]

@churblefurbles Europe has black people, and had had black people for a long time, and a larger population than that at that time period. Today around 18% of France is black. Places being completely white are soley an American thing. Race was never even a thing of discussion in Europe, class and ethnicity played a much larger role, meaning there was never an attempt to stop certain races from being apart of the culture. Don't get me wrong there's plenty of supremacy, but it's not race focused, well at least it wasn't for most. The 3d Reich was unique for its ridiculously irregular way of viewing society, blaming issues on race.

[@suzuplaza]

that is in no way an insult

[@axleman1011]

I was a daily green line commuter for the past 7 years (even through the pandemic) and just moved to a suburban town with a commuter rail station. The difference is night and day. My commute actually got shorter despite being 5x farther away. The biggest downside is they only runs trains once every 2 hours on the weekend and service stops at 11PM.

[@counterfit5]

I hate that weekdays have a later train to Providence than weekends

[@williamjameslehy1341]

Took me a few weeks to figure out that walking is faster than trying to actually get anywhere using the Green Line.

[@adriandrakes2117]

This was one of the only videos that really told the situation. I live in the city but have a commuter rail station in my neighborhood and it is sooo much faster than the orange line and it is so great to have.

[@AndreaMcMaster]

The MBTA is a mess and is talked about quite a lot up here, however it still runs and as someone who works and off-shift (how about running commuter rail more?) and drives in, but has used the MBTA, the best part is it is much less stressful. It is also not super cheap, although the weekend is a pretty good deal. The issues with the MBTA are the same as with NY, Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta etc, it costs money to maintain them. Cities put off maintenance and then when the bill comes due everyone is shocked. NYC where I grew up let the subway system, the literal lifeline of NY without it the city would stop, go to ROT (thanks Robert Moses, man never met a public transit system he wouldn't let go to pot). So today the MTA in NY is fixing things, maintaining stations (over 600 on the subway alone and some really need an overhaul - Chambers Street I am looking at you) doing expansion projects like the LIRR into Grand Central along with adding a third main line, new cars, all of this cost lots and lots of money while trying to keep it affordable. LA is a city that is building public transit lines, subways, light rail all to essentially rebuild a public transit system that was abandoned back in the 50's - the Red Cars - they have been doing this since the 80's. We may not like the cost, but we have to pay. You can't build highways to fix it. The craziest MBTA item happened a short time go. They are expanding the green line and the tracks they laid down were the wrong size, the gauge was too narrow. Of all the stupid things to go wrong, that takes the cake.

[@laurat1129]

Great comment. As one who has experience w/The T, the DC and LA Metros when I lived in those cities, and MTAs in other cities like when visiting NYC, SF, Chicago, etc. (London, Paris, Madrid…) I concur with/everything you said. If anything, our public transportation failures have shown how much we need it to work well here for all in order to be successful.

[@emjayay]

@@laurat1129 I live in NYC and also concur. In the 1970's some subway trains couldn't get up slight grades like onto bridges because too many motors weren't working. The signaling system is mostly from before WWII and now two lines have modern signals finally and more are being done. Also: world's worse subway seats on newer trains.

[@jamaicanskeleton]

South Boston resident here. Figured I’d touch on some points mentioned in the video. Safety: I hadn’t realized we were the most dangerous transit system in the US because the frequency is desensitizing. Last incident I can recall was last year when an orange line train caught fire, on a bridge over water. Speed: People regularly report out walking the green line(I myself did it last month while visiting). Delays are frequent and service infrequent. Only line that seems to be acceptable on this front is the Blue line which is of little use to the average Bostonian who doesn’t live by the line unless you wanna go to the aquarium. Access: You mention how most of the T’s ridership is poor and reliant, but growing up in the low income neighborhood I did, most people take the bus because they’d have to drive to the nearest subway station. The bus schedule can also be infrequent and they themselves are slow(these streets aren’t made for big cars, let alone buses). Driving: Driving in Boston is so unpleasant(roads wind, lanes are skinny, streets intersect at weird angles, or intersect with too many other roads and exit ramps creating overcomplicated intersections) that it’s a damning indictment that people would prefer that to taking the T. The problems are clear and it’s frustrating seeing the decline continue because of a lack of funding. I know, at least in the city, that people want this. Boston is an incredibly walkable city and a good transit system would be transformative for the city, and I think the could set a standard for urbanism in the US if done correctly. The video is right that more lines connecting areas outside the downtown would go a long way.

[@freemandrew]

Now I'm not saying it's safe: there's too much broken stuff, deferred maintenance, and staff turn over. **BUT** The "Most Dangerous" angle is hyperbole. The MBTA has had one (non-suicide) passenger fatality in nearly a century (the recent Red line death). Compared to WMATA, MTA, etc, that's amazing. Compared to driving, it's beyond flawless. Although it's a bit like our driving record. Low number of fatalities but tons of little bumps and bruises. Our main problem is that we're Yankee cheapskates and don't want to pay to do it right until we have no other choice. The Big Dig only happened because the Fed picked up 95% of the tab.

[@nicoli7393]

One time I walked out of Boylston because the next train to Riverside was delayed for 11 minutes and I had to make it to work. It's getting increasingly worse by the day.

[@Zuraneve]

@@freemandrewFatalities aren't the only way to measure danger. Passengers aren't the only ones in danger. Just this Wednesday there was (another) near miss with a worker and electricity.

[@Anon21486]

Blue Line of little use to Bostonians.... Yes, that may be true to Boston residents for the East Boston/Orient Heights neighborhood but you forget about the other communities outside of the city. The Blue Line is a major line for Revere and Chelsea residents, and soon, there will be more as Suffolk Downs project begins to open (first building opens in early 2024).

[@laurat1129]

Yes, while working people w/o cars have always depended on it, plenty of people who could afford otherwise relied upon it daily also and as you said.

[@danielkeller9729]

I am actually visiting my buddy in Worcester while visiting Boston from Philly. Got a kick out of the video when you mentioned the schedule. So awesome that I can get on a train in the Philly suburbs and get all the way there by train. Wish more of the US was like that.

[@joshua_lee732]

I a resident of Ohio, envy the rail systems that are publicly accessible and usable in New England

[@adnamamedia]

I love living in philly. it's far from the best system, but it works really well

[@drepark2294]

@@adnamamediayea, it def does. Trains, trolly, bus, regional rail, Amtrak, nj transit. I live in South Jersey but can easily leave my car 5 mins from my house and get from Boston to DC by rail. I wish more people embraced it.

[@java-gn1xs]

No way im in worcester rn i live here wsg

[@jimsawhill2003]

I have to give New Englanders credit for their rail. Even Northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) are increasing commuter and passenger rail, not as much as Southern New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island). Connecticut is trying to get commuter rail from Danbury to New Milford, Waterbury to Hartford, Middletown to Hartford and the New England Central line from New London to Brattleboro Vermont. Also, Shore Line East service to Westerly, Rhode Island - with a connection to the MBTA.

[@akaLordMelkor]

I grew up and hung out as a kid at Forest Hills, orange line upper deck. I'll never forget it. When they cut down the upper deck we played in the newly constructed tunnel. Yes the MBTA had its issues (I've got stories I saw myself that would make your toes curl) but it was home to us. That video of the orange line going by on the upper deck and 5 foot snow hills everywhere brought me back to some happier times. There's nothing like living in a community like we had back then. Nothing you'll ever see again. He did miss one thing, the train system wasn't the complete story, it was the bus system used in conjunction that made it such a great system. And the purple line wasn't used to service the inner city, North Station and South Station were the main commuter rail stops in Boston. Both stations meet at 2 lines, North Station serviced 2 lines and south Station serviced the other 2 and worked from 5 am to 12:30 am and on New Years Eve they suspend the pay service so everyone can cstch a train home. This helped many who were drinking in town to get home without catching an oui. Boston is an amazing city, from communities to the store owners. We had it so good and I know there's more out there that feel the same.

[@dianayan6727]

Living in Boston for 8 years. My previous apartment was right at a green line stop when I was a college student. I always walked to school instead of using subway, simply because walking takes about 15min and the subway takes about 10min plus the unpredictable waiting time... Another reason I avoided taking subway was safety issue - I witnessed several off-rail accidents from my balcony lol. I love Boston for how historical and beautiful it is - except for its public transportation system.

[@jrho8033]

Totally agree with the "halfway" commentary. But I would go further to say America does the "bare minimum" on our infrastructure. The disaster of the MBTA is a perfect example of what happens when state politicians and the governor (Charlie Baker in this case) does the bare minimum to improve the system over decades. And now, we're paying for it with our time, money, and sanity 😩

[@smileyeagle1021]

The "bare minimum" standard doesn't just apply to transit. It is pretty much all of our infrastructure and it is only going to get worse. We've spent the last half a century (well, longer) building up sprawling cities with absolutely no plan on how we would maintain the infrastructure that was needed for those cities to function. That would be a problem for future us to figure out. Well, we are future us, and apparently we aren't doing a very good job of figuring it out, because the answer, it turns out, was to not build entire cities with no plan to maintain them long term.

[@CMVBrielman]

Baker was only governor for 8 years. The state tends to alternate between pro-MBTA and anti-MBTA governors pretty regularly.

[@HenryElfin]

Idk if it's actually American culture, but more like the commonality of democracy and authoritarian regime

[@ska042]

​@@HenryElfin I'm not even sure what you're trying to say there, but clearly most European democracies manage their transit systems and pretty well, and this even applies to the rest of the infrastructure to some degree.

[@ska042]

​@@smileyeagle1021 Suburbs kind of shovel their own financial grave. They are often built with federal subsidies with an infrastructure almost like a city, but actually only provide housing for a more rural kind of density. Then 20-30 years later when significant parts of that infrastructure start to rot and need replacing (but this time without the federal subsidies), a lot of those suburbs discover they just can't sustain that infrastructure on the tax payer base they have and go bankrupt. With the exception of areas that are full of really wealthy people, you can't have your cake and eat it - by which I mean, have city infrastructure on rural density.

[@pseudotasuki]

Back when the DC Metro's ring line (Purple) was being developed I was living near its initial Western terminus in Bethesda, MD. The pushback it got from NIMBYs was infuriating. They refused to even consider the line's importance because they were worried it would affect property values.

[@simonignatovsky8445]

You mean the Purple Line? SV line goes to Dulles in VA. Also the Purple Line is a MDOT project, no association with WMATA.

[@pseudotasuki]

@@simonignatovsky8445 Derp, yeah, Purple. You can pay with a SmarTrip card and do transfers like with buses, right?

[@cloudkitt]

I don't understand how a train line connecting the suburbs to each other could be seen as doing anything other than *IMPROVING* property values. In the Philadelphia suburbs being near a regional rail stop *inflates* property value, and going between suburbs means you wouldn't even have the more insidious "keeping the poors away" angle of opposing it. Baffling.

[@circleinforthecube5170]

@@cloudkittits not even like the area would be upzoned, tons of new upzoned transit hub areas only demolish strip malls and 1/2 streets into the suburb which is good imo, eventually all the most unique suburban architecture (not the cookiecutters, the more unique 60s, 70s, and 80s buildings like office parks and shed style architecture

[@Joe-vm6ds]

When I visited DC somewhat recently I stayed in Bethesda specifically because the metro was right there. Wouldn’t have stayed in a hotel there and visited their stores if it wasn’t for the metro

[@anthonycartwright5154]

Love seeing a video on this topic as I’m in the transit space and worked with MBTA before. I can’t speak for them all but you do have hardworking people at the T trying to push things forward and knock out the slow zones. It won’t solve long term funding but it will demonstrate that it doesn’t have to be a “death spiral”.

[@tonymurray814]

Harding working people. Ur kidding right!!

[@marrs1013]

​@@tonymurray814 Mass transit system workers are odd ones, as they actually try to provide good service. Those workers who don't give a damn about the the public just don't stick with the job. Try the industry!

[@traceykelly2603]

I worked in Boston many years ago and had cause to visit in October 23. It is a lovely city but I soon found out, walking was quicker in some cases. It is definitely not for people with mobility issues. Great video. Thanks.

[@pyrrhicvictory5844]

21:28 As someone who grew up in Lynn, I have to point out that there has been a very strong desire to bring the Blue Line (a subway line) to the city, but it is apparently prohibitively expensive and never gains traction. In fact, the garage at Lynn commuter rail station was originally intended to support a Blue Line stop, which is why it is so much larger than the parking at neighboring stations such as Melrose and Swampscott. Most of my life, when going into Boston I would drive to Wonderland Station in Revere (the northern terminus of the Blue Line) and take the subway, instead of using the commuter rail, which doesn't run frequently enough. Also, Thomas McGee is no longer the mayor, it has been Jared Nicholson for over a year now 😆

[@timothyjewett625]

lol nice correction

[@scmc15]

Also a note on that part of the video, Quincy is most certainly not commuter rail-oriented. It has four red line stops with strong ridership (including two recently renovated) and only one commuter rail connection with infrequent service. The Quincy Center commuter rail platform is the last thing on Mayor Koch’s mind 😆

[@WalkingCorpse111]

Lynn Lynn the city of sin! Love that city. Lived there for 26 years and I miss it

[@pantangelicious]

The blue line was initially planned to go all of the way up to salem, much like the red line was supposed to reach reach arlington. Both ended up being shut down by NIMBYs who didn't want undesirables in their towns, now only some of who are realizing their mistakes...

[@alastairhewitt380]

How much tax revenue does the gov take in and how much would the plan cost over what period of time? Let's give context to "prohibitively" expensive. I am at the point of not caring about cost. I pay taxes to this screwed up gov regardless and I will never see that money again. I say build it, cost be damned. We spent $10 trillion dollars on our war of terror we can afford a bit of modern infrastructure.

[@mattl_]

Getting from Cambridge to Winter Hill is taking a Red Line to Davis and then taking one of the frequent buses or a short walk. MBTA buses are under rated.

[@nekodromeda]

It depends on the bus. A lot of major bus lines (1, 77, etc) are seriously hindered by traffic, leading to bunching. Some lines (e.g., the 89) could be great and are extremely useful but have been deprioritized for Reasons.

[@christopherbope4940]

Having used many parts of the MBTA over the years I can verify they put waaaay more work into making the commuter rail run well than the Subway.

[@andyjay729]

I lived in the Boston area when I was little in the mid to late '80s and my family and I frequently rode the Green Line into the city. About a decade ago I rode it for the first time since we moved out and was surprised at how little it seemed to have changed in the intervening 20-plus years, especially downtown. Maybe it still was "the subway of the future" in the early '70s with all that brutalist architecture and other Nixon-era motifs. The same is also true of San Francisco's BART.

[@grizzlygrizzle]

It always struck me as ironic that the most brutal of brutalist governmental buildings in Boston was the Department of Mental Health and Retardation, housing agencies that are supposed to care for the most vulnerable in a building that looks like it wants to scrape the skin off of your body. It's a block or two west of City Hall, on Cambridge St. Brutalist architecture has been popular among leftist governments, so I guess the irony goes unnoticed in a place like Boston.

[@CMVBrielman]

This video neglected to mention the North-South Rail Link, which is *the* missing piece to fully take advantage of the commuter rail system. The South and West routes all go to South Station, and are completely unconnected to the North routes out of North Station. Once that is built, much of the commuter rail system could be used in a pinch as a backup to the subway system, which could greatly help the T do needed upgrades on the various lines. For example, the Orange Line almost perfectly parallels Commuter rail routes, so if they were connected, the OL could be shut down entirely with minimal impact, while it is upgraded.

[@stephenlight647]

This has been the ‘missing link’ since the beginning and should be the first priority.

[@counterfit5]

NSL and some sort of ring should be the highest priorities

[@CMVBrielman]

@@stephenlight647 The most frustrating part is that Boston was going to build it about a century ago. They were working on the financing… in 1929. Oops.

[@arrianablais7849]

Remember when they told us this would be part of the big dig? LMAO.

[@seb_617]

It’s definitely true that the benefits of public transport are under-appreciated in the US. Awesome public transport is truly life-changing. I’m from Switzerland, but have lived in Boston/Cambridge for most of the past 17 years. I went back for a year in Zurich, and didn’t need to have a car - with a young child. It was exhilarating to be able to go anywhere almost door-to-door and just roll the stroller onto the train/tram/bus. Some trains even have small playgrounds in them! And it’s wonderful not having to worry about whether or not I will be late, to have time back while somebody else does the driving, and to be able to have that extra glass of wine if I want. (Oh, and my unlimited all-of-Switzerland public transport pass cost less than my parking in Boston!) People don’t even know what they’re missing.

[@sumitshresth]

Trust me they are. But the voices in US are too divided currently to do anything. The big oil lobbying group does not wants any public transit because they want to keep oil demand pretty high in this nation

[@troythompson2]

I’m fucking jealous. The American suburbs mean you’re stuck in your neighborhood, whixh is generally a good desert

[@aldinlee8528]

But, surprisingly, most people in Boston would actually boast about the city's public transit. That's because they've traveled SO little. Years back, while standing on a Blue Line platform and seeing the condition of the cars that pulled into the station, I texted a member of the Mass. General Court (assembly), exclaiming that it looked like a train system in a 3rd world country. I'd been trying to meet with him to have him talk to whomever necessary about a means for providing the transit aims of the GLX (~$2.2B) for a $1B less. I'd already showed it to him via email, and HE KNEW I WAS RIGHT, but he didn't want to upset the political/bureaucratic/construction$ 'applecart'.

[@TheRavenir]

@@d1g1tvl-0hretor1c That's actually not true due to recent immigration. Seeing black people here in Switzerland has become a pretty common sight these days, though it's obviously nowhere near the level it is in the US.

[@cfud]

@seb_617 I just visited Zurich and many places in Switzerland. I agree with you 100% about Switzerland’s excellent public transportation system.

[@shucroc]

Here is the catch-22: Traffic is some of the worst in the world and the subway/commuter rail is slow, too! My 41 mile drive is 90 min-2 hrs driving one way. I could take a commuter rail about 8 miles from my house and get to within 1-2 miles of my work, but it would take 2+ hours (as described in the radial structure and needing to switch nodes part of the video). Traffic is getting worse every few months. I'm literally thinking of changing jobs from my really good job to closer to their ferry system, which gets me to Boston in 30 min. Their ferry system is great. Their buses (the ones I've taken around Quincy) are in poor shape. One huge problem with the commuter rail is no overnight parking, so people traveling only can use congested Logan Express or the ferry to park over night to travel. I don't agree with your socio-economic argument though. You are giving the MBTA too much credit. There were many many complaints and petitions to state reps about the lack of suburban access to the city. In the South Shore there used to be more miles of lines but shut down. If you have been to Lynn or Framingham, you would realize they are not the high-income suburbia you are proposing. The fact is there were many mill cities that lost their way when textiles were outsourced to outside of the US. These same cities (Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence, Framingham) are the core of the commuter rail system, not the cats with top hats you think. The past 20 years have seen an increase in commuter rail not because they are generally above average income families, but because route 3 is a parking lot 10+ hours a day and their voting residents begged for mass transit options to the city as that is where the jobs are.

[@donarmstrong5872]

As an old phart that grew up on Winter Hill when , as kids , we used to ride the T all day in the 1950's for 25 cents. We could go anywhere we wanted and if you wanted to go cross town back then there was still street car service to get you there. It was eliminated and replaced with busses. If you want to get cross town then learn the bus routes to do shortcuts. Since then I have worked in much of the US and often used the cities transit systems. I was in DC when the subway first opened and as it grew I used it a lot but once again I learned bus routes to get around. Learn about all that is available. Far to often I hear the complaints about the T being slow in Boston while the morning news does a traffic report that says 74 minutes for a car ride into Boston that the next day might be 26 minutes while the South East distress way is a parking lot plus I-93 has a backup from Somerville to Wilmington.

[@savejeff15]

These remastered videos of old Boston are incredible. It's looks unreal how real it looks

[@kirkginoabolafia3650]

I moved out of Boston six years ago and I can STILL hear the ear-piercing screeching of the green line like it was yesterday.

[@johnjohnson4997]

An excellent overview and analysis. While firmly London-bound today I lived in Newton and worked in Sudbury in the late '80s so it's close to my heart.😮

[@Tamingmyimpala361]

I live in Lowell. The MBTA definitely has problems that need to be addressed, and it continues to be a big topic in our state. However, I will say that the most dangerous rapid transit system in the USA is still far safer than getting behind the wheel of a car. The MBTA is rough, but it's what we got. And I'm grateful for it despite its issues.

[@Teifi71]

Hi. I’m from the UK. I know where your city is. It’s very charming. I used to pass through on my way into North Station. I was on vacation for five days, staying in Tewksbury, and used to take the train from Lowell.

[@Tamingmyimpala361]

@@Teifi71 I’m glad you liked it! It is quite quaint. A lot of our infrastructure was modeled after Manchester, England

[@BN3140]

It's definitely safer than getting behind the wheel in Massachusetts. That's why they make you wear a seatbelt there.

[@Teifi71]

@@BN3140 Hi again. You’ll know where it is. I was visiting Lowell in July 1999. I got the surprise of. my life in Lowell. I was travelling back from Boston on the train. A Greek American woman sat down beside me. I explained to her, I’d travelled around the US. You know the bus from the train station into Lowell? The woman gave me a hug right on the middle of a Lowell street. I was given the wrong information at North Station. I was told take the train to Billerica. I was told there was public transport. I’ve never forgotten a very kind lady who got off the train. She drove me all the way to Tewksbury to my hotel. I’d flown across the Atlantic Ocean from London. A middle aged woman out of nowhere. When she offered me the ride in the parking lot. I raised my hands right up in the air. I said you really don’t have to do this. She said, “I’m not an axe murderer ya know.” I did see the funny side 0f it. There wasn’t any public transport at Billerica. Friends were expecting me in Massachusetts. They didn’t have a clue what time of day I’d arrive, The All Stats Baseball Weekend was in Boston. I had no idea what it was, I couldn’t get accommodation anywhere in Boston. There was a guy at Logan who arranged my hotel in Tewksbury. I know who was born where you live. The Hollywood actress Bette Davies. Where you live, it’s kind of similar to the UK.

[@Teifi71]

I did like Lowell very much. I only passed through it only for three days. I think you headed left outside the train station. I’ve used the subway in Boston. I took it over to Harvard Yard. It’s a truly delightful part of the United States you live in. I rented a bike on Boston Common. Massachusetts is gorgeous. Friends took me out over the weekend. On the Monday, I had to find my way around on MBTA. I was quite surprised at the hotel in Tewksbury. The staff asked where had I been to. I had to depend on the MBTA to get into Boston. Back in 99, it seemed to be very reliable.

[@Vilverin]

Another issue is the crazy high cost for infrastructure construction and maintenance in the U.S. Building a new mile of subway or light rail line often costs 5 times as much as it does in even the wealthiest European nations in similar urban contexts. This applies to other (non-transit) infrastructure as well. Not sure where all this money goes. Would be interesting to see a video on the reasons behind that at some point!

[@mrvwbug4423]

NIMBY lawsuits, and extraneous fluff like DEI and ESG consultants, plus the ridiculous amount of management overhead that rots most US companies and govt agencies, figure 7-10 layers of management for every non-managerial role. UK has the same issue.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

No in-house planning, design, and construction management staff so everything is contracted out to consultants. Like with the actual construction it's contractors all the way down!

[@aespa690]

Its all government corruption. Not a mystery. Why else do you think the Democrat run California "high speed rail" project has somehow spent billions yet nothing is built yet?

[@robertlunderwood]

Unions

[@mitthrawnuruodo9]

A lot of it is flat stolen by contractors doing cheaper, substandard work than they billed for, and disappearing once the flaws are found out. What happened to DC's Silver Line, anyway. Another classic of the genre is bid $1billion, get halfway done, go back to the state and say if you don't get another $2billion, you're walking off the job with a half built line no one can use, DC Purple Line.

[@NebulonRanger]

10:50 Toronto has a largely radial subway too, but doesn't (usually) have this issue, because of the decidedly less radial streetcars and almost 200 bus routes that connect lines 1 and 2 together, not to mention the upcoming Ontario Line (the new Line 3) and Line 5. The TTC has its issues too, but it's actually a great system that's seeing new investment. You can have a radial network, but it also means that not ALL of your networkS should be radial too.

[@NATESOR]

Look, 100% for more safety in our train systems. But it's a little bit incredible that we're getting a whole video on a few train accidents while every year we lose 40,000 + people to car crashes. That is 10 Iraq Wars worth of dead Americans every single year. That's a 9/11 every 25 days. And we just accept it. So, a little context on what's INSANELY more unsafe in this country would be helpful. (Not even mentioning the TRILLIONS of dollars it takes to build and maintain car infrastructure along with the social, environmental, ownership costs and the costs to physical and mental well-being we just accept blindly... But no, the $2 billion subway project is too expensive... Sure...)

[@Anon21486]

As an MBTA commuter, mostly via bus, I think it is worth mentioning two things... 1. The Blue-Red connector is currently being discussed. Yes, I know that has been going on for a while but it does look like there is some steam with this one, specifically with the possibility of closing Bowdoin Station for good to extend the station several thousand feet. 2. There is currently a plan called the MBTA Focus 40, which is something to be completed by 2040. I personally don't know much about it but I am aware that it includes making several bus routes into express busses that would act like the Urban Rings. Several of those express routes will use bus lanes that are currently being installed recently...

[@idk-ol2it]

the connecter seems dum

[@mwl5]

Another silver line? 🤮 They need to just poney up and create more light rail, especially for an outer ring. Bring back the A line.

[@idk-ol2it]

@@mwl5 they shouldnt bring back the a line while cutting it was bad idea bringing back costs a lot better uses of money

[@dlmac]

As a collage student living in Boston 2000-2005 I loved the T. No need for a car, easy to get around generally. But, I live downtown. Once I moved to Malden, took over an hour to work each way on the Orange line (forget if I took red or direct to Back Bay). To be honest I didn't mind, but glad I don't have to use it today.

[@Janeworx]

WENDOVER STEALS MY VIDEOS FOR MOOLAH AND HAS MADE MILLIONS OFF MY HARD WORK! (MAKING FUN OF BOTS)

[@aldoblack5982]

It was great up to 2019. I used pretty much every line and there were n delays and slow zones. After covid, it went downhill.

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

DIDNT ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

DIDNT ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER

[@NUMleaderNUMleader]

DIDNT ASK + MY ANIMATIONS ARE BETTER

[@emmazzola]

Great Subject and information packed Video. I commuted to Boston for about 15 years ending in 2017, I always took the Commuter Rail and depending where I was working also had to use the Red, Orange, or Green line to get to work. I also used the Providence line, Middleboro Line or the Kingston Line. The Commuter line was subject to disruptions but not nearly as much as the Subway. It was so bad that I would not consider Jobs that required a Commuter Rail and a Subway connection to get to work. As I was always missing my train when I worked in the Fenway, Cambridge, or Charlestown. I cannot imagine what it has been like the last few Years with the scheduled shutdowns, Greenline extension built with the tracks too wide, and violence on the Subway. It does not help that they want to tax cars going into Boston on Peak hours and Failed politicians in office giving away Bus Rides, that is a sign the system is clearly broken and has no clear path to returning to a safe, usable system for residents and commuters.

[@shirostateira6988]

I was born and raised in Boston and have lived in Abington for the past 3 years and let me tell you, there is a major difference between taking the commuter rail when compared to the subway. its way more reliable, on time and comfortable. The sucky part is when they do the shuttle busses on weekends from Braintree to South station. I still work on weekends but during the week, it's practically golden. Can't say the same for the orange line.

[@JonathanCLacy]

And yet the damage and death from this subway has literally nothing on what the average highway does

[@JohnKennethHuszagh]

I agree with most of this video, having lived in Boston for four years. That being said, the route you made for your Winter hill residing soccer player is very doable with a bus, specifically buses I've taken to my friends' places

[@ChaplainDMK]

Exactly, almost all subways start by being cross center lines, radial lines come only very late in very large cities like Paris, Moscow etc.. This whole video is a bit half assed in a lot of aspects

[@emjayay]

I was thinking that there might be a bus to do that.

[@thomashull7669]

the sound of the green line screeching on decades old rail gives it such charm

[@chibivesicle9612]

I can't help but feel that this video was made by a person who never actually had to rely only on public transit to get around. As many others have commented, when track work happens for repairs/signal upgrades etc - you run shuttle busses. I lived in Toronto for 5 years without a car and occasionally the Bloor-Danforth line would be shut down between certain stations and you had to take a shuttle bus. It wasn't the best option, but it wasn't like you were stranded. "Oh noes! How will I ever make it from Jane to Keele besides walking?" Furthermore, if you have streetcars and busses complimenting between your subway lines it does connect between other places. Sure another subway line would be wonderful but good luck getting that built. I was recently in Melbourne for vacation and yes, between their train stations you had streetcars and when a rail line was closed between stations for repairs, guess what? I took a shuttle bus. Wow. Was it that bad? No, it was fine. I feel like even though he concludes the States goes halfway in, his own analysis is also halfway. All the issues with the T riders versus the wealthy commuter rail - when he discusses ridership, he simply forgets busses. What about the ridership numbers for the busses which are also part of the T? A bigger deal with slower subway trains means you might miss that bus connection and that always hurts even more. The feeling of getting to a bus bay to see your connection pulling out of a station is never a fun situation to be in. Yes, the T has a lot of problems and I really hope they can sort them out. But a good transit system can't all be fancy subways for a wide range of reasons and streetcars and busses with better connections go a long way to feed into that.

[@carkpop]

I've been to Seoul Korea quite a few times in recent years, and I ADORE their subway system. It's this really beautiful blend of chaos, loops, and radial that makes it so effective at connecting people, even if you're an hour out of the city. Like, in Baltimore & DC, i'd never even think of taking the subway since I have my car and just drive... but I feel subways in the US in general are just, poorly designed as a "Suburbs to downtown" kinda layout, while the one in Seoul is literally, three transfers in any direction and BAM, you're where you want to be.

[@danielbishop1863]

It does seem that most transit systems use a hub-and-spoke topology. It works great for Disney World, since their system has a natural hub (the Magic Kingdom) and spokes (hotels). But less useful for real-life commutes unless you happen to work downtown. If you live in the suburbs and work in a different part of the suburbs, it doesn't work so well.

[@notstarboard9792]

Three transfers is a ton lol. I hope those trains are running every 3 minutes.

[@agentorange153]

Baltimore's subway is particularly badly planned -- it's not even connected to the train station, you have to take the tram between there and the subway! And you know what happens to trams at rush hour -- they get hopelessly stuck in traffic!

[@mcfarofinha134]

@@notstarboard9792 they usually are. Same for Japan, although in tokyo we tend to avoid transfers as much as possible

[@markmartindale7215]

​@@agentorange153Baltimore has a subway?! I jest. I've lived in Baltimore 30 years. I'm aware that Baltimore has a subway, a sad little subway ...😢

[@phillm156]

Growing up in the 90s, the T was always reliable transport. I frequented the Park St/ Govt. Station area. They were in good shape, some paint work needed but good shape. 25yrs later, during a recent visit to this area. I find cracks, water leaks, missing chunks of concrete. There should be a video on why this happened? Why was the maintenance deferred? Or why governor Deval Patrick used it to pay for the Big Dig?

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Charlie Baker ran administration and finance under Governor Weld and he dumped a ton of Big Dig debt onto the T so Governor Patrick had no choice.

[@SteelJM1]

Dang, didn't realize it got this bad. I rode the MBTA 20 years ago and though not perfect, it was pretty decent. Took one of the electric busses to a subway station, and got into back bay no problem. The electric busses at the time were ancient as well, looked like they were from the 60's. I know they replaced those with modern electric busses after I left the Boston area (of course)

[@sweetchocolatesecret]

My brother and I have frequent long conversations about our frustrating infrastructure. Thank you so much for this video. (I cant wait to show him)

[@SigmaRho2922]

The Blue Line is actually the least dangerous of the four subway lines in Boston, as it has suffered the least amount of high profile incidents. However, the line's tracks east of Airport station have been deteriorating due to saltwater corrosion because of the line's close proximity to the coast, and the risk of saltwater corrosion has caused the line's trains to be replaced at a faster rate than the other three lines.

[@jameswilliams4044]

Blue line also lacks a red line connection. All other lines have a way to intersect with one another

[@pilsudski36]

It was a big mistake not to build the recently retired Blue and Orange line trains with stainless steel bodies. This has been corrected in the new fleets.

[@ZMYaro]

8:25 > “these full closures are really only keeping slow zones at bay, as the totals of slow time on each line have only gone up in recent years.” > Displays graph showing slow zone time on the Red Line went *down* after the closure for repairs they just talked about.

[@kitefan1]

When I first rode the Boston T and Commuter rail in the 80s it was fabulous (except for the ring part) because they had just upgraded all of the rolling stock. A few years later they actually cleaned everything and you could see the mural on the wall at downtown crossing celebrating it's age. But in 2010 I was trying to commute into a suburb from farther south and I couldn't do it without going in to Back Bay and travelling back. There weren't really even buses to avoid this. I have been to London, UK so I see your point. I grew up in the area. Everything in RI is designed the same way.

[@Pacmannion]

Actually, Lynn (and therefore former mayor McGee) has long wanted the Blue Line to come to us. Especially since it was originally proposed as part of the original build out (partially because it's right of way comes from a former narrow gauge railroad that ended in Lynn). In fact, until a week or two ago, our commuter rail station had been closed upward of a year until a temporary replacement was opened up. Why was the original station closed... deferred maintenance of course.

[@lmd4001]

As a former Emerson student I am still haunted by the NOISE the green line makes pulling into Boylston

[@snowyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

the screams of the damned haunt the green line fr

[@sylviab8482]

that screeching is ingrained in my brain

[@starzing9043]

Great video! As a former resident of Boston I've been waiting for a while to see the MBTA's problems be told to a wider audience. The new General Manager Phillip Eng has a great track record and has been making great improvements so far. One thing you didn't mention was how the MBTA bus routes theoretically help avoid the kind of in-and-out trips the radial subway necessitates. In reality, the buses are can be slow and unreliable, but their routes do a decent job of supplementing the radial subway system with circular or connecting routes. Bostonians are pretty ride or die for the T and even if they don't like it a good majority will continue to use it. They have a lot of patience but a lot of that patience is starting to wear out after 20 years of neglect by legislature and the MBTA board of directors.

[@osgeld]

I used to have to go to Boston quite a bit for work, always hated driving there, a 10 min commute from point A to B was always interrupted by a freeway so now its a 40 min drive though neighborhoods and drunken mule trails

[@ungreebledbouba]

it's kinda funny seeing the commuter rail route to the cape included. it's barely an mbta line, it only runs during the summer and is catered towards tourists. as a cape resident i *wish* it was a regular service

[@emjayay]

I was wondering about that one.

[@vimalalwaysrocks]

This problem is not just on subways but also with the buses. In Charlotte, NC, If you want to transit between suburbs , you would have to take a 45 min bus to downtown and another 45min bus from downtown to that other suburb. Travelling by car would hardly take 10-15 mins on the I-485.

[@GenericUrbanism]

Well that’s if the bus even goes to the suburb in the first place. When I’m going from suburb to suburb it’s usually on 485.

[@Praisethesunson]

Suburbs are designed to keep out public transit.

[@edwardmiessner6502]

​@@Praisethesunson And they're designed to compel everyone to drive. Those who can't are left high and dry.

[@lizcademy4809]

I moved out of the Boston area in 2019. Before that I commuted from my suburban town to Boston's financial district by bus and Red Line. It was a long commute, but not much longer than a car - and a lot less stressful. I did not realize how bad the T had gotten in the past few years. The city I live in now is building up its transit. I live in the urban core, 2 miles from my downtown office. In nice weather I walk, in bad weather I have my choice of 3 bus routes. I sometimes miss "the subway", but I can get everywhere I need to go.

[@csus4add9]

RE: Radial networks, the MBTA runs a ton of bus routes between the subway lines

[@chenjiahao]

I lived in the Boston area 2009-2017. Even then, the common refrain at the time was 'should I walk, or do I have time to take the T?'. I remember one event the mayor attended at MIT to give out prizes for data science projects studying MBTA transit data, but was late and stuck on for 45 minutes on the Red Line...

[@laurat1129]

😂

[@RaiderTheGhost]

As an American it's so embarrassing how willfully outdated or the lack there of public transportation options we have in this country. Don't get me started on the rest of the infrastructure that is crumbling as we speak with no plans or money to fix.

[@FaySmash]

Same in Germany, we have plenty train track dating back 100 years

[@khalif9710]

Anything is Europe is better than this.I can't wait to visit to see it for myself.

[@blackfoxstudioX]

@@FaySmash and yet any Public transport from 1970 Germany is probably still miles ahead than US 2023.

[@FaySmash]

@@blackfoxstudioX to be faie, Public transport from 1970 Germany is also kilometres ahead of 2023 Germany

[@blackfoxstudioX]

@@FaySmash fair point.

[@johnchiavaroli4429]

Charlie Baker the governor of the state from 2014 through 2022 unilaterally and single-handedly reallocated $300 million of funds meant for maintenance of the central subway lines to commuter rail expansion projects without any consent, oversight or guidance from another member of the Massachusetts state government or its adjacent agencies. I simply cannot fathom how this is not a felony. This is not how our government is supposed to operate in any way, shape or form.

[@ayanahampton6421]

Thoughts that I’ve had from this video as a current resident in the area: Sure, the Worcester Line is great on the weekday, but you also missed the fact that it’s only once every 2 hours on the weekend. It’s incredibly stressful trying to make the train back from Boston, especially at night. Even if the focus on the commuter rail feels better, a lot of us don’t feel that anything has changed. Also, being such a college-centric town definitely lends itself to act a bit differently as a city. At least in my college, it is very common to take public transportation into the city anyway except for the uber-rich individuals. I’d almost separate college students from the categories you’ve mentioned just because spending priorities are often different. Traffic is so bad these days that even the very slow green line has been faster to get back home at some points, which is concerning in itself… Thank you for making this video!

[@davekimball3610]

Wow how things must have changed, I lived just outside Quincy for a many years and never once knew anyone who took a commuter rail train from Quincy to Boston, always just hopped on the Red Line at one of the 4 Quincy red line stops.

[@TheOriginalFaxon]

I got the annual subscription a week or two ago, thanks for all the great content you guys produce. I cannot afford to pay for nebula and I did not know what to ask for for christmas, and I was unaware of the gift card option so we just paid for it for me so I could have it now. You and Legal Eagle alone was enough reason to sub, and RLL's modern conflicts series is also fantastic. Keep up the good work and happy holidays to you as well

[@CoachBenConnolly]

Another Bostonian here. I live along the Green Line. Many of my friends live in Cambridge along the Red Line. We almost never visit one another - usually meeting up downtown, simply because there is no easy way back and forth between our places. As the crow flies, we aren't far at all, but the fact that we would need to take transit downtown, and then back out means that it's usually a no go. Not to mention that parking in Cambridge is the 7th level of hell.

[@erik_griswold]

Route 1 and 66 are your friends

[@thomashowe855]

As a Bostonian who was on an MBTA train that broke down yesterday, I appreciate this video.

[@speedracer6294]

Work from home has severely wounded subway systems including NY. Decreased ridership has also made them more friendly for crime. There may not be a way back and eventually the lines less used may need to close.

[@METRO6]

A lot of what was mentioned in this video can be applied to Toronto, in fact the current CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission is the old head of the MBTA Rick Leary (and let's just say he is not well liked). That said just like Boston, Toronto had a period of Highway expansions plans that were ultimately axed by the Provincial Government in favour of transit expansion which included new subway lines, LRT lines, the GO Train (commuter rail) and the unbuilt GO ALRT which was like Montreals REM just back in the 80's. A lot of the expansions plans went up in smoke when Premier Bill Davis retired in 1985, and things got worse in the 90's when Premier Mike Harris cut all subsidies to transit making the TTC the least funded transit network in North America (This also put the final nail in the coffin for our old trolley buses). Just like Boston Toronto suffers from the single point of failure issue as we only really have 1 real east-west subway line (Line 2) and while Line 1 is a U-shaped route in the north-south direction most of its ridership is on the eastern "Yonge branch" so if either of these lines go down (and it happens often) it results in complete chaos. The coming of the Eglinton Crosstown (Line 5), the Ontario Line (Line 3) and the proposed extension of the Sheppard Subway (Line 4) will go a long way in alleviating this issue. That said the TTC still suffers from a lot of differed maintenance due to lack of funding from the Provincial government as the TTC needs to rely almost entirely on fare box revenue and the city to pay for things. Slow orders are also a nagging problem for our streetcar network due to the TTC having some weird operating practises. Our commuter rail network (the GO Train) is also a bright spot for the region and is currently being electrified. That said it is a radial network with all lines converging at Union Station downtown so while its a fantastic choice if you are travelling from the suburbs into downtown, it is all but useless for suburb to suburb travel. Suburb to subrub travel in the Greater Toronto Area has always been an issue, partly due to the fact that unlike in Boston all of the transit agencies in the GTA are independent so their is little integration between them (eg no fare integration). The province is currently working on integrating all the fare structures in the GTA but I thiink expanding the GO Train network with routes like the proposed Midtown Line and a ring line around the Highway 407 corridor connecting Durham, York, a Peel regions would also make suburb to suburb travel significantly easier.

[@tonymurray814]

U should write a book on the subject. …… you’re already half way through it!!

[@dysequilibrium]

you’re right in that suburb-to-suburb travel is awful in the GTA. even though there are GO bus routes that connect various locations along the 401, it is often times faster getting from the east end to the west end just taking two trains that connect at union just because of traffic. that proposed 407 route sounds wonderful though

[@pyrexmaniac]

How could you not mention the forever-delayed Eglinton Crosstown fiasco? Or Metrolinx CEOs $850k annual salary? Otherwise, I agree 100%

[@errrky]

Was waiting to see if someone from Toronto or the GTA would comment about our situation and the parallels to Boston's situation. From someone who's been a life-long resident of Toronto and the GTA, great points and great job!

[@j.p.obregon1415]

These funding issues and mismanagement problems are not just unique to Boston. The way that MARTA is run here in Atlanta is absolutely shameful. I'm sure other cities have similar issues, as well.

[@warrenwhite9085]

You show me a longtime deep-blue Democrat city & I’ll show you a f’ed up, corrupt, high-crime mess.

[@MADGUNSMONSTER]

As an Atlanta resident, I concur.

[@chrisconley8583]

As someone that’s familiar with both, MARTA is far better than the T. MARTA stations were built where there was better parking, the T the stations are there based on population density. Meaning Atl. more that has to be maintained that is more spread apart. Boston also never underestimate a Massachusetts public official’s ability to screw over the Commonwealth.

[@j.p.obregon1415]

@@chrisconley8583 That is very interesting to hear. A unique perspective. Thanks for the comparison.

[@andyjay729]

@@chrisconley8583 It's also a much smaller system in a much less densely populated city, and its also a lot newer than the T.

[@rraawk00]

“increased physical mobility leads to increased economic mobility.” i love this, and yes it’s so true!! how can people access different rungs of work and society if they literally can’t even get there? thank you for lifting that up.

[@nicktherange]

I love going from worcester to boston all the time it works so well for me

[@nerdpiggy]

The lack of accessibility in the MBTA is criminal. Recently a chunk of the green line was closed for maintenance for like two weeks, and when everything reopened, the only thing that i noticed changed was that they remodeled the Hynes station with... a new coat of paint. That motherfucking station has ONE escalator in the entire building (no, not one pair of up/down escalators, ONE UP ESCALATOR). The rest is multiple flights of stairs. No elevator in sight. also 16:50 BERKLEE POG

[@uncool926]

@nerdpiggy Thanks for bringing this point up. The MBTA tracks and trains are one spectacular mess that is getting all the attention lately but the woeful condition of elevators and escalators is just as important but often not mentioned. Besides the lack of utility when they're out of service I've seen moments where they provide extreme obstacles to access by mobility-challenged folks. Not too long ago I saw a family have to help an elderly wheelchair-bound member of their group out of the wheelchair and up the escalator because the main elevator on the subway platform was out of operation. And this was South Station, the main national train hub!

[@birdrocket]

There’s some conflating of activities around the 8:00 mark of shutdowns and slow zones. The Orange Line shutdown took place before the systemwide slow zones, and was done under the previous Baker/Poftak administration. The result of that shut down was even worse slow zones that took over a month to come down below previous travel times. The Red Line and Green Line shutdowns happened in late 2023 under the new Healey/Eng administration. Eng, unlike Poftak, actually has experience running a public transit system. The shut downs that occurred under his administration (so far) have actually reduced slow zones. They’ve actually reduced more slow zones than they initially planned too.

[@nekodromeda]

The Orange Line shutdown was necessitated by the visual of someone literally jumping into the Mystic River from a subway car and had a month's notice. The current spate of shutdowns/diversions/etc have been planned out well in advance and are being carried out with much more thought and planning (and so far seem to be achieving more).

[@birdrocket]

@@nekodromeda I didn’t say it wasn’t necessary, but it did end up with immediate worse results after the shutdown and terrible communication overall. Poftak was a disaster for the T, I mean just look at the GLX gauge issue that was known about under his administration and ignored. Eng has not only been more transparent than Poftak, but he’s also delivered results.

[@nekodromeda]

@@birdrocket We're definitely not disagreeing. I think the only reason the Orange Line shut down at all was because of that visual.

[@birdrocket]

@@nekodromeda aye fair enough. I don’t think Poftak would’ve done anything if not for that

[@stroll-and-roll]

Ringlines or just tangential lines are so so important for a convenient public rail service in bigger cities.,

[@MaitreMetroid]

Ah, that's awesome how you made the comparison between our RATP/Paris system and our MBTA/Boston system since I used to live in Paris, and now I'm in the North Shore of Boston. In Paris, there was no need for me to have a car since our public transportation (ranging from our RER/commuter rail, buses, and subways) were extremely reliable to go anywhere in the city within minutes at all times of the day and night. In comparison, Boston (and its greater area) is totally different, with the fact you mentioned, to go from point A to point B, I'm going to have to go to a point in between first (e.g. downtown) since there was no direct line to point B - thus significantly increasing commute time. At this point, having a car would be way more reliable indeed (or even just taking an Uber/Lyft), to reduce commute time. Unfortunately, the design flaw of our MBTA was not just the only problem... as our infrastructure was decaying year by year, with barely any maintenance and repairs done, which were neglected by management. The latest problems with constant derailments, and even a subway that caught on fire where people had to exit and jump onto the Charles River to save themselves, were the tipping points that brought the NTSB to inspect our system. Since then, a new General Manager was appointed promising drastic changes. However, the poor man must rectify over a decade of neglect - quite a challenge for him, while also trying to modernize our system and fill a number of staff shortages. With how things are going, I do not see any improvement of our system until the next 20 years, especially as funding lacks every year, and less ridership. This really makes me miss our Paris system, where I did not have to stress about driving a car in the middle of the city, or stress about any problems with our public transportation. The only contestant with that system in America would definitely just be the MTA/NYC system just like you mentioned. Lastly, Thomas McGee is not the mayor of Lynn anymore since last year.

[@derbagger22]

Fun fact, go to any of planned interchanges of highways that were supposed to run into Boston and youll see the amputated infrastructure. There are still mysterious ramps on the lower deck, clearing where I-95 was supposed to keep going, etc. The one that should have continued is I-95 going straight from Canton into Boston. I-93 has a natural bottleneck with little options to avoid(marshland in Milton) and has WAYYY too many cars coming from all points south, including RI, the south coast and the entire cape and islands. Even in the depths of the pandemic, youd still see traffic on I-93.

[@XSpamDragonX]

Urban NIMBYs screwing themselves by proxy because they personally don't need to drive in and out of the city. *sigh*

[@Anon21486]

Oh, I can add to this... Regarding the abandoned cloverleaf in the Canton area, the neighborhoods were bulldozed to extend I-95 directly into the city. It was then halted and what was left was abandoned land. The land eventually became the MBTA Orange Line right of way and MBTA Commuter Rail. On I-93 just north of the Zakim Bridge, there is a little offshoot. This was suppose to be northern start of the third ring known as the I-695. It met resistance in Cambridge and was eventually shut down. On the southern side... well, because the area was more poorer, the neighborhood was demolished and cleared. The scar is still there, although it goes by a different name, Melnea Cass Blvd. And what about the northern side of I-95. Look into the circle at Rt-1 and Squire Rd in Revere and you will see an offshoot. That was where the original I-95 should have continued and you can see the path where it would have gone through Saugus. The original path would have taken I-95 through Lynn Woods and connect to the current I-95 in Peabody. That is why I-95 makes that near 90 degree angle from I-495...

[@automotiveproreviews4you201]

it may have gone through like it was supposed to if there was a community there that wasn't looked upon favorably.