martinepowers

Transit advocates have been battling for this for years -- even filed, and won, a lawsuit against the T. It's coming! http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us/

Good question that I don't think I have much of an answer to. I think some folks in the taxi industry would actually argue that late-night T service actually might have a positive impact on taxis ... right now, it seems like most of Boston shuts down after 1 am, and late-night T service encourages late-night business, which encourages people to go out late at night, and some of those people will decide it's too cold/they're too lazy to take the T, and will grab a cab to go home.

But I'm sure not everyone thinks that.

Yes! I love my little Toyota. It was kind of a trial-by-fire experience of learning to drive manual transmission ... definitely a character-building experience.

Not sure I have a magic plan of "what I would do with a billion dollars" -- you should ask urban planners and transportation engineers who are way smarter than me and much more adept at thinking about smart investment -- but I think it's exciting to hear about DMUs (diesel-multiple units) that are basically like small trains that can run on commuter rail lines. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_multiple_unit) So many possibilities to have subway-like service on existing rail lines! I live in Dorchester, so I usually take the Red Line, but I live close to the Fairmount commuter rail line but never take it because service is so infrequent. If they had a smaller train running every 5-10 minutes ... voila, it will be my new most-used line to get into downtown! My colleague Shirley Leung has also written about DMU service between Seaport and Back Bay ... http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/09/05/state-begin-innovative-rail-service-between-seaport-district-and-back-bay/oHUinYj30lzOV6KNCQUMEJ/story.html It's probably more complicated than it sounds, but that seems like a pretty cool investment to me.

And, as everyone knows, we desperately need new trains and buses. Riders are frustrated that the Red Line screws up (seemingly every day in the winter) and I think if you talk to folks at the T, they're incredibly frustrated, too, because they feel like they're working with equipment that has just run out of mojo. So it seems to me a good idea that money has been set aside for that.

Y'know, I'm sure there are a lot of streets in Boston that fit that bill, but one street that I take often and find super-interesting is Dorchester Ave., down in Southie + Dot. It's totally historic/traditional Southie (think: the Sugar Bowl) but also has this really great burgeoning scene of boutique stores at the intersection with Columbia Rd., becomes a largely Vietnamese community further south (with a ton of cyclists and pretty clearly-marked bike lanes, I might add) and runs all the way down to the Neponset River. If South Station expansion forces the Post Office to move, then they might open back up the part of Dot Ave. that runs along Fort Point Channel ... which would provide a direct route from Dorchester right into the heart of the city.

hahaha word.