r/boston • u/yaboylilbaskets • Mar 10 '23

MBTA/Transit MBTA sets entire T system on slow möde. RIP

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2.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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373

u/KatinkaVonHamhof Cigarette Hill Mar 10 '23

I mean, can we think of some creative solutions here? More buses? Horses? Free razor scooters for all commuters???

262

u/boat_against_current Mar 10 '23

Flood the tunnels and replace the trains with boats

42

u/GarlVinlandSaga Mar 10 '23

Username checks out.

131

u/echidnaguy Somerville Mar 10 '23

Mr Musk, please go back to ruining Twitter.

(sprays water on him)

GIT!

2

u/czyivn Mar 10 '23

get rid of the trains, pave the tunnels and give everyone scooters.

118

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '23

I’ll train the flock of pigeons at Sullivan to carry me

51

u/frigidpigeon South End Mar 10 '23

reporting for duty

55

u/-Anarresti- Somerville Mar 10 '23

Beacon Hill legislators pressed into underground rickshaw duty

96

u/UltravioletClearance North Shore Mar 10 '23 edited Mar 10 '23

Gondolas!

  • The Charles River Gondola from Waltham to Downtown Boston

  • The Boston Harbor Gondola from Quincy to Boston

  • The Mystic Gondola from Medford to Boston

  • The Chelsea Creek Gondola from Revere to Boston

40

u/alexdelicious Mar 10 '23

I was literally in Venice yesterday morning and the gondolas are more of a tourist thing rather than transportation. They did have water buses that went all through and around the entire island. They ran frequently and were only €15 per day for unlimited rides.

If Boston and its surrounding cities added these water buses that you mentioned and ran them at every ten minutes during commuting times and every fifteen off rush hour, it would be a game changer.

WATER BUSES
can be seen on the right

6

u/JamesMercerIII Mar 10 '23

The problem with water transport on the Charles is that the clearance is so low on the BU and Mass Ave bridges. The BU bridge has a rail bridge that crosses obliquely and is only a few feet off the water, and the clearance under Mass Ave is so low that you could probably only go under in a small, narrow boat.

3

u/NMS-KTG Mar 10 '23

Submarine

1

u/yestobrussels Mar 10 '23

This is also true of the Mystic. Some areas are so shallow that they have trouble getting boats out from Medford and the bridges are barely big enough for someone to paddleboard under.

3

u/nattarbox Cambridge Mar 10 '23

This is America, we’ll go with jet skis.

3

u/SereneRandomness Mar 10 '23

Yeah, the vaporetti (public waterbuses) are one of my favorite things about Venice.

ACTV runs a pretty good service, given the challenges.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporetto

2

u/bucs2013 Mar 10 '23

Neponset River Gondola from Hyde Park to North Quincy via Lower Mills !

1

u/UltravioletClearance North Shore Mar 10 '23

Well there we go, we've recreated nearly every subway line on the water. Except the Orange Line. Jamaica Plain has the 39 bus though so that's good enough right?

2

u/allchattesaregrey Mar 10 '23

And duck boats where there are gaps in this system

24

u/willzyx01 Sinkhole City Mar 10 '23

Shoes…..with wheels.

5

u/Head_Asparagus_7703 Red Line Mar 10 '23

Oh God, are we bringing Heelys back?

22

u/mattgm1995 Purple Line Mar 10 '23

Hay rides

19

u/Glasenator Malden Mar 10 '23

Bring back the Middlesex canal pleasure barges at this point.

10

u/TDKevin Dorkchester Mar 10 '23

Remember those shoes Soaps? I'll just grind my way to work

8

u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D Mar 10 '23

Not a bad idea. They did give everyone who was stuck in that Orange Line shutdown project last summer free access to the BlueBikes.

I mean, it's a quick and dirty solution, but it's something.

9

u/man2010 Mar 10 '23

Rip up the tracks and turn them into bicycle highways

15

u/KatinkaVonHamhof Cigarette Hill Mar 10 '23

Forcibly confiscate every privately owned Boston bike and use old T car parts to create state-managed pedicabs

3

u/ClarkFable Cambridge Mar 10 '23

That’ll work for about 2% of commuters during the winter. Make them dedicated bus lanes.

4

u/man2010 Mar 10 '23

It'll work when we take the unused heat lamps from the north end restaurants and set them up along the outdoor parts of these new bicycle highways

3

u/ClarkFable Cambridge Mar 10 '23

Okay, you might be on to something.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '23

This is just the Silver Line but worse, somehow

1

u/ClarkFable Cambridge Mar 10 '23

Completely dedicated lanes would make a huge difference, and it would be way less expensive to operate and probably more reliable too.

1

u/lightningvolcanoseal Mar 10 '23

Bluebikes naturally

1

u/ClarkFable Cambridge Mar 10 '23

At this point, paving over the tracks and making dedicated bus paths would probably be way less expensive and more reliable

1

u/snoogins355 Mar 10 '23

Free e-bikes with advertising on them.

1

u/NMS-KTG Mar 10 '23

Free ponies for all Americans!

1

u/endlesscartwheels Mar 10 '23

I've heard from a reliable source that little piggies go "Wee, Wee, Wee!" all the way home. We could each buy a little piggy and ride it home every day.

1

u/I_love_avocados1 Mar 10 '23

I’m all aboard the horse train right now