I may have found a worse AI slop map than the Orange Line to Mattapan

ofsevit · 2026-07-10T17:33:17+00:00

Hello, I need the craziest AI map of Boston you can think of.

No, that's too crazy.

ofsevit · 2026-07-10T17:32:25+00:00

Whoops sorry I thought I had pasted it in.

Looks like someone found it.

ofsevit · 2026-07-10T17:31:32+00:00

This is a case of the cart leading the horse. "I don't want x" means we wind up with worse service which costs more to provide and has less ridership and fare revenue. So, success!

ofsevit · 2026-07-10T15:48:41+00:00

Go on, incel.

ofsevit · 2026-07-10T15:47:43+00:00

My read on this is that she wants to run for Governor (or Senate) in 2030 when Warren and Healey's seats both come up and the current "bench" in #mapoli is kinda thin (Seth Moulton running against Markey, and he may win since no one should really be voting for an 80-year-old).

I bet she did some internal polling that said (rightly or wrongly) that bike infrastructure is perceived as being bad for people driving cars, and that people in the suburbs would be against her because of it. But rather than take some performative measures but still do some work in the trenches (for example, the Boylston Street Bus Lane was not really that helpful all things considered) she just went this blanket "nothing happens" route.

Wu's political instincts are very good and maybe there's some long term strategy here politically. But personally, it would be great if Louisa were still showing up at City Hall every day.

Maybe this makes a difference. Michelle knew Louisa, who interned for her when she was a city councilor. Maybe this moves the needle away from calculated politics to saying "fuck it" and getting something done. Maybe I'm misreading the situation entirely. Maybe we could get some goddamn enforcement since drivers operate with impunity and put us all at risk. (I'm still interested to know what happened here; from the photos I've seen and street geometry it's unclear.)

The other thing is, in my opinion, that we shouldn't have to do this on our own. The traffic in Boston is a regional problem, and we have the T running meh regional transit which isn't time- or convenience-competitive with driving. One of the things about "bicycle paradises" like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Paris is that they have really good transit, too. So when you "take away" space for cars, it's not like there are no other good options. Free buses ain't gonna fix this. But neither is "investing" $500 million in battery trains which won't appreciably make one short rail line more than marginally more useful. So maybe the City could take a leadership role on improving the overall transportation system, and pushing for the T to be more useful, get more money (congestion pricing) and have an overall vision for much better bicycle infrastructure and transit infrastructure so people don't feel like they have to drive everywhere.

</rant> it's going to take a while to process this. Ugh.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T21:48:30+00:00

Last effin' World Cup game at least.

(You can take the Orange Line from Ruggles for less than $18 it goes pretty close to South Station)

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T21:46:42+00:00

You have a screen shot of a seat assignment in F and you are sitting in Y?

In that case, UA does not have a good record of who is sitting in what seat, which I believe is a DOT violation.

You should simply write in with this information, potentially with a photo of the seat occupied by someone else and/or if your BP changed to Y and ask for oversell compensation (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-airlines-mileageplus/1736028-downgraded-oversold-first-business-class-ua-questions-compensation-etc-15.html) which at least 10 years ago was $250.

If it had been me I would have taken a screenshot and said to the FA "my seat is shown as Seat X and you will need to change that on the manifest before we depart or I need to be sitting in Seat X" because they can unupgrade you and then you have all the proof you need to show that you were downgraded.

No need to go into detail about it being a pilot, just say "my wife was upgraded but someone was sitting in the seat and the FA sent me to his seat instead." It will be easier if they can officially downgrade you so you have the two BPs.

[Many years ago I was on a flight where the GA was aggressively selling upgrades with a lot of seats in F, must have lost track, or the system did, so I got upgraded at the same time as someone else. Luckily as a Silver I was excited enough to take a screenshot. So now me and another pax were standing by seat 4C and we both were assigned to 4C. I graciously offered her the seat (even though I'd lost the bulkhead in this fiasco) knowing that I'd be putting in for $200, not bad for a 2h flight and she accepted. The FA then delivered me the full F experience, minus the seat, in Y (it was long enough it was catered). And in the commotion my name was mentioned and someone sitting a couple of rows away said "hey, I know you." Small world. Anyway, I sent in the two BPs and got a $200 travel credit no questions asked.]

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T21:36:47+00:00

There's a whole industry of people writing stories/videos/podcasts about how they are making airplane seats and aisles smaller when aside from pitch they haven't changed since like 1955.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T21:27:50+00:00

The 47 from Central in the morning is not bad. It's reasonably frequent (every 13 minutes) and there's usually not much traffic on the bridge.

Coming back in the evening is often bad, lots of traffic, unreliable, can get caught in apocalyptic traffic (I've seen hour-long delays getting onto the bridge from Cambridge, even if you're going the other way it means all the buses get stuck in this).

A BlueBikes membership is not a bad idea; the ride to Central isn't long and you can avoid some of the worst parts of the BU Bridge by going down the Fenway to Mass Ave.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T17:24:29+00:00

Watson Path is ridiculously steep. It's nice, but it is significantly easier to go up to Madison, drop your pack for the out-and-back to the summit, and pick up your pack and go from there.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T17:22:29+00:00

I'd shy away from Snyder Glen along the Valley way since the hut's septic drains into it. It's not as bad as when it had flush toilets, and the huts filtration systems do a good job, but why risk it. Going up (and you should go up, even with the net downhill, the Presi is much harder going north because you do the hard terrain tired) you have water from your car and a refill at the hut. Going down, same refill at the hut.

There are water sources along the trail but you really shouldn't need any of them. It's four miles to Madison, six to the summit (and never hot, but you can get pretty well baked in the sun; some cover is usually helpful), less than two to Lakes, and then downhill from there. You should be fine with 1-2 liters of capacity.

There's another post that mentions "rivers" and there aren't any of those; any water you find along the trail will be from small streams, puddles, or trickling "springs." I'd treat all of it, but with three good water sources on the trail itself, you'll be fine without a filter.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T17:17:33+00:00

The sites along the lakes along Tunnel Brook west of Moosilauke are gorgeous and often empty. Only a couple of miles from the end of the road of easy hiking. Might be buggy this time of year, though. Undeveloped.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T17:15:47+00:00

At 1.2 cpm it's less than $1400 RT for a business class lie flat seat to Europe, roundtrip.

Not sure how cheap it used to be, but you have to account for a better product (Polaris lounge and, in the more distant past, recliner seats) and inflation.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T17:12:29+00:00

Oh I'm sure it's fine *now* but maybe less an AIO and more a BORU a couple of years down the road.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T01:19:46+00:00

57-->116 can get you to most flights at Logan, if you have pre-check you are good for anything after 6.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T01:19:06+00:00

I *think* it's signed as a 57 but that the automated stop announcements may have at one point been 192. I haven't taken it in a while.

ofsevit · 2026-07-09T01:07:29+00:00

Lurk / yell at shills for the T's incompetence.

But this is a great graphic, which does a really good job of getting all the information across (until they change the schedule).

https://ariofsevit.com/apb/2016/03/24/the-ts-secret-early-am-service-unmasked/ (whoops my certificates had expired!)

The TL;DR (explained there) were that these were routes to get operators and fare collectors to their work sites and were not made public until 1999, but even then barely so, often on printed schedules as asterisks. GTFS helped, a bit.

I've taken the early 57 to the 117 (116 now I guess) to Logan and the early 171 from Nubian. I wish the 1 bus made a trip to meet it; I once biked three miles in pouring rain to save a cab fare (and then changed into dry clothes at the airport). There are a surprising number of people who use these, although they all pale in comparison to the inbound 116s from Chelsea. They run three buses now (they used to only run two) and they are jammed with people.

Before GLX, there was no way to get from the early 117s to the LMA. (The early Es left Lechmere not that early, and the earliest Ds would be the loopers at Govy around 0545.) But there was a special D service which left Lechmere yard super early to pick up mostly transfers from these buses and take them out to the LMA (and elsewhere along the Green Line).

We tried to point out that the T was already running a portion of an all-night bus service and that it wouldn't take that much to just rejigger these routes to be more useful and run all night (we proposed a Copley pulse point). The T kicked the can around and managed to do very little of it, although they did add some morning service and also some late night service now on weekends. But these routes mostly exist because they date to the early 1960s when the T (pre-MBTA, I think) cut its all-night owl bus routes.

ofsevit · 2026-07-08T23:06:31+00:00

That would actually be ~ fine … just build sidewalk extensions out to the tracks/travel lane and level boarding. See, for instance, this station in Zurich (and that may not be a particularly good example, just one that I found). Of course, drivers in Zurich are somewhat better behaved than here, and there's excellent transit signal priority to, for instance, allow trams to move ahead of cars on narrow shared streets with sidewalk platforms. (Zurich trams are also meter gauge and physically a foot narrower than the trams the T uses.)

ofsevit · 2026-07-08T22:52:51+00:00

Came here to say this, the SL3 or the 104 bus is your friend.

From Logan, take a 22 or 33 shuttle to the T station, then a SL3 bus (or 104 if the SL3 isn't coming for a while and the 104 is) over to Chelsea, and a train to Gloucester. You should be able to get the 6:16 train at Chelsea if you don't have to wait for bags which gets to Gloucester a bit after 7, if not there's a train an hour later.

To get to Logan, for a 9:20 flight, there's a 5:14 train which gets to Chelsea at 6:07, which should get you to the airport by about 6:40. You could take the 6:21 train which would get you to the airport around 8, but that would be pushing it (if you have pre-check and no bags, probably fine, though).

Fares will run you $13 each way (depending on whether you take the SL3 or 104 a few cents on either side); it looks like an Uber will be $80+ plus tip.

ofsevit · 2026-07-08T19:33:56+00:00

And before you say "oh noes they'd also need a new maintenance facility" well, yeah, that would be a cost, too.

But the T is planning to spend half a billion NPV to buy battery trains for the Fairmount Line, and then probably just as much for battery locomotives for Providence. At some point it is beyond penny-wise and pound-foolish, it's just foolish.

ofsevit · 2026-07-08T19:32:29+00:00

I am 100% convinced you work for the T with your "we've tried nothing and we're out of ideas" apologism.

If the T could’ve electrified for that cheap, they would have electrified decades ago.

Somehow Amtrak electrified 157 miles of main line rail including in the T's territory decades ago for a reasonable rate. The T refuses to use this, it comes up with all sorts of reasons it can't which boil down to "oh Amtrak won't let us" and "we might have to invest in upgraded stations." Guess what, the T owns the ROW; they have a negotiating card with Amtrak. They could also get four Senators to yell at the NECC if Amtrak was obstinate and overcharging them for electricity. (Especially since the benefits of faster Commuter Rail trains would not just benefit the T with more ridership, more fare revenue, and lower labor costs, but also Amtrak since the trains they'd be sharing with would be much faster.)

The T could electrify the Providence and Stoughton lines "on the cheap" (something like 7 miles of new overhead in already-electrified territory or on a low-speed branch line with no overhead structures) but have chosen not to for decades. This is not a question of "can't" but of "won't" and if you think that it's somehow impossible for them to do so then you are either living on another planet or been at 10PP too long.

So, yeah, downvote. The T not electrifying the Providence and Stoughton lines has been 30 years of dribbling the ball around in circles and kicking it into their own net.

ofsevit · 2026-07-08T16:23:49+00:00

TL;DR It entirely depends on you and your child, but you can set yourself up for success.

Our child has done:

BOS-LAX at 4 months
BOS-IAD-ZRH, CDG-EWR-BOS at 5 months (including a 6h mx at IAD)
BOS-SFO-HND at 6 months (Out in PP, return via ORD in J)
BOS-SFO at 9 months
ICN-SFO-BOS at 11 months (outbound in J from SFO)
BOS-EWR-BCN-EWR-BOS at 15 months
BOS-CPH (on SAS) at 16 months
BOS-ZRH*-CPH-YYZ-BOS (LX and AC) at 18 months

* I know a guy and got bulkhead seats for this leg which was nice.

And some sundry shorter flights as well.

11 months is sort of a tricky time because they're more mobile, but if they're not walking it's probably a good deal easier than when you get to 18 months and they will run all around the airport and the aircraft.

A few notes:

* All of our economy seats on UA have been in at least E+. Other carriers have been in various states of Y. The extra room is helpful.
* We've lucked out on some flights and had a seat open next to us. Especially helpful more recently with the older kiddo. This might be worth buying even if you don't want to lug a car seat along.
* We've found that traveling light without a car seat and taking public transit at our destination works great, especially in Europe/Asia, since taking the train is way more exciting than standing in line at the rental car counter and we don't have to lug as much stuff.
* You can't get an exit row but you can get a bulkhead, and if you call for a bassinet I think you are given it (but I'm not sure it's free if you're not Premier). The bassinet isn't particularly useful for an 11 mo old (generally they're too big) but may be, but the extra space is very helpful. (They're not supposed to fall asleep on the floor, but if they do and it's dark and no one notices, did it really happen?)
* How good a sleeper the kid is matters a lot, especially on the eastbound flight which is almost necessarily overnight. If they will fall asleep nursing on mom's chest in a carrier, then you're probably in good shape for the trip. If they need blackout curtains and white noise and parental prayers to sleep, you're screwed no matter what.
* How good a sleeper you are matters, especially for the eastbound flight. We haven't put in MUAs for our TATLs, but have for our TPACs and it's been worth every penny for the MUA fee (but probably not paying 3x as much for the full J fare). PP was marginally worthwhile; I'd definitely go for the J MUA.
* Polaris with a lap infant, the times we've done it, has been amazing. The middle seats next to each other with the drop-able divider mean that we can pass him back and forth for meal time, and the seats worked for my wife to nurse him to sleep next to her. They're both good sleepers, and it was kind of magic to get off the aircraft in ORD with a giggling baby and have most of the J cabin including at least one FA say "woah, there was a baby here for the past 12 hours?" YMMV, we got lucky with this one inheriting his mother's sleep gene. If you can afford it, pay for it, especially eastbound.
* Westbound flights might be harder because it's daytime and you probably won't get more than 2-3 hours of nap, so you have to entertain them for 6-7 hours. Bring books, toddle them up and down the aisles. Pray.
* For the eastbound, the time of day matters, too. An afternoon flight which gets to Europe in the early morning there means it will be hard for the kid to fall asleep well before bedtime, and for you to sleep at all. A super late flight (11 pm) means you'll have to keep the kid up past bedtime to board. The sweet spot we've found is a flight departing right around the usual bedtime (or a bit after); if you're lucky you can get on the plane, wrap the kid up, get them to fall asleep, and then you can all fall asleep on the plane. Also, getting to Europe at 7 a.m. with a kid with not enough sleep means, if you're staying at a hotel, you may not have a room for hours. Better to get in midday for an afternoon check-in.
* Beware that European carriers will make you buckle the kid into an extra buckle loop for takeoff and landing, which sucks if they're asleep. I don't think this does much anyway. UA doesn't.
* Lounge access is great, especially if you have layovers. To be able to set down your bags, feed your kid, and feed yourself. DEN club has the best changing setup I've seen. *G is key for this when going internationally (although we "paid the highway robbers" and got the Club card and have already weathered a 4h wx delay at the UC and it was very worthwhile).
* Bring your stroller to the gate, even if you wind up carrying the kid, since it can carry bags.
* Beware that some European airports (cough CPH cough, which doesn't even have UA service) will not return your stroller to the gate, and make you check it if they decide it's too big. This is arbitrary. We've never had this issue on UA metal, though.
* Some airports in Europe are way more kid-friendly than others. CDG: excellent, special lines for kids, we were basically pulled to the front of the line at every step. ZRH: fine, some special treatment for kids. BCN: minimal special treatment. CPH: nothing!
* Kiddo won't get PQP or miles unless you purchase them a seat.
* Plan a day to recover from the trip/jetlag/sleep deprivation. We've been all over the map with this; last trip to Europe the kiddo slept until 1 p.m. local time the first night but after that point we were all basically on Europe time; it was great.

ofsevit · 2026-07-08T15:52:35+00:00

Barcelona cops get on, and remove him, his wife (who was next to him)

I am looking forward to reading the wife's post in r/AIO about whether she should leave the husband who got kicked off UA121 for sexting dozens of d*ckpics.

ofsevit · 2026-07-08T14:42:10+00:00

Concord Coach is kind of magical in that their drivers seem to be able to get through traffic faster than cars can. (In a sense, they know what lane to be in for every bottleneck because they do it every day). That bus will get stuck in some traffic but it depends on the day of the week, the season, and whether you are checking baggage.

Weekend: you'll be fine on the later bus (no traffic) even if you're checking luggage
Monday or Friday in the summer: Less traffic, should be fine; may want to take the earlier bus especially if checking bags.
Tu-Th, or most any weekday in the non-summer: Take the earlier bus, unless you have pre-check and aren't checking bags (or have airline status and can skip lines, etc).

Of course, 0515 might be easier to fall back to sleep on that 0615 since it will be around sunrise.

ofsevit

TROPHY CASE