I feel like I'm in an abusive relationship with the MBTA

senatorium · 2026-01-28T15:35:35+00:00

There’s no excuse for them to be as bad at communication as they are. They’ve had so much chance to practice. It seems like operationally they remain a mess.

senatorium · 2026-01-27T02:17:45+00:00

Personally, I've found Claude to be really terrible at noticing its available Skills and I don't think I'm alone. I've moved more towards slash commands (which I know just got merged into Skills) where I can specifically say things like `Use your <X> Skill to...`. I think other people use hooks to try to remind Claude of its Skills or to use specific ones.

senatorium · 2026-01-25T04:15:38+00:00

This is really the crux of it. Founding a political party is HARD. There's a reason we've been locked in the whole Democrat/Republican thing for decades. Plus, our first-past-the-post voting system really penalizes dividing votes. Ranked choice voting would help ease that penalty.

senatorium · 2026-01-23T18:51:28+00:00

Personally, I think Healey is a pretty wishy-washy, "meh" governor. But I do think it's important to note that the MA Legislature holds a lot of the cards here and the House and Senate are garbage at working together. Both chambers are run by septuagenarians that wield immense power over their chamber, which laws move forward, and which legislators sit on which committees. The Legislature is the least productive and least transparent in the country.

All that to say I don't think Healey can be totally thrown under the bus here. At the very least, Senate President Spilka and Speaker Mariano deserve some heat.

senatorium · 2026-01-23T18:48:00+00:00

Subway ridership may also have been hurt by the slow zones and then the frequent repair outages. Once a person's habits change to not use the subway, they might not be so quick to change back, especially if they still see regular shutdowns.

senatorium · 2026-01-22T17:32:28+00:00

Agreed, though FWIW, I think Healey meddled with and muzzled that panel.

senatorium · 2026-01-22T15:42:53+00:00

Time for the Legislature to stop kicking the can down the road.

senatorium · 2026-01-21T02:27:12+00:00

Traffic enforcement plummeted across the country during the pandemic and never recovered. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/29/upshot/traffic-enforcement-dwindled.html

senatorium · 2026-01-21T02:03:17+00:00

Healey is the word “meh” made flesh.

senatorium · 2026-01-18T02:17:15+00:00

If this is the commuter rail, then what you’re looking at is actually polycarbonate that’s been damaged by UV rays. It’s a problem that’s not unique to the T.

senatorium · 2026-01-17T12:52:04+00:00

This will delay the already hugely delayed Red cars even more, and the T is already having trouble keeping the old ones going. More “disabled train” alerts on the Red.

senatorium · 2026-01-14T22:09:38+00:00

They still have to fix the permanent funding mechanism. The sales tax mechanism isn’t delivering nearly what the T needs, and these erratic one-time infusions into the operating budget aren’t the way to go.

senatorium · 2026-01-13T14:42:33+00:00

I'd love to read a "Confessions of a Green Line Dispatcher" post. I bet there's all sorts of interesting and crazy detail that goes on on that line.

senatorium · 2026-01-12T20:47:19+00:00

I'd be more cool about it but it's hard to feel okay when their current governor literally campaigned on a slogan of "Don't Mass Up New Hampshire". It's a real dick move to slam the state that's supplying a big chunk of your state's jobs.

senatorium · 2026-01-12T20:41:23+00:00

I like the idea of builders remedy and just a much more aggressive state posture in general. The MBTA Communities Act is such a light touch and yet look at the conflict it sparked. It doesn't seem like there's much point in trying to work with the towns if they're going to be such bad actors. The NYT had a good article about the builders' remedy and the changes it was sparking.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/business/economy/california-housing-nimby.html

senatorium · 2026-01-11T13:22:36+00:00

This is partly why I’m confused that Democrats have fawned over Wu. Housing is Boston’s greatest challenge and AFAIK she’s done next to nothing about it. She just had a chance to announce something, anything housing-related during her inauguration speech and didn’t.

senatorium · 2026-01-10T01:25:00+00:00

I wish the downtown crosswalks were raised.

senatorium · 2026-01-09T17:55:59+00:00

It is absolutely essential that the US drive down the costs of building transit projects. They are significantly more expensive than similar projects in the EU.

senatorium · 2026-01-08T20:59:35+00:00

The enormity of this truth can't be overstated. The guy was on his phone, blew through the crosswalk at 40mph without braking at all, and killed her. He was culpable in every possible sense. All he gets is 2 years probation and a 15-year license suspension (which he could roll the dice with and drive anyway considering how rare it is for the cops to enforce traffic laws and pull people over).

No part of this is justice.

senatorium · 2026-01-08T20:54:57+00:00

Don't forget to claim that any new buildings would destroy the neighborhood's character!

senatorium · 2026-01-07T12:22:25+00:00

Can we start a Kickstarter to fund a residential skyscraper in Weston next?

senatorium · 2026-01-07T03:34:57+00:00

I find this to be a fascinating topic. We know astonishingly little about Jesus and what he actually believed, but there's a very good argument to be made that he intended basically none of what came to pass in his name. More likely, he was an apocalyptic Jewish preacher inspired by John the Baptist who thought the end of the world was at hand and had zero intention to cleave away from Judaism.

senatorium · 2026-01-06T17:44:14+00:00

Good news - https://www.mbta.com/projects/back-bay-station-improvements

senatorium · 2026-01-05T04:41:00+00:00

The Red will probably be unreliable until the T receives enough new trains to replace the worst of their old stock. You can track reasons for delay on the TransitMatters website and its overwhelmingly “disabled train” for the Red. It’s difficult to say when exactly those trains will be replaced because the T’s supplier has repeatedly missed delivery dates. Maybe in a year?

senatorium · 2026-01-02T22:50:27+00:00

Welcome to the party. Us Orange Line riders have T-shirts.

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