Governor creates commission to figure out what to do about the T

Have you read ANY of these reports? I doubt you have. So please don't make ANY comments about something you have not read. Really love all the comments people are making about something they've never read.

Look, I'm VERY liberal leaning, and a registered DEMOCRAT. If I smell a rat, I'm going to call out a rat. I don't smell a rat in these reports AT ALL. If I did, you'd know it.

Like I said above, they contained nothing more than stuff I already know (and many of us know, regardless if you have a D or an R next to your name).

I also stated I didn't agree with everything they stated, but its very hard to ignore a lot of research with real facts and numbers.

Regardless of the PI report(s), most reports about the T have all pretty much the same thing. So the opinions of the PI are not alone here. I'd be skeptical if it was all "new to me" facts, but it's not.

So again, please read the reports before you make ANY comments about them. They aren't filled with ANY of what you state, so its clear you haven't even glazed over them. Please do before you comment again because you're just talking rubbish that you know little about.

We see in some ways the red line expansion south has been a failure. Its a long distance that snow removal operations failed to clear in a reasonable time frame. In another way, the expansion was appropriate given the number of riders. Other expansions, not so many riders. It takes good planning to predict which expansions will grow enough ridership to become sustainable. The expansion of route 3 north by a lane each way only took 10 years to fill up. I-495 drove lots of economic development over its initial 30 years, and is now congested during commute time. The red line north took many years before it drove up property values and rents in Davis Square. A chief difference is that areas with much open space for population growth present more opportunity than ones built out. Davis Square and Arlington are both largely built out with lower potential for population and ridership growth.

Much of Arlington's opposition to red line stations in the town was increased auto traffic to/from stations and criminals commuting to work in Arlington. Both were valid concerns at the time as traffic congestion in Arlington was worse than now with our shrunken population. Arlington had 25% more residents then and crime rates in the area and the country were much higher than now. The MBTA changed the route of the Orange line in part because it went right through where many criminals lived and people got mugged daily on the orange line. Crime was a real issue.

Radio Shack does serve a large population, but many outlets do not serve enough customers to be sustainable, nor is there any viable plan to grow sufficient customers. Public transit faced the same issue with the decline in passenger rail service in decades past, and here the T is expanding past sustainability. The CLF lawsuit was based on fictitious pollution projections more than financial sustainability of expansions.

Arlington aside, funding to bring the red line to 128 doesn't seem likely. Alewife parking garage was to have two more levels, but ran out of money, so money to reach 128 is unlikely. Besides, if the red line ran through Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford, bicyclists wouldn't have the Minuteman commuter path.

The CLF didn't put any debt on anyone. The courts required that a contract be fulfilled.

What part of IN THE CONTRACT and COST OVERRUNS do you not get?

All of it, apparently. In that case, give me some money to clear the ice dams on your roof. I will take the money, not do the work, and then use MarkkLogic(tm) to pretend that I owe you nothing because the CLF EPA BOOGYMAN is evil or something.

Why do you hate America so much?

Markk, what if the state had budgeted a larger budget that included full payment for all Big Dig-related transit projects and instead of stalling them had made them a top priority, meaning that parts of the Zakim Bridge were completed late while new funding was found to pay for it as the project's budget overran itself?

What if? So, all the MBTA stuff is done up-front. No CLF lawsuit. No whining from you about the Clean Air Act and pollution levels. But the state ended up coming in late on finishing the ROAD portions of the Big Dig and taxpayers had to pay an extra $0.10/gal at the pump in gas tax to cover the funds necessary to finish installing the Zakim at all.

Would you be irate at the extra gas tax? Or the fact that traffic into the city from the north was fubared like in 2001 but all the way until say 2014 instead?

Because your PERPETUAL rant about the CLF is entirely misplaced. The STATE agreed to do these projects to satisfy FEDERAL requirements (neither of which is the MBTA). The state doesn't get to ignore them afterwards just because it's financially inconvenient. Don't like it? Complain to the Feds who made the law that added these MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS. Then think about what I proposed in the What If. If those mandatory requirements were fulfilled but the mandatory requirement of building the Zakim were not instead, then whose fault is that? If the North Shore cities sued the state to finish the Zakim, would you be flipping out at them or the state for coming in over budget and underfunded and uncompleted?

$2.2 Billion and rising for less than 5 miles of track, now with an added bike/pedestrian path. Perhaps 5,000 new riders, more just switching modes from existing bus lines. I've always complained that the GLX would be more sustainable if it included parking to get even more riders. Like the town of Arlington, Somerville doesn't seem to want out of towners driving to their community to park and take the T from new stations. Parking space has held back the MBTA at many existing commuter rail stations. More riders could be gotten with just parking without extending rail lines and building new stations.

The GLX has done one thing already, its increased property values along its proposed routes in Somerville. Those property owners are getting a huge windfall, so too is the city of Somerville with increased tax assessments. Unfortunately, none of that money gets back to the MBTA which shoulders the debt for their gains. The MBTA needs to tap this money as a new funding source instead of adding more burden to existing ones.