@newtonmarunner.bsky.social
Life Insurance Actuary, 8x NYC Marathon Finisher, Pasta Aficionado
It’s the whole ”if I can bake a cake at 350 degrees in 30 mins, then surely I can bake a cake at 500 degrees much faster” Overton Window idea.
It never works out well.
It never works out well.
December 23, 2025 at 6:16 AM
It’s the whole ”if I can bake a cake at 350 degrees in 30 mins, then surely I can bake a cake at 500 degrees much faster” Overton Window idea.
It never works out well.
It never works out well.
Two points:
1) Politicians who refuse to endorse the party’s presidential nominee the prior cycle aren’t entitled to an endorsement.
2) Politicians endorse candidates because they profit politically from doing so. Clearly, Chuck Schumer did not feel Mayor-elect Mamdani had much to offer Schumer.
1) Politicians who refuse to endorse the party’s presidential nominee the prior cycle aren’t entitled to an endorsement.
2) Politicians endorse candidates because they profit politically from doing so. Clearly, Chuck Schumer did not feel Mayor-elect Mamdani had much to offer Schumer.
December 23, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Two points:
1) Politicians who refuse to endorse the party’s presidential nominee the prior cycle aren’t entitled to an endorsement.
2) Politicians endorse candidates because they profit politically from doing so. Clearly, Chuck Schumer did not feel Mayor-elect Mamdani had much to offer Schumer.
1) Politicians who refuse to endorse the party’s presidential nominee the prior cycle aren’t entitled to an endorsement.
2) Politicians endorse candidates because they profit politically from doing so. Clearly, Chuck Schumer did not feel Mayor-elect Mamdani had much to offer Schumer.
Besides, SI doesn’t even want RR, so that’s going to be a hard project to finish while both the West Side Lines and Queens have been clamoring for an East Side of Lower Manhattan connection for ages, making voter commitment much higher.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
For now.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
For now.
December 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Besides, SI doesn’t even want RR, so that’s going to be a hard project to finish while both the West Side Lines and Queens have been clamoring for an East Side of Lower Manhattan connection for ages, making voter commitment much higher.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
For now.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
For now.
… new subway connections denser communities closer in — all with a much shorter line length (read: lower operating costs and greater reliability) than sending trains from Wassaic to Tottenville, making service much easier politically to sustain and permanence much more likely than RR to SI.
December 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
… new subway connections denser communities closer in — all with a much shorter line length (read: lower operating costs and greater reliability) than sending trains from Wassaic to Tottenville, making service much easier politically to sustain and permanence much more likely than RR to SI.
If I’m allowed only four tracks below GCT (as the RPA, Alon, and Andrew all propose), Second and Third Ave Subways (1) will have much greater political commitment as they give grade-separated rail coverage to dense communities outside the current reach of the Subway and mythical RR and …
December 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
If I’m allowed only four tracks below GCT (as the RPA, Alon, and Andrew all propose), Second and Third Ave Subways (1) will have much greater political commitment as they give grade-separated rail coverage to dense communities outside the current reach of the Subway and mythical RR and …
Part of transportation policy is reading the room and meeting the voters where they are.
The two things voters prioritize the most are that (1) the project gets done and (2) it has permanence.
The two things voters prioritize the most are that (1) the project gets done and (2) it has permanence.
December 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Part of transportation policy is reading the room and meeting the voters where they are.
The two things voters prioritize the most are that (1) the project gets done and (2) it has permanence.
The two things voters prioritize the most are that (1) the project gets done and (2) it has permanence.
Nor are an order of magnitude denser communities closer in such as East Village, Alphabet City, LES, Two Bridges, etc. the grade separated rail coverage they deserve.
Nor are the West Side Lines Uptown getting coverage to Midtown East and NYU Lagone or Queens an East Side Connection it deserves.
Nor are the West Side Lines Uptown getting coverage to Midtown East and NYU Lagone or Queens an East Side Connection it deserves.
December 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Nor are an order of magnitude denser communities closer in such as East Village, Alphabet City, LES, Two Bridges, etc. the grade separated rail coverage they deserve.
Nor are the West Side Lines Uptown getting coverage to Midtown East and NYU Lagone or Queens an East Side Connection it deserves.
Nor are the West Side Lines Uptown getting coverage to Midtown East and NYU Lagone or Queens an East Side Connection it deserves.
Even with fare integration and free transfer, nobody from Brooklyn is going to transfer to mythical regional rail to go to GCT or Union Sq. — let alone 51/Lex, 59/Lex, NY Lagone Hospital, Flatiron, NYU, BWay/Laff, Canal when the 4/5/6 are faster. And Brooklyn to White Plains is far.
December 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Even with fare integration and free transfer, nobody from Brooklyn is going to transfer to mythical regional rail to go to GCT or Union Sq. — let alone 51/Lex, 59/Lex, NY Lagone Hospital, Flatiron, NYU, BWay/Laff, Canal when the 4/5/6 are faster. And Brooklyn to White Plains is far.
Even with that best case scenario, doubling MNR’s ridership is still considerably less ridership — particularly relative to the operating costs of sending 15-24 tph from Wassaic to Tottenville — of sending trains from either 125th/Broadway or Flushing to South Ferry.
December 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Even with that best case scenario, doubling MNR’s ridership is still considerably less ridership — particularly relative to the operating costs of sending 15-24 tph from Wassaic to Tottenville — of sending trains from either 125th/Broadway or Flushing to South Ferry.
Which is why the 5th RR Line should go from Harlem or New Haven to NJ vía GCT/NYP, scooping up HBLR, Bergenline, JFK, and Park Ave transfers rather than SI, where the hilly terrain of area closest to the ferry terminal makes TOD impossible (similar to Southern Marin County and BART).
December 21, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Which is why the 5th RR Line should go from Harlem or New Haven to NJ vía GCT/NYP, scooping up HBLR, Bergenline, JFK, and Park Ave transfers rather than SI, where the hilly terrain of area closest to the ferry terminal makes TOD impossible (similar to Southern Marin County and BART).
Part of good transit policy is meeting people where they are. One thing I’m pretty sure about is that New Yorkers don’t ever want to be compared to Stockholm.
December 21, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Part of good transit policy is meeting people where they are. One thing I’m pretty sure about is that New Yorkers don’t ever want to be compared to Stockholm.
… Prudential/Fenway/Northeastern/LMA/Mission Hill should all have at least half — not quarter — service.
December 21, 2025 at 4:29 AM
… Prudential/Fenway/Northeastern/LMA/Mission Hill should all have at least half — not quarter — service.
The only reasonable answer to improve service on the Green Line and match demand better is to get the number of branches down from 4 to 2.
BU/Packards Córner/BC, Coolidge Córner/Wash. Sq./Cleveland Circle, Longwood Ave/Brookline Village, and …
BU/Packards Córner/BC, Coolidge Córner/Wash. Sq./Cleveland Circle, Longwood Ave/Brookline Village, and …
December 21, 2025 at 4:29 AM
The only reasonable answer to improve service on the Green Line and match demand better is to get the number of branches down from 4 to 2.
BU/Packards Córner/BC, Coolidge Córner/Wash. Sq./Cleveland Circle, Longwood Ave/Brookline Village, and …
BU/Packards Córner/BC, Coolidge Córner/Wash. Sq./Cleveland Circle, Longwood Ave/Brookline Village, and …
GCT-SI or even GCT-Fulton is an irresponsible idea on so many levels, as others have repeatedly pointed out.
& assuming tunneling under the Upper Bay, Hudson River, and East River have equivalent costs as tunneling under the far smaller Thames, Seine, and Spree Rivers is a ludicrous assumption.
& assuming tunneling under the Upper Bay, Hudson River, and East River have equivalent costs as tunneling under the far smaller Thames, Seine, and Spree Rivers is a ludicrous assumption.
December 21, 2025 at 4:22 AM
GCT-SI or even GCT-Fulton is an irresponsible idea on so many levels, as others have repeatedly pointed out.
& assuming tunneling under the Upper Bay, Hudson River, and East River have equivalent costs as tunneling under the far smaller Thames, Seine, and Spree Rivers is a ludicrous assumption.
& assuming tunneling under the Upper Bay, Hudson River, and East River have equivalent costs as tunneling under the far smaller Thames, Seine, and Spree Rivers is a ludicrous assumption.
This was the case with the Green D even before GLX. GLX, with longer line length and more track merges, just exacerbated everything.
December 20, 2025 at 10:53 PM
This was the case with the Green D even before GLX. GLX, with longer line length and more track merges, just exacerbated everything.
Often while riding outbound you are told your D train is now an express because their aren’t enough trains in the other direction, so you have to get off, and wait for another train.
December 20, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Often while riding outbound you are told your D train is now an express because their aren’t enough trains in the other direction, so you have to get off, and wait for another train.
… Newton/D Brookline to have to transfer to go to Downtown/Chinatown/Back Bay.
There are just far too many track merges on the Green Line, and that and the Line length of the D make it unreliable.
There are just far too many track merges on the Green Line, and that and the Line length of the D make it unreliable.
December 20, 2025 at 10:19 PM
… Newton/D Brookline to have to transfer to go to Downtown/Chinatown/Back Bay.
There are just far too many track merges on the Green Line, and that and the Line length of the D make it unreliable.
There are just far too many track merges on the Green Line, and that and the Line length of the D make it unreliable.
My personal view is with regional rail or the E Branch underground to Forest Hills, the Orange Line should be moved to hit Hynes, Kenmore Sq., Park Dr./Brookline Ave., LMA, Brookline Village. Expensive.
But I also think the D Branch termini should be Kenmore and Riverside/Needham, asking …
But I also think the D Branch termini should be Kenmore and Riverside/Needham, asking …
December 20, 2025 at 10:19 PM
My personal view is with regional rail or the E Branch underground to Forest Hills, the Orange Line should be moved to hit Hynes, Kenmore Sq., Park Dr./Brookline Ave., LMA, Brookline Village. Expensive.
But I also think the D Branch termini should be Kenmore and Riverside/Needham, asking …
But I also think the D Branch termini should be Kenmore and Riverside/Needham, asking …
I also don’t think the Hudson Line will accept their connection to GCT and a single transfer ride to Weil/Flatiron/Union Sq/NYU/Chinatown Canal/City Hall being severed without a connection to the 6 or both N/Q/R/W and B/D/F/M. Which means a RR station at Park/33rd or Herald Sq. Expensive.
December 20, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I also don’t think the Hudson Line will accept their connection to GCT and a single transfer ride to Weil/Flatiron/Union Sq/NYU/Chinatown Canal/City Hall being severed without a connection to the 6 or both N/Q/R/W and B/D/F/M. Which means a RR station at Park/33rd or Herald Sq. Expensive.
We don’t want to promise service we cannot politically sustain.
December 20, 2025 at 9:22 PM
We don’t want to promise service we cannot politically sustain.
The real problem for RR in NYC compared to London, Paris, or Berlin is reliability and the political ability to sustain service in perpetuity for lines much longer than those of London, Paris, Berlin, etc. And those challenges — unlike capex — are eternal.
December 20, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The real problem for RR in NYC compared to London, Paris, or Berlin is reliability and the political ability to sustain service in perpetuity for lines much longer than those of London, Paris, Berlin, etc. And those challenges — unlike capex — are eternal.
I think 3-5 lines max for NYC works fine. The rest is, IMO, overkill. I definitely think if I only get four new tracks south of GCT (as the RPA, Andrew, and you all propose), both should go to 2nd or 3rd Ave Subway with SAS/125th getting one line and Queens getting the other.
December 20, 2025 at 9:16 PM
I think 3-5 lines max for NYC works fine. The rest is, IMO, overkill. I definitely think if I only get four new tracks south of GCT (as the RPA, Andrew, and you all propose), both should go to 2nd or 3rd Ave Subway with SAS/125th getting one line and Queens getting the other.