More transit

(Not intentionally, but I tend to write thematically, many days being transit or commercial district revitalization, other days historic preservation, etc.)

1. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has opened a new line. From Progressive Railroading:

MBTA launches service on Greenbush Line

Yesterday, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) officially opened the Greenbush Line, the agency's 13th commuter-rail corridor.

MBTA now has completely restored the historic Old Colony Railroad, which ceased operations in 1959 and was used to create the Greenbush Line. The authority restored the other portion of the Old Colony Railroad — now known as the Middleborough/Lakeville and Kingston/Plymouth branches — 10 years ago.

The $512 million Greenbush Line features seven stations and serves the towns of Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset and Scituate, Mass. MBTA will provide 12 round trips between Boston's South Station and Greenbush Station in Scituate each weekday and eight round trips on weekends. The authority expects the line to serve about 8,600 weekday riders.

Also see "Greenbush at last" and "High hopes ride Greenbush rails" from the Boston Globe.

2. Not that this is anything new, but in NYC, the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA suggests that transit passes be seemless between railroad and subway/bus commuting systems. See "Group advocates 'freedom ticket'," from AMNew York.

Read PCAC's latest report, A Long Day's Journey into Work, which looks at transportation options in four areas that have long commutes into Manhattan: Southeast Queens, Co-Op City Bronx, Southwest Staten Island, and Red Hook Brooklyn.