Recent comments in /f/WorcesterMA

New-Vegetable-1274 t1_j1maeha wrote

When I was a kid in Worcester the first snow was usually in October and the last snow was sometime in April. During that stretch it snowed every week and there were very no snow days. Of course every neighborhood had a school within walking distance. The blizzard in 78 was the worst I remember. There's a YouTube video about the blizzard in Worcester.

1

UnlededFloyd t1_j1lnqhq wrote

People can debate if global warming is real and what the cause is. I think it’s simple. I’ve lived in MA my entire life. When I was a kid I remember sitting at the bus stop with a hoodie or a jacket and it being cold. Now there are 90 degree days and my kids wear shorts to school until the end of October. I used to play pond hockey all winter. Now I don’t even think our ponds ever have a chance to develop ice thick enough.

We are now in a pattern of weather extremes. Last 10 or so years we’ve had a weird October nor’easter that brings rain/ice and tons of wind. We have days in the dead of winter that are above 50 degrees with warm tropical like wind. We haven’t had a normal winter comparable to when I was a kid for a very long time.

26

AceOfTheSwords t1_j1l9mry wrote

How many of those nearby employers pay enough to live in one of these shiny new apartment complexes?

I suppose if they are former Boston residents that still work in Boston, it would be a convenient spot for using the commuter rail. So in that sense at least, they wouldn't be adding to commute traffic.

The structure of our current bus system isn't terrible, it primarily suffers from not hiring enough drivers. This is most noticeable with service being reduced on some Fridays, etc. Beyond just hiring enough to guarantee basic functionality, a hiring increase could extend hours of service and increase bus frequency (possibly alongside a one-time purchase of more buses). All of this could happen without reinventing our roads, and could be funded for years on what citywide BRT implementation would cost. There are a couple key spots where I agree BRT could be especially useful (Main St, Shrewsbury St) and maybe these could be implemented earlier, but for the most part I'd like to see these more basic improvements to our bus system first. If the city lacks the political will to do even that, then big projects like BRT are a pipedream.

11