Picture drop and thoughts/comments when visiting Boston.
It’s interesting to see how easy public transit was up in Boston. I took both the subway and bus system. One of the biggest winners in my mind was the fact that you can pay the fare with a simple tap of your credit card. There’s no special cards or apps that you need to download and load with money in order to use them. It was a simple credit card tap. If you wanted to use a day or 7 day pass, then you do need an actual pass (I’m assuming a card). I would like to see a similar system used on our bus system. Although it was very convenient for us, it is definitely more pricey. A one way fare did cost $2.40 while a one way fare on our bus is $1.25. A day pass in Boston is $11 while a day pass in Raleigh is $2.50. Frequency didn’t seem to be a problem.
I liked the underground portion of the bus. We used it in the Seaport district. It did eventually go above ground which did show that you could still be caught in regular traffic. The stops were very similar to subway stops where you paid and then went down to the platform (meaning no needing to tap on the bus itself, but before).
I don’t know if it was due to higher costs in Boston, or whether it’s due to current gas prices, but I was actually expecting us to use Lyft/Uber. We opted not to use it because it was $17 to go about 2.6 miles. This was a first point of view into seeing just how price affects travel decisions.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take advantage of the bike lanes, but I liked how there were quite a few cycle tracks and separated bike lanes. I’m sure I would have used them if I was on a longer trip (or lived in the area).
@GucciLittlePenguin and I were in Montreal recently, and we got to tour Habitat 67. It was built for the 67 Expo and is a great example of brutalist architecture when done well (as opposed to an imposing grey rectangle on a city street). It’s essentially a condo community across the St Lawrence River from downtown (with great views of the skyline and water). It was quite an interesting experience, and felt like being in a time capsule. Definitely recommend a visit if you’re ever up that way.
The 4-story buildings along Byrum (south of Walnut/Kildaire) are all “stacked townhouse” condominums, but in two formats. The ones in that photo (Walker/Byrum) are “twisted pairs” – each pair of units splits the ground floor side-by-side, but the 2-3-4th floors front-rear. The others at Kildaire/Byrum are stacked towns, from the same builder as the Grey in DTR.
Speaking of townhouse innovations, I biked past this block of “back to back” townhouses in DC last night. The driveway is through the middle of the ground floor, and the units are shorter/wider than usual. Still fee-simple (individual lots sold separately), and therefore not a condo. Interesting idea to get slightly higher density than the usual 20’ wide townhouse.
I prefer option 1, though it is insanely expensive, will probably happen after I’m dead, slows my access to DTD if I’m still alive, and makes it even easier for the “riffraff” from the west side to move into the areas I like to visit. I say this all mostly in jest, but there’s some truth to it that probably should be at least considered. The counterpoint, but similar geographically, is that this will lead to massive gentrification on the southwest side of the current 147.
I hate NC 147 because everyone seems to go 20+ over the speed limit (55) and the section through DTD is not designed for it. Also people try to use it as a shortcut to I-885, which creates that nightmarish backup during rush hour, where all 147 traffic has to merge onto 885. Although people are going to complain about the increased commute time to work (Duke University & Hospital Employees), getting non-local through traffic out of the heart of Durham would be beneficial.
Lloyd’s Full Service in downtown Cary is open now. Super nice looking rehab, and the food and drinks were quite good. This will probably become a regular place for us since we’re around here once or twice a week. Tell them Jeff sent you, if you go. They won’t know who I am, but it’ll be fun anyways.
Was walking around Uptown Charlotte today, in the shadows of our high-rises, thinking about the walking tour next spring (thinking we are trying to do one on Saturday in March). It will be epic. You can see this 45-story tower that is across the street the 3-story million-dollar townhomes. Plus a 50-story apartment tower that casts a shadow at certain times of the day on the nearby SF homes and lowrises of 4th Ward. Come on down on Amtrak but our current station is about 1 mile from the tour start uptown.
Two variations on the front/rear townhouse theme. Twice the width mitigates the “boxcar” long and narrow floor plans that are a key downside of townhouses, and they’re higher density as well. But there’s a tradeoff: as with an apartment in a corridor building, most units only get windows on one side.
Walker Row in Cary - “twisted pair”
Powell at Reservoir District in DC - “back to back and side by side”
