Good work, MBTA

A few days ago, I took a ride on the MBTA Blue Line, and I must say, it's changed a lot since I last rode it, and mostly for the better. The collapsing platform at Wood Island is gone, replaced by a shiny new rebuilt one. And, at least on the day when I was there, all the trains were the new ones, with six cars rather than four. The new trains are, on the whole, very good. The ride is fast, comfortable, and relatively quiet, and the interiors are roomy. The only complaints I have are that the seats are hard, and that the drivers' cabs seem rather large, which adds up to a lot of wasted space in a six-car train with very short cars. But that aside, these trains are definitely an improvement on what came before, and are some of the best new rapid transit trains that I've seen.

Casino Express

Looks like the ACES train is finally about to start running. This is a privately funded train, organized by a consortium of Atlantic City casinos, and run by New Jersey Transit. Amtrak is in on this too: they're doing the ticketing. An interesting example of public-private partnership, the opposite of the more common one of public agencies contracting for service from a private company. And this is exactly the sort of service that public bus agencies are currently prohibited from providing.