Trip too risky? Now you can find out
Every time you hop in a car, hail a cab, ride a bus, or go for a walk, you are taking your life in your hands. But what exactly are the odds that you won't return home? Earlier this week, the American Automobile Association unveiled a new tool to determine the odds. TrafficSTATS is an interactive feature found on its website, aaafoundation.org.
The tool was created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh using fatality figures from two national databases, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the National Household Travel Survey.
TrafficSTATS allows you to plug in various factors such as age of driver, day of week, time, month, and region of the country, and calculate the odds of dying whether you travel by bicycle, car, bus, taxi, or foot.
While a little daunting, the site offers a wealth of arcane information. For instance, the highway death rate is greater for an 82-year-old woman than a 16-year-old boy. The safest automobile passenger is a youngster in a car seat during the morning rush hour, and no matter what you have heard about Boston drivers, New England in the safest region in the country to drive a car.
T holding off on credit cards
A reader who identified himself only as Nate asked about the future of credit card use on the T.
"Is there any planning for such use? It seems like for those with credit cards [which frequently include tourists, and many locals], it would streamline the process of using the T by not needing to get an additional card -- just swipe what you already have and hop on," he wrote in an e-mail. "If so, do you know when it will go live? If not, do you have any insight on why a decision was reached to not include such a universal payment system in the T's plans?"
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that is something the T will definitely be exploring down the road, but the immediate focus is on the transition to the Charlie Card system. "For the first time in decades, public transit fares in Greater Boston are being purchased and collected in a different manner," he said. "We feel it is very important for customers to become comfortable with this new type of technology before introducing another method."
'Charlie' can't ride on Winthrop bus
In an e-mail, Marilyn Puopolo asked about the connection, if any, between the MBTA and the Paul Revere buses in Winthrop.
"I get a Charlie Card every month at work but cannot use the card on the Winthrop buses because they are run by Paul Revere. I have to pay 90 cents twice a day to get to the train station. So with the Charlie Card, I am paying for a bus ride that I don't take. I was told by the train person at Orient Heights that the MBTA has nothing to do with the Winthrop buses. However, in looking at my Winthrop bus schedule there is a notation on the back: 'This service is provided with operating assistance from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority,' and the MBTA general information number is on the front of the schedule."
Pesaturo said the Winthrop run is not one of the MBTA's 175 bus routes. It's a private carrier bus route operated by Paul Revere Transportation. It is a popular route served by new buses that were introduced last fall.
"Because the service provides an important connection to the subway system [at Orient Heights], the MBTA provides financial assistance to the private operator," he said. MBTA passes are not accepted for this service. However, the fare on the Winthrop bus was set at 90 cents, which is lower than the $1.25 bus fare on MBTA-operated bus routes, to make the overall cost more equitable for customers making a connection at Orient Heights.
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