Category Archives: Boston

A recent Boston Globe story about the rising cost of Taxi Medallions (which is essentially a license that allows drivers to operate taxi cabs), caught my attention when it shared this little tid bit – Boston has capped the number of taxis at 1,825.

Although I’m the first to clamor for more oversight and regulation, I am also more than willing to admit that not all regulation makes sense.  For example, having less than 2,000 cabs in a city like Boston seems asinine.  The result of these limitations has two immediate consequences for consumers.

1) The ratio of cabs to consumers in Boston is 1 to 340 (in D.C. it is 1 to 90).  This makes it virtually impossible to get a cab if there is a large convention, bad weather or if you don’t live on a busy downtown street.

2) The industry is increasingly less profitable for new businesses.  A Medallion license in Boston now runs $400,000 (you need one medallion for each taxi cab).  So now the system really only serves to protect the interests of a few taxi companies rather than the citizens those taxis were intended to  serve.

I wish Boston would shun this system and find a better way to regulate taxis in the city or at a minimum help the city and its residents by doubling the number of taxi medallions to bring down the cost and add more cabs to the streets of Boston.

Rumor has it that The Boston Phoenix, which dates back to 1966, may be closing and / or merging with  its sister publication, Stuff@Night.

Are the days really numbered for The Boston Phoenix?

Earlier this year the Phoenix Media/Communications Group (the paper’s parent company) made headlines when it sold their radio station WFNX 101.7 to Clear Channel Communications. Could there be credibility to the rumor the paper the media group is named after may disappear all together or merge into one publication with its sister publication Stuff@Night?

On Sunday while taking the high speed ferry from Provincetown back to Boston we were treated to watching the USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Iron Sides) sailing through Boston Harbor. Here is a quick photo I hastily snapped.

The sail was held to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the ship’s victory over HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812 and it drew thousands of spectators on land and sea.

More about the USS Constitution here.

Thanks to @kenjimallon on Twitter for sharing this cool image created by StoneBrown Design.  This creative display of how long it takes to get from point A to B using Boston’s public transportation system can be viewed on the firm’s website.  They’ve also created similar maps which you can buy for Washington DC’s Metro and Seattle’s Metro system.