So many responses.. I'll try to take them one at a time.
Bikes - Bikes. Are you *serious*? You won't get them in the financial district and you'll get very few in the medical district. In the 10 years I worked in the financial industry, I could count the number of bikes used for commuting on one hand. It's not so much the 90F days but the SNOW, RAIN, SLEET, ICE and - worst of all - TRAFFIC and the legendary Boston drivers.
Don't get me wrong, that's not to say I'm against the bike-riding/sharing plans. It's just not going to have that big of an impact. I agree, though, it should be added to the list of options.
Light Rail on the Greenway - A couple of problems with that. We just spent $15B to make that into green space. No way will anyon let stations be built on it. And make no mistake, when you have 40,000 people coming in at North Station in the morning, you need stations - a simple platform doesn't do it. Ask anyone who remembers the old North Station Green and Orange line stops before the "superplatform" was built. Secondly, it's still a multi-seat ride. We already HAVE that so it's no improvement in that manner either.
North-side intercity rail. That's more a future thing than anything else. I'd love to see it but it's not a "now" selling point except for the Downeaster.
NY comparisons - there is FAR more subway capacity at Grand Central than at North or South stations (1 light, 1 heavy line at North and 1 heavy, 1 BRT line at South). Comparisons between NY and Boston are dicey anyway.
When coming in from the southside, you go through 3 major employment areas - Longwood, Back Bay and South Station. Coming in from the Northside, there's only the North end - the Tip O'Neill building, Mass General and Spaulding rehab hospitals. However there are the 80 Bruins and Celtics events at the Garden. Personally I view the through-service idea of the NSRL benefitting the northside employee and the southside sports fan most of all.