Thursday, August 31, 2006

A Response

To my post yesterday, which I made a nicer version of and sent to all the T chiefs on the Red, Blue, Orange, Green, and Silver lines, plus Mac Daniel at the Globe, and the GM at the T.

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Dear Mr. Callahan,

Thank you for your email regarding additional train service.

The Blue Line has been operating extra service trains since the tragedy
surrounding the tunnel closures. We can operate one additional train
during rush periods, but are running most of the extra service during
traditional non-peak periods. Including the extra, rush hour service is
maximized at 14 trains operating every 3.75 minutes. I do not have the
equipment (trains), personnel, or capability with the signal system to
operate any more service during the peak periods. The Red and Green
Lines are similarly challenged.

Regular Commuter Rail and Commuter Boat service has much longer
headways between scheduled trips, so adding extra service for these
modes is possible.

Because of the additional roadway traffic congestion, some people are
commuting to work during off-peak hours. These commuters are benefitting
from more service at those times.

We certainly do want people to use public transportation! We are
striving to improve our services so that we can attract new, and retain
current, customers.

Thank you again for writing.


Sincerely,

Lisa Bono
Chief of Blue Line Operations

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Off Peak

"The MBTA will increase service on the Orange and Blue subway lines during off-peak hours and add extra trains when the Green and Red lines are too crowded. Additional commuter trains will be added during off-peak hours from the Route 128 Station in Westwood and the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn. In Quincy, more commuter ferries will be added for commuters during peak hours."

What is the rationale here? Why not extra trains on all 4 lines?
Considering that lack of communication at the T on a normal f-up, how are they going to know when to get more Red or Green trains out?
And why add extra service at NON peak hours when there are generally fewer people in the system, hence the term "Off-peak", when they are adding extra ferries?
Add the trains for the commute, you idiots!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Please Don't Fix

http://www.mbta.com/insidethet/press_releases_details.asp?ID=1261

What KILLS me is that they actually are asking the public about it, and then:

"the T will make the decision whether to go forward with the new changes"

Generally I feel the riders should be consulted, but come on. This is clearly a move in the right direction.
Other than the unbelievably ugly fabric on the seats, these are all no brainers.

Ummm. No, MBTA, please do not put accurate maps in the cars, I'd rather not know where I'm going. And make the seats easy to tear and graffitti on.
Oh, and I'm short, so make sure I can't hang on.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Just Walk It

At Wellington station there was a people mover to get travellers from the parking garage, which is quite far away, to the station.
For some bizarre reason, the T has decided to shut down the people mover, put in shuttle bus - the T loves buses! why don't we just rip up all the rails and use buses instead? As an aside, the T also proposed to use buses between Kendall and Park St. during the bridge work near Charles/MGH, AFTER the city offered to shift the tracks over so the train could continue. Idiots.
Anyway, so for now you can take a shuttle bus from the garage to the station, that is until the covered pedestrian bridge is constructed. Of course, they couldn't build it next to the people mover and let that run until it was finished.
It's well over a quarter mile from the garage to the station. If you're parked in the far left corner of the garage, good luck. You may as well drive the remaining 4 miles into Boston.
The only reason I can think of for replacing the people mover with a regular bridge is to satisfy the needs of the developers building in that area.
And the PEOPLE lose out to big business yet again.

Friday, August 11, 2006

You'll See

T cops are doing a sweep of every Logan-bound SL bus once it gets to the SL Way stop.
That's cool and everything, but this is not:

Courthouse stop, kid gets on with baggage, and is instructed by the T "inspector" to make sure the bag is set a certain way on the floor, etc. Again, not an issue.
The kid, understandably, asks, very politely, why it matters how his baggage is oriented.
"Just do it. You'll see why in a few stops, alright?!" yells the inspector.

What a dick.