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Green Line riders trapped in tunnel for an hour and counting
By adamg on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 10:45pm
Signal problems between Park Street and Kenmore mean the Green Line is dead, Jim. It's particularly bad news for Katie Del Angel and other people on an E trolley trapped between Park and Boylston. At 10:46 p.m., she tweeted:
911 - legit - someone please save us from the tunnel between park n boylston? We've been here about an hour!!
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Comments
Ridiculously slow
I got on at Park St. and my trolley took 25 minutes to reach the next stop (Boylston). I could have gotten there faster if I tied one hand behind my back and crawled. I didn't stick around to see what happened next - I got out and walked back to Park St.
The T's website says there are "15-20 min delays between Kenmore and Park street Stations." Haha, whatever. At the rate my train was moving, I'd say more like 60-90 minutes.
Is it really that hard to move trains through a tunnel when the signals aren't working? Isn't that what radios are for?
So you want the driver to......
Use their eyes to visually detect if a train is in front of them, operate a radio to communicate with the HQ and text message their girlfriend at the same time?
Holy shit. You'd think
Holy shit. You'd think they'd evacuate people by now
In other news, I enjoyed a
In other news, I enjoyed a fast and refreshing bike ride on Mass Ave from Symphony Hall through Cambridge after the BSO concert. So glad I don't ride the T anymore.
thanks for that!
Others have laptops and piles of work to take home that would be too difficult to ride a bike with so taking public transportation is necessary. Thanks for your smug comment just the same though!
Smug? Perhaps..
Certainly his/her post wasn't the nicest if you happen to be stuck in a dark place, but you should reconsider what is possible on a bike.
With the simple addition of a rack and a waterproof bag, carrying a laptop and "piles of work" is easier on a bike than on the T. I know this because I've done it. You will get to your destination in a timely manner (often faster than the T) having excersized along the way.
Taking transportation into your own hands is liberating. I used to HATE every morning while the T sluggishly crawled from stop to stop while I dreamed of express trains that would skip past 4-5 stations at a time. After giving up on all that, and switching to a bike I got to arrive at work in a good mood.
Cyclist here
I bike a lot - either multi-modal or free range. I prefer to use my bike. Having my bike has bailed me out of more traffic jams and T implosions than I can recall.
That said, I can't bike right now. It simply isn't an option to get far on a bike until I'm fully recovered from a recent surgery. Saying "why don't you just bike" might get you a face full of chain from me right now for that very reason - I WOULD LOVE TO. I can't.
It's not a douchey thing to say "consider taking a bike - I have, and I've missed a lot of mess because of it". It is a TOTALLY douchey thing to say in the way it was said.
Some people don't have time to change clothes at work - if they even have a PLACE to change clothes. Some people are not physically able to bike all or part of the way, or do so at all times. I know I hang it up when it gets too cold for me to breathe properly even with a neoprene mask. Not all workplaces think it is cute and fun when a MudMonster arrives in the morning. Not everybody has a secure rack for their bike waiting at work. Also, some people do need a car for their work - to look presentable arriving in multiple locations strung around the city or because (like I once did) they need to truck equipment around to job sites.
We need to find ways to improve bike infrastructure and create incentives for people to bike and for businesses to support alternatives to car transportation. That's the reason so many people bike in places like Portland and older cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The original poster's annoying yammer doesn't cut it.
Thank You
I love my bike, and when I worked at an office in Longwood that had a shower room, I rode to work as often as I could. But as a woman, getting into a suit and hose, fixing my hair and putting on makeup is time-consuming and requires equipment - the culture of my industry requires attention to that stuff and I'm not talented enough to do it all in a shower room. On days when I had outside meetings, riding just wasn't feasible. I used to wish, though, that my bike could magically be at my office when I was ready to ride home and it didn't matter anymore what I looked like.
Now I work downtown again and there's no shower room in my building at all, but luckily I can walk to work, which doesn't require major repair operations when I get to my office.
And smelling shower-fresh,
And smelling shower-fresh, too? Bet your co-workers live for August.
Co-workers dont appreciate
Co-workers dont appreciate the way bike riders smell when they get to work. They may not have said anything to you but trust me, you smell and they notice. Gross.
Whats so hard about telling
Whats so hard about telling everyone to drive at 10mph and treat the signals as stop signs?
If the road traffic signals failed, the buses wouldnt be forced to sit around and not move. They get treated as stop signs.
Why do we always cripple rail with these ridiculous rules?
Green Line without signals
In fact, isn't that exactly what the T did for several months after the great Green Line flood of 1996? The line ran slowly without signals but it kept running, as soon as the flood waters receded.
I took the Green Line last night at 11
no problems whatsoever between Govt Ctr and Brookline Village
Yes, except in that case the T had people
with radios positioned at all the stations to manually clear trains. If you have a sudden failure like what occurred last night outside of rush hour, it's difficult to mobilize that number of people in a short time.
The T already has a "stop and proceed" rule to deal with dark or improperly displayed signals on the Green Line (unlike the other subway lines, Green Line streetcars are not automatically prevented from moving past a stop or failed signal).
This rule could be very easily adapted into an emergency procedure for operators to follow in cases of widespread signal failure. Unless, of course, the T's lawyers have decided that common sense is too much of a liability risk.
Part of the reason the green
Part of the reason the green line was stopped last night around 10:30 was because a fight broke out on the D line at Copley Station. We sat there for about 30 minutes while the police questioned people and apprehended the three men involved.
And they needed to delay service to do this
because ....?
Get the suspects and witnesses off the train, and get the trains moving and the people who were not involved on their way.
And this type of incident is another good reason to get the Transit Police out of their cruisers and "substations", and onto the trains and platforms instead.
Ugh -
That reminds me of when I was stuck between Hynes and Copley for 45 minutes while en route to the second day of the bar exam. That was awesome for my stress levels.
On the other hand, I have been unemployed since the day I passed the bar, so maybe it didn't really matter all that much.