The Globe reports "a very low speed rear-end collision" between two trolleys at Boylston this morning. Nobody hurt, but the driver of the bumper car was reported to be shook up.
The driver that caused the accident initially told us all that there was a "disable train" in front of us, opting to wait to tell us the truth that she hit the train in front of us when the police arrived.
I was on the Green Line at the time and got stuck just before Copley. They told us there was a "disabled train ahead," that "officials were on the way," and that "we should be moving shortly...hopefully..."
Once we did finally start moving, it still took a good 5-10 minutes between each stop from Copley to Park (not countig the time waiting at each stop).
This is a bit of Left Field, but has anyone thought about how to change the T on a global scale?
Every day there is another story about how much the T is a second rate form of transportation. They break down, collide, catch fire, and are continuously fighting delays. This even adds to the car problems in Boston because many people would rather drive into town than find a public transportation alternative.
Here's my proposal (as I pull on fire proof underwear); Privatize the T.
I don't know how it would work, or even if it would work, but it seems to me that drastic measures need to be taken. Any other drastic ideas out there? I know banning of cell phones for T drivers was a real surprise, but hey we're all a bit safer, right?
When Bill Weld was governor of Mass he tried to get the T privatized and it failed. All the unions where up in arms about it and fought it, eventually winning.
Also at the time the bonehead voting public voted against it thinking that privatization would lead to higher prices and worst service, well think again because it has happened without privatization and then some.
I think the first step to cleaning up the T is to get rid of the unions and their control over the running of the T. Unions (in my opinion) are bleeding this country dry and setting us back from sustaining an competing on a global level. There is no need for unions anymore in this country. They are just used as a way for corruption to spread and be maintained.
The next step is for large cooperation and businesses in the Boston area, whose employees depend on the T running efficiently, should apply large amounts of pressure on the governor to get the T straightened out as they loss revenue from employees not arriving to work on time due to the constant delays and accidents on the T.
I have lived all over the world and the T is the worst public transportation system I have ever used. In India where the train system lacks the funding and which transports millions more people than the MBTA on any given day, has one of the most efficiently time managed rails.
they were ALL private entities. Same with passenger rail service, which was all originally run by private companies for several decades.
Eventually, the government stepped in and took these services over because the private companies decided there wasn't any money to be made and threatened to completely abandon the service.
Yep, and I can't think of a reason why that equation would have changed. The situation may have only gotten more out of balance now that there have been so many years of incomplete funding and Big Dig debt service. At this point, only a public entity can raise the tons of cash that would be needed to address the T's safety, accessibility, reliability, maintenance, and capital improvement issues.
I don't think it's likely the State Legislature would privatize the T and give it tons of new revenue at the same time. (Unless, I suppose, they also installed more cronies to run it.)
Having the first subway in the nation is a huge point of pride, but like many technological innovators, we fell behind as others learned from our mistakes and leapfrogged ahead.
I'm so tired of the "First subway in the nation" line. It should be "runs like the oldest system in the country".
Basically the system would collapse under it's own debt if it weren't for the state subsidy. Now I guess that most rail systems run that way (state or federal support), but our system needs more than that. How did the state assign all the Big Dig debt to the MBTA? That's a whole different question.
The T needs some game changing ideas. When I come up with something you'll be the first to know.
Comments
I was on this train, the
I was on this train, the driver at first pretended there was a disabled train in front of us until the police came. How nice of her!
A Passenger
The driver that caused the accident initially told us all that there was a "disable train" in front of us, opting to wait to tell us the truth that she hit the train in front of us when the police arrived.
I was on the Green Line at
I was on the Green Line at the time and got stuck just before Copley. They told us there was a "disabled train ahead," that "officials were on the way," and that "we should be moving shortly...hopefully..."
Once we did finally start moving, it still took a good 5-10 minutes between each stop from Copley to Park (not countig the time waiting at each stop).
Just another day on the T.
Has anyone thought about this?
This is a bit of Left Field, but has anyone thought about how to change the T on a global scale?
Every day there is another story about how much the T is a second rate form of transportation. They break down, collide, catch fire, and are continuously fighting delays. This even adds to the car problems in Boston because many people would rather drive into town than find a public transportation alternative.
Here's my proposal (as I pull on fire proof underwear); Privatize the T.
I don't know how it would work, or even if it would work, but it seems to me that drastic measures need to be taken. Any other drastic ideas out there? I know banning of cell phones for T drivers was a real surprise, but hey we're all a bit safer, right?
What's the next step?
It was proposed...
When Bill Weld was governor of Mass he tried to get the T privatized and it failed. All the unions where up in arms about it and fought it, eventually winning.
Also at the time the bonehead voting public voted against it thinking that privatization would lead to higher prices and worst service, well think again because it has happened without privatization and then some.
I think the first step to cleaning up the T is to get rid of the unions and their control over the running of the T. Unions (in my opinion) are bleeding this country dry and setting us back from sustaining an competing on a global level. There is no need for unions anymore in this country. They are just used as a way for corruption to spread and be maintained.
The next step is for large cooperation and businesses in the Boston area, whose employees depend on the T running efficiently, should apply large amounts of pressure on the governor to get the T straightened out as they loss revenue from employees not arriving to work on time due to the constant delays and accidents on the T.
I have lived all over the world and the T is the worst public transportation system I have ever used. In India where the train system lacks the funding and which transports millions more people than the MBTA on any given day, has one of the most efficiently time managed rails.
When transit systems were first developed in this country,
they were ALL private entities. Same with passenger rail service, which was all originally run by private companies for several decades.
Eventually, the government stepped in and took these services over because the private companies decided there wasn't any money to be made and threatened to completely abandon the service.
Yep, and I can't think of a
Yep, and I can't think of a reason why that equation would have changed. The situation may have only gotten more out of balance now that there have been so many years of incomplete funding and Big Dig debt service. At this point, only a public entity can raise the tons of cash that would be needed to address the T's safety, accessibility, reliability, maintenance, and capital improvement issues.
I don't think it's likely the State Legislature would privatize the T and give it tons of new revenue at the same time. (Unless, I suppose, they also installed more cronies to run it.)
Having the first subway in the nation is a huge point of pride, but like many technological innovators, we fell behind as others learned from our mistakes and leapfrogged ahead.
point of pride
I'm so tired of the "First subway in the nation" line. It should be "runs like the oldest system in the country".
Basically the system would collapse under it's own debt if it weren't for the state subsidy. Now I guess that most rail systems run that way (state or federal support), but our system needs more than that. How did the state assign all the Big Dig debt to the MBTA? That's a whole different question.
The T needs some game changing ideas. When I come up with something you'll be the first to know.