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Who says the B line never goes fast?
By adamg on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 7:03am
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Comments
Oh crap. I blow 2-3 hours a
Oh crap. I blow 2-3 hours a day whenever a leg of my trip involves the Green Line. Will MBTA be reactionary again and make my trip even longer?
the "rapid" light rail line known as the Green line, hehehe.
wow! lets slow down the crawling green line even more! expecially on the tiny stretch of the line that the train travels at a reasonable pace...I am a former green B line commuter. Former, because it takes a freaking hour to travel a distance of less then 5 miles. And now I find out that the B line is guilty of speeding?
Trains speeding? Raise the speed limit!
I like the T's proposal at the end -- "jeez, if all these guys are blowing thru a 10mph zone at 30mph, we should just raise the speed limit." That's genius.
I've had a couple of fast
I've had a couple of fast rides on the B line. A couple of minutes between BC and Harvard Ave and then one which was probably ten or fifteen minutes from Harvard Ave to Boylston. The problem with the B line is that it's so long, it's the second longest of the green lines, and unlike the D line which has a lot of empty space making up that length, the B line has a lot of stops along it's length (people complain about them being so close but they're actually closer on the C line, it's just that the C line is shorter).
Check your meds!
"A couple of minutes between BC and Harvard"? "probably ten or fifteen minutes from Harvard Ave to Boylston"? Man, I think you'd better check your meds, or get your watch fixed, or both.
Affective illness
Most affective illnesses treated with medication would make it seem much longer, not shorter.
Unless by "meds" you mean vicodin or percocet and he simply fell asleep.
Jeeez
Slow news day I guess?
For once, a semi-rational response from the MBTA
I was afraid the article was going to close with a promise from the T to "promote safety" or "lower trolley speeds". Instead, I caught this gem:
"A result of our story, the MBTA says it is also trying to decide if 10 mph is an unrealistic speed, meaning it is too slow"
Thank god.
Pay attention!
From the story:
Is it really too much to ask people to pay attention when they cross the street?
When my teens use that kind of "logic"
I point out that they are but one person in a large world full of people, and there isn't exactly a large karmic beacon attached to them that alerts others to notice their presence and yield to their special glory.
When I stop laughing, that is.
1. Yes. BU kids are
1. Yes. BU kids are stupid.
2. Yes, when you're crossing the tracks around BU, for example, it feels at least as much like a traffic island as it does crossing the street. Not helping is when other pedestrians treat it that way, and that the crosswalk parts are the parts with signals.
Hey, these are BC kids, not
Hey, these are BC kids, not BU....
(not that BU kids are any better, but we need to stand up for ourselves sometimes)
Given that cars, trucks, and
even MBTA buses aren't required to slow down to 10 mph at the intersections and pedestrian crosswalks along Commonwealth Avenue, it has always been quite ludicrous that the Green Line trains need to.
But much more ludicrous is the fact that the media is wasting their time on another "what can we get the T on today" investigation.
Slow trains are a hazard
Slowing the trains creates a safety hazard. It instills the idea in the minds of pedestrians that they have the right to do whatever they please, and that the train operator will always be more than ready to stop the whole thing on a dime. It rewards inattention and reenforces it. "I don't have to be careful, it's their job to stop for me."
This contributes to accidents. And it also makes not a bit of sense when the same is not expected of any other vehicle traveling along Commonwealth Ave.
Though if you want to see unreasonably slow, try riding a bus on the Silver Line Waterfront. The T has imposed a 3 mph speed limit in the stations. Which means as soon as the front of the bus clears the tunnel, the brakes go on and it crawls to the far end of the platform veeeeerrrrrrrryyyyy slllllooooooowwwwwllllly. It's absurd.
Sounds no different than the 3 mph limit imposed on
Green Line trains entering most of the platforms in the Central Subway. Or, for that matter, most of the "absolute stop" block signals between Science Park and Park Street.
After a brief trial period where they were re-wired to allow a train going no faster than 15 mph to clear the signal without stopping (which is how a true "grade and time" signal is supposed to operate), all these "automatic block" signals (as opposed to the "interlocking" signals protecting switches, which should be absolute stop) have reverted to the previous "stop to clear" configuration.
And I still believe that if the T hadn't re-wired the last automatic block signal prior to the westbound switch approaching Park Street to "absolute stop" about a month before the crash involving Adrian Quinn, then Quinn probably wouldn't have hit that stopped train.
hmmm
Mr. Roadman, you are REALLY into this transportation thing. That's a whole lotta gibberish you just spouted.
Wow, what this comment is
Wow, what this comment is suppose to accomplish? If it so much gibberish, tell me what wrong with the logic that making all those slow zones and stop signs is creating complacency. Instead of snidely linking to some youtube video.
Wow
what grammar comment use? I tell you I link to video to show how whole posting went over my head. Not snide. I no understand transpo talk. Have no opinion on what kind signal should use the T.
/snark off
So sorry to insult your delicate sensibilities. I humbly yield to whatever solution you think should be implemented by the T. You probably know much more about it than I, as you obviously care about it more than I.
Again, what are you trying to
Again, what are you trying to accomplish here on Roadman's analysis and your response to me? Don't patronize me. Or are you just trying to troll in a thread that largely lost its steam.
Roadman for GM!
or at least Green Line Operations Chief (so long as you get rid of the ridiculous absolute stop between Kenmore and Hynes (eastbound), which as I recall, seems to have been in place ever since the 27 inch snowstorm followed by flood of April 1997).
Please, Joe Shortsleeve...
Go fuck yourself. If I could give the driver my fare instead of the farebox just to go FASTER down the B Line, I would. If you think that "speeding" through intersections is the Green Line's biggest problem, try watching them run the red light at Warren St just to keep even the vaguest notion of a schedule. Try car after car get stopped in front of them at Harvard and Comm Ave because the *car* ran the red light and slowed the entire mass transit system down when it had nowhere to go on the other side of the intersection.
Also, what is with lines like this:
TWO trolley-on-pedestrian strikes in TWO YEARS near BC is not a "real public health threat". Also, why are "college students" singled out from "pedestrians" like they're a different breed of animal or something? What the hell does that even mean? Well, here's your average pedestrian walking around Allston Street...but down there by BC, those are "college students".
BC should hand out a pamphlet to all of its students at the beginning of the year:
Wow...
Who is this Gallant person of whom you speak? I do fear we live in a Gallantless City.
But those fuckin Goofuses....jeezis, they breed like bunnies.
Bravo
Well said.
Love it
You should totally print these up.
That is fantastic.
That is fantastic.
psa
narrated in a 1950's reel style voice
5/5.
Distribute to BU too.
notwithstanding cowsandmilk's plea that it's always the bc kids, you had better print some copies for the bu kids too - and their parents from NJ who like to drive onto those "quaint old tracks!" in front of the oncoming trolley.
The B-line is already slow
The B-line is already slow enough. There's a video of one guy dressed in a hamburger suit and he outran the train (let's ignore why he dressed in a hamburger suit and focus on the fact he can still outrun it).
I'm a BU student and I support faster trains. Some people do cross the T with their headphones on, but if trains actually move faster than a jogger, I think we are smart enough to give more attention. It is unbelievable that they gave a special report demonizing the T and telling them to go even slower.
So cars, driven by untrained
So cars, driven by untrained idiots can cross intersections at 35mph.
But trains with bells and horns driven my trained professionals should be limited to 10mph?
How does this make sense?
We have a culture that
We have a culture that doesn't take mass transit seriously, or accept is as being equal to private automobiles. We also have a local government that seems to feel the same way.