Hey, there! Log in / Register
Who's supposed to shovel out the space in front of bus shelters?
By adamg on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 7:25am
Because there seem to be some issues. A concerned citizen posted this photo of a bus shelter on Comm. Ave. at Mass. Ave. on the city complaint site this morning:
The city of Boston, for the safety of its public transit riding citizens, MUST shovel the snow off the curb at its bus stops. Many bus stops across the city do not have a cleared path of travel between the sidewalk and the bus, setting up a dangerous proposition for anyone getting on, or off, a city bus. Follow the lead of your neighbor to the north, Cambridge!
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
The city and the T constantly
The city and the T constantly pass the buck jurisdictionally on this, inevitably leaving the bus stops unshoveled. It's really a ridiculous annual exercise but neither will take responsibility.
you can't blame this one on the T
the T does not have the resources and money to remove snow from all the sidewalks in every city and town in eastern Mass. it's the respnsibility of each individual community. period.
It's even more fun with DCR
It's even more fun with DCR property. Sometimes those sidewalks and paths within their jurisdiction NEVER get shoveled. Heaven help you if wheelchair, walker, prosthetic, or crutch bound.
sometimes they shovel the bus stop only...
but not touching the sidewalk on either side of the shelter. This leaves riders to take a helicopter, jetpack or just teleport to the bus stop. Freakin' brilliant, guys.
Passing the buck
We looked at this after the previous storm and yep, both the city and the MBTA say it's the other's responsibility. Not that either is being responsible.
/sitewhoring
What the T says on the matter
http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/accessible_servic...
I use a bus stop where a
I use a bus stop where a small area has been shoveled, but not the rest of the sidewalk. It's a lot better than nothing -- I can wait there to catch the bus, and after exiting the bus I can safely stand there until I can cross the street.
Which DCR roads? The
Which DCR roads? The sidewalks I've walked on were cleared just fine.
Follow Cambridge's lead???
As in sending out more ticket police than snowplows to catch every business and resident who didn't get out and shovel their part of the sidewalk?
The same Cambridge that didn't send enough trucks to sand Western Ave. and made it into an ice obstacle course where your car is bouncing up and down b/c of the solidified jagged ice on the road?
The same Cambridge that doesn't shovel, sand, or de-ice a majority of their public sidewalks while expecting the residents to do it for them?
The same Cambridge that has left tree branches near roads for over a week and still haven't sent people to collect them and clear the roads properly? I've seen people move the branches themselves and those branches are still sitting on top of snow mounds people made!
"As in sending out more
"As in sending out more ticket police than snowplows" [citation needed]
Cambridge sends out 100 plows: http://www.cambridgema.gov/theworks/ourservices/sn... . How many people do you think they have ticketing unshoveled sidewalks?
No Plows in Boston?
I don't know about our neighbors to the north this morning, but I haven't seen a single snowplow on the street in Boston today. Its not as bad as it was on Blizzard Day, but it's getting worse by the hour and so far I've only seen private businesses doing any snow removal.
Plow just came down our little side street
So they're out there.
Plows out downtown, too
I saw one this morning around 8:00 at Boylston and Park, and another on State Street just now. They're definitely all over around Longwood, too - I saw 3 there this morning when I went over there for a meeting.
Here, too
It's not last week's armada, but DCR has at least one guy plowing the roads in the Fenway that are under state jurisdiction.
I should add that I was very impressed with the job DCR did last week. The parking ban made it easier, as did the fact that most "non-combatants" stayed home for the day, but kudos to our beleaguered state parks agency for handling a serious snowfall as efficiently as I've ever seen it done in my little slice of the neighborhood.
At most intersections I encountered between the Fenway and Copley Square after last week's storm (city jurisdiction), even the curb cuts were reasonably clear. Are we suddenly getting better at this?
Somerville
Somerville is no better. I have to scale K2 to get to my bus. Or I wait in the street, which, especially in weather like this, is not what I would call "safe".
The unforeseen consequence of the new state law
I know the state was trying to get people to be more active in helping clear the snow, but at least how this past one has shown, it's allowing the cities to not do their part and collect money from its residents.
There's lots of issues like
There's lots of issues like this. I think this is stuff that people forget about. They concentrate on clearing the streets and then the sidewalks but the bus stops? What about traffic islands which have a sidewalk on them? One of the traffic Islands at the intersection with the BU bridge has a tiny little ribbbon of cleared land, wide enough for one foot, on it and that's it. And what about the bridges? The BU and Longfellow bridges DO have shoveled sidewalks but they're not very wide.
Blame the subcontractor
I had been told at a public meeting in Cambridge that there is a subcontractor (whether to the city or the MBTA) who is supposed to shovel them all out. I would contact MBTA before I contacted the city though.
Do you have a shovel?
This is like shoveling the sidewalks. You can hope that someone else does it for you, but some property owners are lazy and the city and the T don't have huge piles of cash to get it done. Sometimes it's best to shovel a few curb cuts, bus stops, or unloved sidewalks yourself and hope you inspire others to do the same. It takes longer than complaining on UH, but it's better exercise.
Yeah, exactly - that's what I
Yeah, exactly - that's what I did. Imagine if every in shape person in the area decided to spent just a little more time clearing out fire hydrants and intersections...
Or maybe some local business associations need to step up like the ones around Kendall Sq...and clear out some of the areas adjacent to their buildings using their contractors. Heck...even New Balance has supplemented DCR's snow clearing efforts along the Charles River.
JCDecaux
As part of their ad contract with the city of Boston, JC Decaux is supposed to clear all bus stops within x amount of time. They provide the shelters for free in return for the ad money. They are supposed to keep them maintained.
The MBTA has CEMUSA providing shelters elsewhere (ie, the B and C line medians) and they are supposed to clear those.
The city is the one that is supposed to clear the entire area around the bus stop, because it is city land (a bridge).
Well that explains why it's actually getting done
That makes sense, because i've seen vans from that company regularly cleaning the glass at those shelters. And all this time I thought the MBTA was doing a good job clearing snow from their bus stops..haha, what was I thinking.
In the case of these
In the case of these shelters, it is the responsibility of the company that installed the shelter; they are also responsible for maintaining the shelter itself. In all such situations, the city should be ticketing the responsible company or state agency and publicizing the fact to shame them into reformation.
Cummins/American Legion
The shelter by the new Stop & Shop on American Legion looks just like this one. You'd almost think that Stop & Shop would clear it out for their customers/employees using the bus. Plus I wonder if they could be liable somehow if someone got hit. There were a ton of folks waiting for the bus this weekend the entrance/driveway because they couldn't wait in the shelter.
Somerville
Somerville is pretty bad as well. Luckily my most commonly used stop is near a corner or Davis Square which is always taken care of. During high commute hours this also makes driving in general more difficult because drivers are unable to pull into the bus stop space and must stop in the street, causing more back ups.