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Just when you thought

the MBTA's rationale for E line diversions (a.k.a. the daily "E"xcuses) couldn't get any lamer, consider this recent alert:

Green Line E branch diverted due to concert event at City Hall. E-Line service will terminate at Brigham Circle. Please use rt#39 bus service between Heath Street and Brigham Circle.

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Comments

I think the T has a plan here.

Route 39 is a Key Bus Route, and many of its stops from Back Bay to Forest Hills are being reconfigurated, with some stops eliminated. Once that's done, the T will stop making excuses, cut the "E" line to Brigham Circle permanently, and then either tear up the tracks up to Heath Street, or make the tracks non-revenue a la Chestnut Hill Avenue so they can turn around rush hour cars.

Hence, annoy the passengers with excuses until all the Route 39 stops are reconfigured. Then, tell passengers that there will no longer be "E" service between Heath Street and Brigham Circle - the only way between the two points is with the Route 39 bus.

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I am skeptical there is a grand plan. They just tore everything up between Brigham and Heath 3 years ago and put down brand new tracks/road surface. Oddly, that project did not take 10 years to complete. To abandon it now can not be a grand plan.

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And never sent a train there...

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LOL, you must be new here.

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Methinks this guy wasn't around for 30+ years of the A line being "temporarily" suspended with the 57 bus as bustitution service.

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Because of the large crowds from the concert (as well as people for the Sox game) they diverted some crews from the Heath St.-Lechmere line to run extra trips from Lechmere to Government Center. With fewer crews to run the regular E-line, they cut back service from Heath to Brigham to maintain the scheduled frequency but with fewer crews. If you reduce the round-trip travel time for a transit service (by cutting back the route) you can run the same frequency of service but with fewer crews or trains. In the off-peak, the 39 bus has room to carry the pick-ups between Heath St. and Brigham, so no need to run a special bus shuttle on overtime which would be required if any other part of the Green Line was replaced by buses. From the viewpoint of trying to move the most people with the least resources, there is a logic to what they did.

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Do they give a free bus-subway transfer to people who paid with a CharlieTicket or cash? It would be unfair to make people pay twice for the privilege of wasting time on a transfer for what's normally a one-seat ride.

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to move people with all the resources at their disposal - like perhaps rush hour headways or better. Oh wait, that would involve using actual labor, which we all know the T management considers as pure evil. Better to run already inadequate "weekend" service instead.

Seriously, as both the Red Sox game and the concert were scheduled events, the MBTA's response of diverting trains and cancelling service on a portion of one line are totally inexcusable. And running Lechmere to Government Center shuttles at the same time you're looping all other service at Government Center (or Park Street) is just so horribly inefficent from both a people and a train presepctive.

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