Hey, there! Log in / Register
Orange Line train gives up on a whim; Orange Line riders are pretty grim
By adamg on Fri, 02/06/2015 - 8:40am
As promised, the T came through with problems this morning, such as an Orange Line train ensnared by Death's bony embrace, leaving Alison and other Oak Grove riders in an angry mood.
Katarina Ng adds:
Conductor just told everyone at Wellington to take the next north bound train back to Oak Grove to stay warm.
So many people heeded his advice that riders waiting at Oak Grove couldn't get on trains because they were already full.
Also, a bit of fire on Red Line tracks jammed things up there. The E Line wasn't even running from Heath - and the 39 buses in its place could have had their speedometers reset to inches per hour given that all the cars parked next to snow banks reduced South Huntington Avenue to roughly the width of a 17th-century cow path.
And in South Boston, a 7 bus and a truck engaged in a furious tango in which neither would back down - the bus driver because he couldn't, and the truck driver because he wouldn't, as Sully shows us:
Meanwhile, over in 66land, Cristina Hancock reports:
Just over the 1 hour mark the first 66 bus in EITHER DIRECTION comes. Doesn't stop for us.
Commuter rail? Um, yeah.
Topics:
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
hah
that guy doesn't look to happy.. or impressed you're taking his photo! And Mr cute cubbie with a red beard looks cold. He needs a hat!
Picture
Okay Im confused about this picture. The signs says "inbound" above the people, but across the platform is the commuter rail platform. I know its been a while since I've used Malden station but isn't the inbound platform on the other side (the non-CR side)? Did this change? or am I confused (like I always am)
I think that's Oak Grove
Both tracks are inbound at the Grove. Platform signs for the commuter rail track are orange at Oak Grove, they're purple (IIRC) at Malden.
And, in a "d'oh" to myself (since I've ridden through there a 1000 times), there's buildings north of the station in Malden, not the trees in the background. You'd think I'd have noticed that!
ha HA
Yes you are correct! Its been even longer since I've been to Oak Grove.
Looks just like Malden (minus the buildings like you said).
This is Oak Grove
not Malden Center. As Oak Grove is a terminal station, both tracks on the island platform are for inbound trains.
And please don't get me started about the sheer idiocy and waste of how the MBTA does not use the commuter rail platform at Oak Grove (thanks in large part to a politically connected developer who has an apartment building at Malden Center). Especially on a day like today, where they could have easily diverted folks waiting for OL trains onto inbound commuter rail trains (a whole bunch of people at Malden were using this option this morning) instead.
Odds are
Commuter trains don't have that much room to cover for the Orange Line. In the morning, most of the Malden trains after about 7:30 are Reading short turns, on half hour headways. Except that most days at least every other round trip is cancelled due to lack of working equipment.
Yep, you're confused
The picture is at Oak Grove, which is, I believe, a split platform station, both tracks being inbound only.
Those who follow my posts know
I am generally critical of the current T alert system. However, I have to admit it paid off for me today. As I finished getting dressed, my phone started 'dinging' excessively (I use chime for incoming texts). Glanced at the messages and noted one that read "8:00 from Reading Cancelled". I was able to clear the frost off my car and get from the house to Melrose Highlands station in time to catch the 7:30 train from Reading.
Green Line was more overcrowded than usual due to the Orange Line fiasco and delays leaving Park Street due to what our operator described as "a substance on the tracks". Still, I actually made it into the office about a half-hour early.
you ok?
You feeling OK, roadman? ;)
Sorry if my admission
about the alert system was too much of a shock for you.
Don't worry about it
We're all better now.
you're the only thing...
...that lightens the grim reality of the T sometimes! "train ensnared by Death's bony embrace"....good one!
If Governor Baker is serious
If Governor Baker is serious about having a legitimate urban agenda and interest in urban issues unlike most Republican office holders, this is where he can have the most direct impact. As someone that did not support him in the election, he could go a long way to potentially gaining my vote if he comes up with a serious plan to properly fund and fix the MBTA and stop this madness. As a business man, he should know more than anyone the negative economic impact of these failures not to mention the quality of life issues. On the off chance he or someone in his administration reads UHub, please do something.
He is!
He's cutting the T budget by $40 million. That'll help.
He should annouce his bold agenda
...on a platform at Sullivan. Really take the message to the people.
Uh
Adam, that article says differently.. Unless I am reading it wrong.
True, he says that
Unfortunately, the article doesn't back that up with anything, such as "Baker said T inspectors found a hidden cache of antique tokens expected to fetch $40 million on the auction market" or any other explanations as to how you can cut that amount from the T budget this late in the fiscal year without causing issues.
Well, the Globe does have him mentioning "service," so maybe he's talking about cutting money set aside for future maintenance, which the T can easily absorb - they're so far behind already, what's another $40M?
correct
However it could come from other ways of trimming the budget, such as moving the T's pension under the state's umbrella so the T doesn't kick in much. OR something else that does not effect service.
He also was very positive about funding the T on Nightside the other night. So I'm leaning toward that he really did mean that (as stated in the globe article)
I hope.. at least.
OK, I stand a bit corrected
See below - it's $14 million for the T, the rest for road stuff.
Unless I'm mistaken, I think
Unless I'm mistaken, I think this is what Baker actually said:
Hope this helps.
It's not like MBTA service
It's not like MBTA service can get any worse than it already is...
In fairness...
It's a $26 million cut to MassDOT and $14 million to the MBTA - with $5.3 million comes from not filling vacant positions across the bureaucracy, which does not include bus drivers or T operators.
When you look at the amount of money needed for all the deferred maintenance this is all chump change. Even if we suddenly found a few billion dollars of gold ingots under the state house it's not like this will do anything for this winter. This stuff takes a long time (like purchasing new trains) and doesn't get implemented over night. We're screwed for some time to come - regardless of who the Governor is. Regardless of who is the Legislature. WE voted down a tax increase designated for transportation needs. The pols are afraid of being voted out of office if they pass revenue raising options for investing in transportation.
follow-up article on MassDOT budget cuts
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/02/05/will-proposed-mbta-cuts-hurt-service/JRLUbRzGGpwVihvUPxYrhP/story.html
He's a Republican. He's bad.
He's a Republican. He's bad.
The MA Legislature is
The MA Legislature is overwhelmingly Democrat, yes? How's that been working out so far for the T?
Yes, "we" voted down a tax increase - but there much more to it.
This is, of course, correct in that the referendum question passed.
Gov. Baker's articulated reason for supporting the question was because he wanted the legislature to have to vote on tax increases, rather than having automatic ones (i.e., indexing the gas tax to inflation). That is a principled position, but here is why I disagree with it and voted No on the referendum question.
Unless and until the individual legislators and the General Court collectively shows that it is capable of taking difficult votes of any kind, but particularly on funding for transportation, I think that the decision making authority should be taken from them. I know that this has potentially bad ramifications if extended to other things, but my feeling is that transport infrastructure is so important, so critical to the core function of government so as to justify the move. The General Court is failing us in this most critical of functions.
As regular readers of this site know, I am very much in favor of independent authorities (for transport infrastructure) for this reason. They are able to take the difficult decisions and make the long term commitments needed to do what has to be done largely without political interference (not completely without it). Yeah, I know, everyone hates Massport. But Logan Airport has been completely rebuilt under everyone's nose in the last 10 years on a postage stamp airport footprint (when compared to others with the same service levels), with no state tax revenues. The Turnpike was by far the best maintained road in this Commonwealth prior to it's dissolution and absorption into MassDOT (I think it is in far worse condition than even 3 years ago). The successes of MWRA can be seen every single day when you can look into Boston Harbor and see 15 feet down.
Yes, delegating authority to less accountable independent authorities (they are not "unaccountable" - their actions are informed by their Enabling Acts, which are set by, and changeable by the General Court) is not ideal. However, unless and until we have some grownups in the General Court who can see beyond the next headline, it is the best we are going to be able to do to fix our infrastructure. And we had better do that soon, because otherwise it is only a matter of time before we will have a Coconut Grove magnitude incident somewhere on our transit system.
Very well put
The other problem I have with requiring the Legislature to vote the gas tax increases is that, inevitably, MassDOT will be forced to accept unneeded or low priority projects to get the increase.
Not that this sort of thing doesn't happen at the MBTA, or didn't happen at the old Turnpike Authority. However, there's a huge difference between doing something by choice based on a management decision, and being mandated to do something because it's written into a law.
Agreed
The Globe reported that last week's shutdown (The original storm) had $200M direct impact on businesses, and I'm sure it's higher with all of these delays. That's outside of the property damage from the storm.
Investing in the T is investing in our economy. It does have serious ROI. It may just be harder to measure.
I'm hopeful with his choice for Secretary of Transportation that we'll see a serious agenda here.
Also, skipped the Orange Line at Mass Ave today and went right to Symphony. Caught an E train within 5 minutes and was to Park without too many delays (Almost held up by a train with frozen brakes at Arlington, but they got it moving). The conductor was amazing - T staff attempt to do their best with what they have.
OL was a shitshow this morning
I got to Oak Grove around 7:20, waited for the next train which came about 7 minutes later. We boarded and sat there for about 15 minutes before they told us they couldn't get the brakes to work (I think something about them unlocking). We had to get off and board the next train so it was crazy packed--people at the next stations yelling, trying to cram in. They then told us North Station would be the last stop because of a disabled train in front of us, but then when we pulled in, they said we'd only be standing by provided they could move the disabled train out. Spare Change Guy then got in my car and was asking for change so he could get a coffee or water so I'd say it was the ultimate Boston experience this morning.
Noted Spare Change Guy myself
as I entered North Station. He wasn't soliciting money, but was just walking up and down the Green Line westbound platform mumbling incoherently to himself.
Yeah, he got off at DTX and
Yeah, he got off at DTX and was walking down the platform. He was also asking people if they were from Watertown?
Watertown
I heard him Wednesday evening on Winter Street asking people if they were from Watertown.
I'm surprised there are so many problems with the Orange Line when "there is a train right behind this one." The operator this morning had the nerve to use that old line.
I love how they still use
I love how they still use that line even now that we have countdown signs.
Hello MBTA, we can see when the next train is coming, and it's not any time soon!
In fairness,
"right behind" is a relative term. And I still hear the Green Line operators use it all the time.
Probably in desparation...
Getting 18-24 doors clogged with people closed can't be fun.
What is frustrating is when you see the board saying something like next trains in 1 and 3 minutes, and people still stand in the doors blocking things up.
Meanwhile, back in Commuter Rail land, last night my Lowell line train was only 30 minutes late. Best ride home yet this week! About 6:30 pm, North Station was completely devoid of trains, with four delayed trains on the board. As train crews would come out as their equipment arrived (they were trying to make quick turns but hard with the crowds) I saw some people tearing into them about the delays. One conductor just stood there while one guy went on for 30 or 40 seconds, then just looked at him and said, "It's cold, snow's everywhere, and everything's old and broken."
At least most people didn't seem to be taking it out on the crews. Us commuters just get to ride the stuff twice a day (if we're lucky), they have to spend their whole day getting it to work (with varying degrees of success or failure).
Getting
Especially when there's only one person on the train to watch the doors before closing them.
don't blame the drivers
I feel badly for the drivers in this. They have the most direct contact with customers, so are subjected to our complaints and behavior the most, and they are not responsible for trains breaking down or for the maintenance issues, nor do they have control over it, but they have to deal with this all the time. Monday night on the red line to Alewife when we were stuck behind a disabled train for about an hour, and the driver had a pretty good sense of humor about it which I always appreciate, joking about how she knew we didn't want to smush in and make room for more people but please try, even at one point saying she didn't know "Why the hell" the train in front of us wasn't moving which got a big laugh. But you could tell just as frustrated as all of us - when we finally got to Alewife, she told us to go home, put our feet up, and have some hot chocolate for her, because she'd be working til midnight. The workers are just as caught in the middle of this as the rest of us.
Yesterday
Bus driver told people trying to get on there was a bus right behind her. As we pulled off she laughed and said "they're probably gonna be waiting a while hahaha".
I'm sure she makes 80K to do the bare minimum of her job requirements.
There's your budget problem. To say T employees are overpaid would be a gross understatement.
um
Considering i was just selected to be a bus driver... let me inform you of something. (and no, I turned it down.. I entered the lottery eons ago and forgot I did)
Start pay for a bus driver is 18 and change. After you go full time IN TWO YEARS, you move up to around 20-22. So that's around 41,600/yr. This is not including overtime.
Bus driver friend has been with the T for 5 and doesn't make much more than 24/hr. Still not 80k. (@ 24/hr it's about 49k)
And honestly, 41k isn't enough money to run a risk to be spit on, bleach thrown at you, assaulted, and the like. (which is why I refused to go take the test for the job.. I wouldn't last more than a week without lashing out at a patron)
"I entered the lottery..."
"I entered the lottery..."
Thanks for pointing out another major problem that leads to the T's ineffectiveness.
why?
I'd like to know why you think that.
Its actually FAIR this way. You put your info in and you are randomly selected by a computer. None of this typical resume BS or what not with normal job hunting. And no way for people to be picked over others, its random. Otherwise you know it would be a haven for connected people to get friends jobs.
Plus once you're picked, you have to take a written test. Then if you pass, you have to take some minor training, and then a road test (to get your CDL). Once you've passed that, its time for a drug test, background (CORI) and the rest of the onboarding process.
And then of course you're on 'probation' for two years before you can join the Union and are a full MBTA employee. They do this because many people do not last the two years. It's a tough job.. many cannot take it.
It really is better this way, plus it widens the pool of applicants. Being a bus driver is a trainable job.. it really doesn't take many skills.
But please go ahead and tell me how your ideas of hiring would be better and fair and would attract the amount of applicants they need to fill positions. I'm all ears.
"You put your info in and you
"You put your info in and you are randomly selected by a computer. None of this typical resume BS or what not with normal job hunting."
Seeking out the most qualified candidates is considered BS in your world. Got it.
Remember that trolley crash back in March?
"Gardner has a three-decade history of motor vehicle driving infractions, according to records from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. The infractions include speeding, failure to stop and several license suspensions for failure to make required payments."
Good thing for that lottery and none of that BS...
did I say that?
Did I say that? I didn't.
What I meant is being looked over because your resume is badly designed or that they don't like your name (i.e. indirectly being refused for a job based on your name) or some such silliness that happens with employment.
And the last time I checked, I don't see many qualified 'bus drivers' out there looking for work. So I'm not sure how you expect to find the quantity of 'qualified' people for the many many open positions they have for drivers. And the ones that are, aren't running toward the MBTA for jobs, and I am sure its the LAST place they'd want to be. (vs a private bus company)
And I'm not sure how not having the lottery would have prevented that crash or prevented that driver from getting a job at the T.
Once again people are making broad assumptions about a process they know little or nothing about.
Again waiting for your ideas on how the lottery isn't a good thing, how jobs can be filled fairly, and provide enough applicants for the amount of positions open. but you don't have any.. you have just jabs and not any real basis for your opinion or ideas to overcome it.
Well you took the test eons
Well you took the test eons ago and then got a piece a mail that you threw out. Clearly you're the expert in the field.
NO job should be filled by a lottery.
And guess what, if you don't have the ability to put together a decent resume, no one should hire you.
Again you're wrong
Again making an assumption. I never took the test. I INQUIRED about the process by friends who are bus drivers. The process is also pretty clear on the lottery's website (and btw it isn't run by the T, its run by someone else to keep the process fair).
Still waiting for an idea on how to fill all the open positions on the T with "qualified" people from you....
That's your opinion. If we lived by that we'd have a lot of unfilled entry level jobs out there. Not all jobs require a resume. Your making a broad assumption again. Ask any restaurant or food service or retail manager how many actual resumes they get.. I bet its less than 1% for any entry level job.
I'm still waiting for your ideas.....
That reflects a problem
with the T's process for screening those candidates who have been selected for final consideration through the lottery process. It is NOT a valid indictment of the lottery process itself.
thank you
Yes there's far more to the hiring process than I'm talking about here. I really just outlined the process for a shorter post.
And you're correct. Just because you are selected, pass the exam, pass the road test.. doesn't mean you have the job driving a bus. It just means you've made it to the point where you're in a close pool of candidates to choose from. And I'll be honest, since I never took the initial test (and btw I was selected twice in five years for a bus driver position), I can't say what happens after you've passed, other that what has been explained to me by bus driving friends and/or what the job lottery website says.
I'll also say that I refused the to take the test (the first test) because not only is the starting pay too low (I make more than twice that per hour where I am at currently), but for the first two years you get the absolute shittiest bus routes and schedules. You're also required to work a split shift. So may work from 4:30-9a and then have to come back for 3-7 or something like that. This was the biggest thing that stopped me because that gap in the day would make the day horrendously long and if I needed to get a 2nd job, it's not long enough to get a second job (or at least a 8-hour shift one). This is why I didn't go.
Like I said, it's not the best job in the world for the schedule, pay, and the level of daily BS from passengers you would have to put up with.
What I love is people
What I love is people bitching about the lottery system invariably complain that the rest of the state agencies is filled with PATRONAGE and POLITICALLY CONNECTED HACKS. What would you have them do, eliminate the lottery and open the doors wide to every low level councillor's third cousin Sully who knows he won't get fired cuz he's got connections?
Granted maybe they should give some weight in the lottery process (if you have a degree, you get two entries, etc), and streamline the interviews, but the lottery is a great solution the the problem plauging other agencies.
80k???
80k??? seriously? what kind of fairytale land do you live in that a bus driver gets 80k?
I'm curious what job you have, and what you think YOUR job is worth.
She probably gets a lot less than she deserves. And you don't know how long she's been a driver. Her job is probably more dangerous than yours, she has more lives in her hands than you do, longer hours, and she's not just sitting back on her butt all day. People jump in front of the trains all the time, you know, and that causes trauma for the driver. The driver on my route told us a couple weeks ago that she would be on vacation the following week, celebrating her youngest son's graduation from college. She had put four children through college on her own working for the T, and I'm sure it wasn't easy.
Civil service employees have had to fight tooth and nail for benefits and pension that most of us in the private sector take for granted. So before you assume someone's sitting pretty and waiting for their pension to kick in, you might want to do a little more research, and check your own privilege.
And the next one is just as crowded
So, do I push on to the one that's right in front of me, or do I wait 8 minutes to do so. We need better headways, it's the only thing that is going to fix the over crowding*. Asking passengers to wait for the next train is not a solution.
* I am pleased that so many people are riding the T, but as currently constituted, the system is maxed out, which unfortunately can't be solved quickly enough.
It is times like this where I
It is times like this where I wish there was a system in place to charge obese people who take up 2 seats double the normal fare. Because of them other people can't get on the train and end up being late for work.
I'd rather see a surcharge
for people with backpacks and baby SUVs first.
Not to mention
The "manspreaders." Don't forget them.
it's time
it's times like this that there was a system in place to charge idiots who stand near the doors and don't move into the train.
(seriously dude, stop with the fat people hating crap)
Or people with winter jackets?
Instead of this fat-hating bullshit, why don't you notice that IF an average-size person in Boston (where there is little problem with obesity) can't fit in a goddamn seat when wearing a winter coat, perhaps the problem isn't these "straw" fat people (who are actually fairly rare in Boston) who are the problem? Maybe concentrate instead on the problem being not nearly enough trains for the demand? Or, perhaps, the problem is a system that isn't designed for even average people in winter???
Oh no, that might cut into your perceived free license to bully, exaggerate, and name-call.
you can clearly fit in a
you can clearly fit in a small space yourself, so what's your problem? just lie down under the seats.
I wish in times like these..
an obese person would sit on you.
On one of my morning commutes
On one of my morning commutes on the blue line this week, Wed I believe, an already packed train arrived at Airport to a jammed packed platform. While people were futilely board the operator said something to the effect, don't worry this isn't the only train on the line, or there are other trains on this line.
I love that line. Like there
I love that line. Like there could be anything else than another train behind you.
I also saw him last night on
I also saw him last night on the Downtown X-ing platform around 6 pm, asking people if they were from Watertown.
What's his deal with Watertown?
"...speedometers reset to
That doesn't make sense... There are 63,360 inches in a mile no matter how fast you're going. I think you meant to write "Inches per hour"...
Yes, I did
Thanks, fixed.
Ben
Rothelisberger takes the Orange Line?
I wish
I wish. I'd ride the OL all the time.......
I got a ride
I woke up at 5:30 so I ended up riding in with my roommate at 7... took us 20 minutes by car!
*ducks*
I slept till 8, the orange
I slept till 8, the orange line came right when I got to Green Street, and I got to work by 9. Got lucky today I guess.
I rarely take the orange line
I rarely take the orange line into work in the morning. After hearing the T's warning yesterday about the excepted delays due to the extreme cold I figure I'd grab an earlier bus than I normally take to get to one of the Blue line stations from my home in Revere. However, due to this morning fire the bus I grabbed was unable to move because of the FD activity. I checked my NextBus app and saw I Wellington bound bus was approaching nearby. I got off the bus I was originally on, and ran to catch the Wellington bus. Now, this is one example where the T screws up with their bus routes. The few times in the morning when I catch the 110, the outbound bus only goes as far as Broadway and Park Ave. instead of going all the way to Wonderland. As a result the 110 is always jammed packed and seems to take forever to get to Wellington because of all the people getting on. They could easily alleviate the overcrowding problem if they ran the outbound bus to Wonderland.
So I skimmed through twitter while riding the bus and saw the alert about minor delays on the OL due to a disabled train at Comm. When we finally arrived at Wellington I'm not sure if we just missed a train, but the countdown clock was showing 9 mins. Is that the normal headway on the OL at that time (6:40) in the morning, or was it because of the delay? One good thing about the blue line is that if you miss a train at that time the wait for the next train is usually only about 3-4 minutes.