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Weary commuters do it all over again this evening
By adamg on Thu, 02/12/2015 - 6:28pm
Mark Reagan shows us the hordes waiting for a train around 6 p.m. on a platform at South Station.
It wasn't much better inside the station, where Rebecca Luongo was among the subdued hordes wishing they could be anywhere else other than an overpacked train station.
An inbound D trolley limped into Kenmore and died, but not before passengers were ordered off.
A fight brought the Orange Line to a halt at Haymarket.
Mass. Ave. south of Boylston is gridlocked. So was the area around Roxbury Crossing. So, no doubt, is every other intersection and road in Boston. Like, say, Morrissey Boulevard by the rotary. And Washington Street between Forest Hills and Roslindale Square.
Frickin' media SUVs are blocking High Street outside the MBTA command center.
If you're driving, you'd better hope you don't break down - waits for a AAA response are approaching 3 1/2 hours.
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Comments
This sucks
My boss said I could leave at 4. I did and zipped home (on the blue line), I knew it was going to suck tonight so I left and I probably will do the same tomorrow.
But I do genuinely feel for all commuters out there..drivers, T riders, bikers, walkers, everyone! It's just 100% sucked ass out there the past few weeks. Its almost a daily occurrence now.
And we're suppose to get more snow this weekend, and possibly another storm next Wednesday? Yeah the cities and towns are cleaning up, but it seems Mother Nature is just giving it back to us as fast as we can take it away.
I fear next week's commute. ugh. If we make it thru this winter without some commuter rioting, we really are "Boston Strong".
Just think, once the T is
Just think, once the T is back to only being 20min late and only 1-2 trains breaking down on a daily basis, it'll seem like the best transit system in the world.
Next week is school vacation week
Next week SHOULD be better because BPS is off for the week. No school buses on the roads.
Don't forget to blame employers
I'm told a friend of a friend does PR for a hotel in Cambridge. I'm told that she will have to burn a vacation day to not commute to work tomorrow from her home in Ashmont. I'm told that her job consists of drafting newsletters and promo materials, exclusively on a computer.
WHO THE (EXPLETIVE) WOULD DEMAND FOR THAT EMPLOYEE TO COME IN AT 9 AM? If she were my employee, she could stay home every day as long as there's snow on the ground as long as she was proving that her tasks were getting done. If you don't trust her to work at home, why employ her at all?
Who is happy and proudly car-free?
Richard Davey and others, don't be shy! Go ahead, brag how much you are ofsetting China's increasing CO2 production. #carfree #schadenfreude
I did some calculations. Snow melting machines produce about 40 pounds of CO2 for each ton of snow melted. So which is less bad, dumping snow in the ocean or melting it?
PS I feel bad for those who can't afford cars and have been suffering on the T. What annoys me are the sanctimonious car-free people, who even look down their noses at sanctimonious Prius drivers! Its for them that I made this comment.
Go away....
... yesterday.
If not sooner.
Well
I ride a bike all day everyday for my job and regular transport, and I have to say, it's pretty alright. I'd even say pleasant compared to hours of gridlock and getting packed into a train like sardines after waiting an hour. But suit yourself! I even made it from the financial area to a doctor's appointment in Winter Hill in about 25 minutes at a moderate pace at 4:00.
You're such a ninny
It's really quite actively painful what an idjit you are.
I would be
If I were in a place where priorities are different.
It snows plenty in Oslo and Copenhagen - so they plow out sidewalks, transit, and cycling paths first. People bike and take trains year-round in Montreal, too.
Getting around in winter doesn't require one to have a car - misplaced societal priorities do.
Then be car-free there
if your point is that choosing to be car-free here isn't so realistic.
OK
Weather for Copenhagen and Oslo:
As of 4PM EST (North America), both cities were above freezing (upper 30s F), and next 5 days, highs upper 30sF-low 40sF, lows lower 30sF. Partly cloudy.
Moscow, Russia was 37F when I checked it this morning (evening Moscow time)
St. Petersburg, Russia (North of Moscow) was 38F
Both cities partly cloudy.
Boston has a SHIT-LOAD of snow, and ice pak on the ground, a lot more to come this weekend and next week. And it's going to be COLD...a lot colder than Copenhagan, Oslo, even Moscow and St. Petersburg. Boston this morning, at 11AM, was 9F, 16F @ 4PM. We're going to 'warm up' to the 20s tomorrow.
Yes, Montreal is BRUTALLY cold. I know Montreal pretty well. Anyone who bikes, in the dead of winter, in Montreal, needs their head examined. Just my humble opinion.
And weather in the populated parts of western Europe do not get the extremes we get, their winters do not last as long, their springs come early (they have real spring, unlike us, who go from cold to hot almost overnight. I suppose May can be considered our spring.) The British Isles, forget it; they are much warmer, on average, in winter vs us here in the northeast, New England. And the populated areas like London, Dublin, etc. get very little snow. If they had the kind of snow and ice we've had over the past few weeks, and the brutal cold, they would declare a national disaster. London would completely shut down. No exaggeration.
You calculus is off
You are trying to figure out the difference between the effects of air pollution and water pollution. It's apples and oranges. Yes, they are both fruit, but different fruits.
You can offset air pollution. By melting rather than dumping, you have a chance of removing impurities. The question of dumping has to do with space considerations.
IOW, trading one form of
IOW, trading one form of pollution for another. So which is worse?
I have a car but haven't been
I have a car but haven't been using it. I've been biking to work every day, including today. Meanwhile my coworkers have been in complete misery whether taking the T or driving. Meanwhile my commute takes the same time as it would on a sunny 60 degree day in April.
So much for
trying to do the right thing and take public transit with all the car choked roads. It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes yesterday to go from Roslindale to Cambridge. Driving today, it took me an hour and 10 minutes. Not saying I won't try taking the T again but I can't do 3 hour commutes. How anyone on the Braintree-Quincy branch of the Red Line is coping with all these delays is beyond me.
It sucks traveling to Quincy
It sucks traveling to Quincy via shuttle bus! It took me 4 hours to get home kolas the night. There's always problems on the Braintree branch. Red line trains hardly break down on the alewife end Just a matter of time...