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Red Line passengers forced to disembark when a train pushes up daisies at Park
By adamg on Tue, 11/01/2016 - 7:26am
UPDATE, 8 a.m. MBTA says regular service has resumed.
Severe delays on the Red Line, again, after a train breathes its last at Park Street.
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Comments
"Disabled"
Funny the train seemed to be working fine the whole route, and we were surprised it was taken out of service.
Still not sure though if the smoke in the station was a small trash fire or form one of the cars...
If there is smoke in a tunnel
If there is smoke in a tunnel between stations, it is now policy to unload a train and use the empty train to inspect the tunnel for problems, with the moterperson using the extinguisher on a small fire if one is discovered. The train will go back into service once it is at the next station and all is clear. .
There are plenty of things
There are plenty of things that would pull a train out of service that are not noticeable to passengers.
On the plus side, I noticed
On the plus side, I noticed that Harvard station has new lighting. Very bright. It really improves the place.
How many "world-class cities"
How many "world-class cities" are there featuring a transit system whose most important line does not go a day without experiencing issues?
Reminds me of the Onion article "Pretty Cute Watching Boston Residents Play Daily Game of Big-City". Seriously I've been to underdeveloped countries with better transit, and people want to pretend Boston is world-class. What a joke.
That's because
That's because "underdeveloped countries" tend to make public transportation in its financial hubs a priority instead of appeasing suburbanites. Oh, it doesn't help when we're also dumping other infrastructure debt on it, and then those same suburbanites end up awarding the guy in charge of that the governorship years later. The MBTA is a mess but it's also been kneecapped by past administrations. Likely just trying to nudge it closer and closer to privatization.
You're projecting, son
They actually don't, not in my experience. Oh sure, there are a few emotionally insecure individuals who feel the need to bathe in reflected limelight, and a few developers who think that the "world-class" label will line their pockets (how to spot them: they're the parvenu who label their own businesses as "upscale"), but normal people don't give a rat's ass. If you were hoping to get people all motivated to be more world-classier, you failed. Try appealing to something that matters to ordinary people, like getting to work on time or not having to endure a major disruption every day - then you'll be onto something.
Sorry - completely wrong
You're right in that the average citizen does not care about "world-class" monikers, but this is Boston, where the opinion of the average citizen does not matter and wields almost no power.
However this appeal wasn't to normal people, it's to all of the power players who like to justify things by saying "Boston is a world-class city, and all world-class cities have two Four Seasons and urban Helipads..."). Those are the only people who like to throw around "world-class." And they are happy to use it when it justifies their own interests, but god forbid we hold our mass transit system to the same standards.
delays
I got on the red line at Kendall (going inbound) at about 9:00, and the countdown timer had the trains at 10 minute intervals. That's hardly normal service for rush hour.
At least
it wasn't the dreaded 20+ minutes.
i wonder what the EFF they
i wonder what the EFF they consider A RAPID TRANSIT system if the trains barely crawl. unbelievable that they raised fare prices but have not to use any of the profits to fix anything. fuck your new lights at harvard too btw. the MBTA must be tired of the complaints but i'm fucking tired of being late to work and having to uber in. gov baker and mayor walsh can shoveeee it.
Figure something out Baker, new trains arent coming for years!
Not only is it unbelievable that we just had a fare increase (and Baker has promised another in 2 years) but that Baker cant figure out what to do if the MBTA were given more money. The trains are old, I get it, but new ones wont be ready for years. Is his plan to just keep raising fares, refusing more resources and tell us all to 'just be patient'? Figure out an interim plan, maybe buses need to run along some of the routes express, with lanes dedicated to them. I'm not a planner, just a rider, but its not like he didn't know from pretty early on that the T was in dire straits. There have been years of reports of what can be done to improve/fix the system, look at those reports!
Kinda hard to make a sandwich when the only thing in the fridge
kinda hard to make a sandwich when the only thing on hand is sh**.
Oshiya is the solution!
In Japan which has an efficient subway system they hire pushers to get more passengers on crowded trains. The MBTA should hire teams of athletic men and women who could push the stalled trains down the tracks!
"Eating your own dogfood" is the solution
The solution is for Charlie Baker, and Marty Walsh, and all the state house politicians who are nominally served by the MBTA, and every single T employee, top to bottom, to use the T to get to work, every day. No subsidies. No free parking. They use the same T and they pay the same as the rest of us, with their own post-tax dollars. It's called "eating your own dogfood", and it's proven effective over and over again: when people who make/are responsible for a product have to use that product like a typical user, the quality improves.