The T
Latest postings about goings on on the T, the Silver Line, buses and commuter rail.
To try to help somebody out, I wanted to see which bus lines go from Forest Hills to the Dedham Mall and when (yeah, I know, the 34 and 34E go there, but when?). So on the handy little form right on the MBTA home page, I typed in "forest hills" as my starting point and "dedham mall" as my destination, and got back this:
Really, MBTA Trip Planner? Come on.
MassDOT announced the reopening of the Green D Line as of 2:30 PM this afternoon after setting an original expected date of Monday.
The MBTA reports that in four days, workers:
- Pumped all the water out of the swimming pool-sized hole;
- Installed a 250 foot, 18 inch in diameter, concrete drainage pipe to prevent wash-outs in the future;
- Erected a retaining wall comprised of concrete blocks;
- Re-built the earthen rail bed beneath the tracks;
- Restored power to the overhead wires and tested the signal system and tracks
There'll be a little ceremony/press conference at 2:15 at Reservoir station, after which Transportation Secretary Jeff Mullan and acting T General Manager William Mitchell will board a trolley and not be swallowed up by a sinkhole as they take the ceremonial first ride on the new trackbed.
from displaying the wrong time. They simply shut the date/time feature off. As witnessed at several Green Line stations on my commute this morning, the signs are now completely blank when they are not displaying a service or "nanny" message.
Of course, I always thought the date/time display was an unnecessary feature of these signs anyway.
You know those bus seats near the front? The ones that seniors (like me) and disabled people are supposed to have first dibs on?
No, I'm not complaining about the apparently able-bodied youths that studiously avoid noticing us old geezers standing in obvious discomfort or pain. I have often enough been offered a seat to offset that.
It's something I've mostly noticed just lately: one or more of these seats being left in the upright position, presumably after a wheelchair passenger has left the bus. Is it not part of the driver's job to restore them to the seating position when the wheelchair passenger exits?
Today I had the pleasure of riding a bus on which three out of the four hinged seat pairs had been left folded up. Fortunately, the bus was not crowded (and how did that happen?!), so in this case it was not a problem. Of course, the bus could easily have filled up at almost any random stop along the route. I actually tried to lower the front-facing seat that was up, but couldn't figure out how the release worked (or wasn't strong enough to budge it). The releases on the side-facing seats are difficult for an old guy to reach, especially on a moving bus. Read more
MassDOT provided this photo of workers busy repairing the flooded-out Riverside track bed yesterday. Compare to the photos from the height of the nor'easter. The state expects to have service restored by Monday.
A pair of foreign companies today sued the MBTA, alleging the system it uses to notify passengers of late trains and buses violates two patents they hold for compiling information on the whereabouts of vehicles and then notifying people of their status.
The lawsuit-happy companies - they've filed dozens of similar lawsuits since 2002 against software vendors, parcel companies, online ticketing services, airlines and airports - seek unspecified oodles of money from the MBTA and an end to the T-Alert system. They sued in US District Court in Boston.
ArrivalStar, based in Luxembourg, and Melvino Technologies, of the British Virgin Islands, do not actually make anything, but own numerous U.S. patents related to the idea of notifying customers of the status of vehicles and shipments.
ArrivalStar/Melvino complaint.
The patents at issue:
Base station system and method for monitoring travel of mobile vehicles and communicating notification messages
Notification system and method that informs a party of vehicle delay.
Patent Trolls Erode the Foundation of the U.S. Patent System.
The 4:25 train to Newburyport stopped in Chelsea when smoke began rising into the passenger compartments and the train crew evacuated passengers. "This doesn't look good for getting home on time," Liz Polay-Wettengel tweeted - from the train, just before it was evacuated.
Now word comes that a T bus and a car have smashed together, also in Chelsea.
UPDATE: The T's fixed the digital clocks, at least - when I got back to Forest Hills at 3:59 p.m., they read 3:59. The giant hanging clocks are still an hour behind, though.
I got to Forest Hills around what I think was 12:30 p.m. today for a trip downtown. The large ceiling clocks inside the main part of the station all read 11:30. The clock above the stairs down to the platform read 12:30. The digital clocks on the platform read 1:30.
No doubt they also had a clock set to the year 2001 - which would explain Beth Bresnahan's tweet this afternoon:
Must laugh about the lady w/baby who approached me in D'town Xing yelling "Oh my god, can you help me? What happened to Filenes's Basement?"
Karl doesn't get it:
... [D]oes anybody else find it disturbing that nurses commute to work on public transit in their nursing uniforms? I mean, isn't the hole point of the uniform that whole sterility thing? Otherwise, why not just let them wear jeans? ...
Sun shines on sinkhole: Compare today's photo by the T to yesterday's.
What a difference a day makes. However, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says he cannot yet give a definite answer on when the Riverside line can be re-opened. "Flood waters continue to flow through the site, and work crews cannot even begin to start rebuilding the rail bed until the water recedes."
South Station is packed at this hour with commuters trying to get home on Franklin, Needham, Stoughton and Providence trains that are going way slower than usual because of what the state is calling "high water" between South Station and Ruggles. The Worcester Line, meanwhile, has delays of up to 40 minutes due to weather-related speed restrictions imposed by CSX.
"South Station has Fall of Saigon feeling right now," Steve Poftak reports, adding, "MBCR folks are communicating problems at least."
North Station commuters are faring marginally better. TC Cheever tweets from a Haverhill train that it left late and is now just sitting outside North Station. Lowell trains, meanwhile, are up to 20 minutes late because of flooding in Wilmington and Lowell, MassDOT reports.
The Mass. Department of Transportation posted this photo of the raging sinkhole that erupted under Green Line tracks between Chestnut Hill and Newton Center this morning, forcing commuters onto shuttle buses until the T can repair the damage.
The MBTA provides this photo of the temporary dams now in place at the Fenway portal where the Riverside line goes underground. The T had been running Riverside service this morning after the Muddy River receded below flood stage, but it's back above it again and there's no service between Fenway and Kenmore.
MORNING UPDATE: The Muddy River dropped below flood stage overnight (graph), so it looks like Riverside service is back. But looks like the Red Line between Ashmont and Fields Corner has been knocked out by flooding. Also, the main road through Franklin Park is shut, mhowardkarp reports.
In general, of course, but more specifically at:
Rte. 128 southbound to Winter Street in Waltham: MassDOT reports flooding on Winter Street has forced the closure of the exit ramp, which could mean a nightmare for folks trying to get to business parks off that exit.
Rte. 2 eastbound to Alewife station: Ditto.
Green Line, Reservoir to Kenmore: Buses instead of trains due to Muddy River flooding near Kenmore.
MORNING UPDATE: The Muddy River dropped below flood stage, even if barely, so Riverside service is running this morning - although river levels have started rising again (hourly river-level data).
LATER MORNING UPDATE: The Muddy River got all floody again, so the T put the dam back and stopped Riverside service.
Around 9 p.m., the MBTA blocked off the Fenway portal used by the Riverside line to prevent a recurrence of the 1996 floods that left Kenmore station submerged in 20 feet of water and required $40 million in repairs.
The move means Riverside commuters can expect delays tomorrow as they ride shuttle buses instead of trolleys between Reservoir and Kenmore, the T advises.
A federal monitoring station on the Muddy reported the normally docile river reached flood stage around 8:45 p.m. A T alert announcing the suspension of service between Kenmore and Reservoir went out not long after. Read more
Blake Wexler reports the T set the clocks at Park Street ahead two hours this morning, but adds:
Even with that standard trains are STILL running late.
Nathan Spencer, a member of the MBTA Rider Oversight Committee, reports the T is now losing 10 to 20 drivers a month and can't replace them fast enough.
It's a hard job. Day in, day out you deal with people that hate you. Hours are tough. The money's not bad, but it's hard work.
Or maybe it's just a coincidence how many incorrect announcements blared today on the Citrus Line (on which, unlike your fancy-shmancy Red and Green Lines, all the announcements are done by a live person sitting in a cab in the middle of the train):
Ginnette Powell reports one conductor announced "Community College, next stop" - just before the train pulled into Chinatown.
This morning, one rider reports, "the Orange Line conductor announced, 'Back Bay - Commuter Rail, buses and something else.' "
And Buck Buckaroo reports the following this evening:
"Attention Green Line Passengers. We are experiencing delays"-Intercom. "THIS IS THE FUCKING ORANGE LINE!"-Lady
M reports witnessing an argument this morning on the 9 bus between a woman and a man who tried using her knee as an armrest so he could read the paper:
Angry Business Man: You could have picked any other seat, but you had to sit right there when I was already sitting here.
Woman: That's how the bus works in the morning ... you fill in the bus so everyone can get on.
A.B.M.: That's just so f****in inconsiderate. You are such a b**ch. ...
The state today announced federal funding for a $3-million breath of fresh air: A project to better ventilate the station, which fills with diesel fumes whenever a commuter-rail train pulls in.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the project will go out to bid after contractors finish another federally funded project to fix the station's leaky roof. That $1.6 million project is expected to go out to bid this summer and should take three months, he said.
Other projects covered by the overall $72.5 million federal grant include repairs to Red Line stations in North Quincy and Braintree and "phase 2" of the Ashmont project now that phase 1 is, hmm, is it finished?
Those pesky switches. A kaput'ed switch at Andrew this morning meant massive delays along the Red Line. Chris McCarthy tweeted around 8:45:
Train hasn't moved in 20 min. To top it off a passenger in my cab just passed out. Oh, Monday.
The scene at Davis Square.
Robinite reports a driver on the B line was handing out lollipops to inbound passengers.
Our eye in the sky passed along this photo of an MBTA tow truck about to pull away a dead bus on Huntington Avenue Wednesday morning.
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