Green Line all jammed up
By adamg - 4/23/09 - 8:35 pm
Disabled train at Hynes tonight means buses instead of trolleys and people being trapped between Government Center and Park Street for 30 minutes.
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I got out of work at 8:30
I got out of work at 8:30 and it took me two hours to get home! It was truly insane. I can't believe a disabled train(it was at Hynes) can cause so much havoc on three lines! Everyone had to jump on a train at Park Street to go to Copley, then be bussed from Copley to Kenmore. B line people had to be bussed at Kenmore. Only the E line was running properly. *sigh* The MBTA needs to get its act together.
Nothing's on the news,
Nothing's on the news, someone on twitter suggested derailment. Heard a conductor tell one passenger of a fire at Hynes 30 minutes after MBTA.com alert was posted (which is in turn at least 15 minutes after the delay began, since it's not a "delay" until 15 minutes are up).
My dumbass question: if there was a fire, why no fire personnel at Hynes? 5 transit police cars and many transit cops milling about the front doors. Plus 2 transit vehicles which drove quickly south on Mass Ave and parked opposite the station entrance below the bus shelter and were guarding that sidewalk ... near nothing.
I asked one of the T's finest, and she said they were running C/D out of Kenmore and B at Comm Ave. I hoofed it out Newbury and had a seat 10 minutes later (timing!)
The martial activity was odd though. Makes me wonder if it was really a derailment or fire or something else altogether.
Smoke on the Green Line
For whatever its worth, I was at Copley last night when this started (luckily I was taking the E Line) and I could smell smoke in the Copley station. It wasn't overpowering, but if it was coming from Hynes, that would be about right.
While I got lucky and got a rerouted train, they were doing an awful job of notifying passengers. They made a confusing announcement on the train that was barely audible on the platform. Few people realized they were going to need to catch shuttles upstairs (which I'm willing to bet weren't there anyway).
Gov't studies absurd people
I know I know...
Everyone hates the T...
But you couldnt walk to Hynes from Park - in under 30 minutes?what's amatter w/ you people?
Does anyone read a newspaper and understand the world is in the toilet? Its not just the MBTA...
hehehehe - no one reads newspapers, my bad --
Just so you know - the WORLD isnt doing too well right now
...FYI.
FYI to you ...
You can't just "walk from Hynes to Park" if your train is stalled in a tunnel and they won't let you out to do so!
Yes, this is the way the T handles emergencies - by keeping the trains in the tunnels instead of using their dispatchers to route them forward or reverse to the nearest stations one by one to let people out.
Hope you enjoy your clue. You're welcome.
T cops said derailment
We got out of Symphony Hall and walked down to Hynes to find it was closed. One of the cops on the door said a train had derailed.
We walked to Kenmore and caught a 57 home. The guy routing traffic there said that C and D lines outbound were the only ones running, and that there had been complete radio silence on what had happened to the train or if anyone was injured. This was around 10:30.
WAAAAA
Granted, you were inconvenienced tonight...so sorry
PLAN for a previous train or dont think $2 bucks buys you more than you're worth.
The economies in the tank
And y'all keep whining about the T...
if it derailed - the only people paying for a repair is you, me and the Astronauts...it sux but something out there smells worse than the T...
4/5 times you get where you want?
at least?
on MBTA...
TAKE A CAB if youre so bitter
or better yet, get over it...
Six-pack insight into workings of the T?
Will a *case* of PBR tell us how to actually increase Green Line reliability or capacity? :)
A solution is clearly and quite eloquently presented here.
I speak, of course, to the glowing words of wisdom, "PLAN for a previous train".
Yes. It is perfect in its sagacity. You better take the train before the one you were hoping to catch, because that one might derail.
Wait, no, that train might be the one that derails. You better take the train before the one before yours.
Oh, but there may be a fire on that train. Okay, here's what you do. Don't go to work at all. Don't travel anywhere, because if the train you're on suffers misfortune, you only have yourself to blame cause you should've taken the one beforehand.
Problem solved! Let us all dust our hands off with the satisfaction of a job well done.
Of course! The classic mass transit solution
"Excuse me, do you know how to get to Government Center?"
"Sure! Just watch me, and get off one stop before I do."
Execuse me, do you know how to get to Symphony Hall?
Sure. Practice.
Execuse me, do you know how to get to Government Center?
Handshakes, handshakes, handshakes.
People like you are why
People like you are why people like me want to jack up the gas tax 19 cents.
....is that you?
....is that you?
Yea I'm going to take cab to
Yea I'm going to take cab to freaking Newton. No thanks!
Get a job, treemont
This obviously doesn't affect you if you are posting at 2:00 am.
Two trolleys had problems
One broke down at Hynes around 8 and then another started filling with smoke at Boylston near the end of the night.
why is this never on the traffic report?
Some local radio stations do the "traffic" every ten minutes, yet you never, EVER hear about major public transportation mishaps. I have to hear about cars on the "River Roads" all the time, but never get any warning about what's happening on the T. I know the MBTA has mismanaged itself to death, but when mass transit is not a part of daily (hourly) news, no wonder people forget how vital it is to the life of metro Boston.
(Non)Predictability on the T
Swirly and Spatch hit on the key point. Public transport is doomed to fail unless it: (1) connects places people want to travel between; (2) is frequent; (3) is reliable; and (4) lets you know, in a timely fashion, when there is a problem and when that problem will be resolved.
The T's biggest problems are 3 and 4, but with respect to the subway, I think it is mostly 4. How many times have you sat (or more likely, stood) there wishing you could get timely information about what is going on so you could make an *informed* decision about whether you should wait, walk, take a cab, or just curl up on the platform (or train) and cry? I wish for that info, on average, about once or twice per week. It would go a long way towards making regular use of the T less harrowing (because, frankly, my expectations have been lowered so much that I think that it is a damn miracle that that train comes at all considering the T's financial condition).
The T has installed variable message signs at many of the stops on the Green Line. I am hoping that these signs will very soon light up and say things like:
Welcome to Gov't Ctr Station
18:35 April 24, 2009
Next D train in: 3'
Next C train in: 5'
Next B train in: Take any train one stop to Park St.
Next E train in - 6'; busing operation in effect beyond Symphony, please see a T Representative for info
Seriously, in many cities (almost all in Europe to which I have traveled), such signs exist not only on subways, but at popular surface bus stations. Please, please, please let us join those cities and the 21st century - I'll even settle for the late 1990s.
On an encouraging note, I actually saw one of these signs at Beaconsfield displaying an intelligible message ("testing", but with the correct time!) last Sunday. Let's hope this is the beginning of what I think would be a major improvement.
or (Un)
Sorry, I started with a different Subject line.
Interesting thought experiment
Most people pay $60/mo to take the Green Line regularly.
The average scooter costs between $1000 and $1500. If you paid $60/mo for a $1500 scooter, it would be paid off in 30 months if you used a 14% ADB interest credit card to buy it (most places will even give you a year with no interest or payment required). In 30 months, if you commute 20 days per month and go 15 miles roundtrip, you will have gone 9000 miles. At about 60 mpg, you will have needed 150 gallons of gas over the 30 months. At about $2/gallon that's $300 for gas in 30 months, so add another 5 months to recover the cost of gas too. So in about 3 years, you could either have solely taken the T and hated it or taken the scooter and been free of their crappy system.
This didn't even take into account all of the time you would have saved by getting to and from your job faster and without packing in with everyone else, the ability to use your scooter after 1 AM when needed, the ability to reach places that the T does not go to (or go to well), the ability to get across town without needing to first go all the way downtown...and so on.
Then you get hit
by some idiot texting while driving.
Actuarial sez no
"Then you get hit by some idiot texting while driving"
Choose your own response:
Good point! Yet another reason to get a scooter! You're more likely to be hit as a pedestrian running to try and make the T you see (than wait for the T you don't) than you will be on a scooter in traffic with all of the other traffic that people are already watching out for. Now turn to page 23.
OR
Thanks! I almost forgot about how random things don't happen to T riders as pedestrians but always happen to scooter drivers! Now turn to page 44.
????
I am not sure if you're angry or what, if you are, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mock you or anything. I was just trying to say (for all the cyclists and motor scooter riders out there) that now that all these hand-held remote devices are out there, exposing yourself to traffic has become even more dangerous than in years past. I broke 6 ribs, punctured a lung and separated my shoulder because someone was texting while driving and didn't see me on my bike.
My bad
Pissy day at work today, I was being too flippant. My experience is that I've been nearly hit more as a pedestrian or on a bicycle than any problem I've ever had on my scooter (so far, your mileage will vary, etc). Most people seem to "respect" the motor and the fact that I'm usually traveling directly in front of them in the lane of traffic than they ever seem to respect me when I'm walking or on a bicycle. Downtown seems even safer on the scooter because people seem to accept the "no reason to pass him since we're all just racing from red light to red light anyways" mental argument. It's the truly insane drivers and the cabs who don't seem to grasp that concept.
Besides, the original point was whether it's more economical to ride the T or buy a scooter and bypass the T's problems. Getting hit by idiot drivers could be a problem for either situation and there are plenty of other problems that could be added in like scooters deal with road construction and the T usually doesn't, or the T raises your chances of getting sick from another passenger and the scooter doesn't. I'm not an actuary and that's the only way we'd ever be able to be able to quantitate all of these possible variables into somehow "proving" one vs the other is better for all contingencies. Costwise, however, you'd break even in 3 years (assuming the absolute WORST situation for buying a scooter, like not pre-planning the purchase, paying only the $60/mo you'd have spent on the LinkPass, etc).
What about insurance, sticker, gas, maintenance, etc.?
My husband rides a Piaggio. No cost to park, but it does use gas, he insured it, and there are registration and maintenance costs as well.
I might be tempted or might bike more if I had to pay the full $59, but I actually pay only $9 pretax per month for my pass because of my firm's commuter benefit system.
Your code name is Jonah.
n/t
The main problem with scooters (and bicycles)
is weather: rain, snow, and cold. I used to bicycle year-round but have done less and less bad-weather biking as I've gotten older.
My two most serious accidents also happened in winter -- both caused by road hazards, not other traffic.
True
But I doubt the occasional single-ride payment for using the MBTA in the worst road situations will really setback my calculations very far. Add an extra month or two over the 3 years. You can get a cheap water-proof riding pants and jacket for at or under $100 (and use it for far more than just riding a scooter). I've also found that I spend LESS time in the cold by scootering from door-to-door than I did riding the T because of the time it takes to walk from my house to the station, the station to my destination, and standing around waiting for the T to come (at surface stops).
New law?
I know this is off the story line but, on the subject of people texting while driving...I thought I overheard someone say that there is now a "10 and 2" law, meaning you must have both hands on the wheel now (presumably at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock). Anyone...out there heard about this yet? Pete?
No it is not a law ("10 and 2")
But you legally need 1 hand on the wheel at all times.
As far as texting while driving, I would say it is technically illegal if it inteferes with the proper operation of the vehicle.
MGL. 90, s. 13 is the law for impeded operation
which bascially says that drivers cannot do things (eat, text, talk on the phone, shave, drive with their eyes closed) that might intefere with the operation of the vehicle. They also cannot let their vehicle impede them (letting snow or ice stay on the hood, 'big fuzzy dice' on the mirror, letting your dog sit in your lap)
"No person, when operating a motor vehicle, shall permit to be on or in the vehicle or on or about his person anything which may interfere with or impede the proper operation of the vehicle or any equipment by which the vehicle is operated or controlled, except that a person may operate a motor vehicle while using a citizens band radio or mobile telephone as long as one hand remains on the steering wheel at all times."
But you have to prove that the action (texting) actually intefered with your driving.
thanks
good info