Silver Line

Silver Line stats show Southie surge

adamg — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:38:13 +0000

These stats just in from the T for the South Boston end of the Silver Line for January through August:

Total annual year-to-date ridership up 7.0% from 3,148,612 in 2010 to 3,368,580 in 2011.
Average weekday ridership up 5.7% from 15,015 in 2010 to 15,877 in 2011.
Average Saturday ridership up 67.3% from 5,550 in 2010 to 9,285 in 2011.
Average Sunday ridership up 8.0% from 8,422 in 2010 to 9,098 in 2011.

What's wrong with the Silver Line?

adamg — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:10:39 +0000

A lot, a Suffolk professor writes.

Police looking for man who smacked Silver Line driver in the face with a pipe or flashlight

adamg — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 20:22:45 +0000

9/18/11 - 3:00 pm

The MBTA reports the driver of a Silver Line bus was taken to Tufts Medical Center with non-life-threatening "lacerations to the upper lip and eye area" after the attack around 3 p.m. at Washington and Kneeland streets The search for the suspect, who fled the scene, continues.

Seriously missing Boston

adamg — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 02:55:08 +0000

Rob V. checks in from the Other Coast:

I'm sitting in a terminal at LAX and wishing I was waiting for the Silver Line.

I hate the Silver Line.

I love my family in LA, but I hate this city so much that I wish I was on the Silver Line right now...

Like you, the T didn't want to get out of bed this morning

adamg — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:33:00 +0000

Dead Green Line train at Newton Highlands. Photo by Jenny Mackintosh.

Update, 8:10 a.m.: There's a dead train at Wollaston on the Red Line now.

Dead trains mean lengthy delays on the Green, Blue and Orange lines this morning; well, except the T is urging Orange Line riders to just forget it exists and seek alternate routes. Delays on the Silver Line to Design Center, too, due to a dead bus. Jennifer Musso tweeted from Oak Grove on the Orange Line:

Hundreds of people waiting for shuttle buses at OkGrv sub0 weather! Station worker says he's not answering "any more questions"

Commuter rail? How 'bout those 30-40 minute delays on the Worcester line? Erin Bowles checked in:

At Framingham, there was a woman on platform nearly in tears. Hoping she'll be OK, but there's no way she doesn't have frostbite.

Not that North Station lines were immune from problems. Matt Hrono tweeted:

T alerts failed. Haverhill 208 cancelled, people waiting in record cold for 45 mins, no alert. What gives? Safety issue much?

Silver Line to get better shelters; seatless Red Line cars get strappier

adamg — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 11:07:32 +0000

Big Red: Now 79% more strappy

A $3.4-million stimulus project will mean new glass walls at 14 Silver Line stops along Washington Street in Roxbury and the South End, all the better to retain the heat from the new overhead heaters, not to mention the amount of wind-whipped rain and snow hitting waiting riders.

Part of the money will also go to repair the asphalt in bus lanes and crosswalks along the route, the T says.

Meanwhile, the T says that as a result of a recent online survey, it's added more straps for riders to hang onto as they enjoy the extra non-seat roominess of Big Red cars: Each of the cars now has 50 straps, up from 28 before.

Monday morning on the T

adamg — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:00:31 +0000

Signal troubles on the Green Line downtown, dead train at Eliot, roadway problems on the 5 Silver Line, dead train somewhere on the Red Line between JFK/UMass and Park Street, but at least the Orange and Blue lines are running OK.

Laura Vogel reports:

New record: door (North End) to door (Kendall Sq) travel time is 51 mins due to Red Line "delays." To be fair, it IS 2.6 miles.

'Service is moving with delays' on the Red Line

adamg — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:13:46 +0000

Curse you, malfunctioning signals!

Dan Dunn reports a nearly hour-long ride from Davis to Kendall.

Hoppzor wonders why these signal problems so often occur when it rains:

every time it rains there are mbta signal problems at harvard or alewife. pretty sure these stations are underground.

Also, I probably only find the following funny because I'm sitting nice and dry inside: The T reports it has to divert some Silver Line service in South Boston because of a ship docking at the Black Falcon Pier and advises: "Passengers are encouraged to walk out to Dry Dock Ave. for bus service." Dry Dock Ave.? This morning? More like Wet Dock Ave., amirite?

Dudley to South Station Silver Line service starts Tuesday

adamg — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:29:58 +0000

The MBTA says new Silver Line 4 service will get riders from Dudley Station to South Station in 30 minutes, with the first, ceremonial, run scheduled for 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

Buses are scheduled for every 10 minutes during rush hour and 15 minutes the rest of the day. T officials say federal stimulus money was used to get the service started.

The existing Dudley-to-Downtown-Crossing service is now SL5. SL3, which served part of the South Boston waterfront, was discontinued.

Silver Line buses herd instinctively

adamg — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:36:53 +0000

Kalunlee posts a photo of three Silver Line buses in the wild, all bunched together in a convoy; adds:

This is a typical occurrence-30+ min waiting & then 3 buses blow by.

Ed. note: It's hard to break them of this natural habit, which protects them in the wild from roaming packs of busiraptors.

Long fabled Urban Ring bus route to remain a myth

adamg — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:45:09 +0000

$2.8-billion project cut from state wish list, Wicked Local Cambridge reports.

Also gone forever: The long-fabled Blue Line extension to Lynn, our own Arborway reports.

On the plus side: The Silver Line is still going to become an even longer bus route.

T map transformation begins

adamg — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:40:56 +0000

T workers weren't even done putting up a new map at Government Center when somebody rushed over to figure out how to get from A to B.

The MBTA today kicked off a two-year, $500,000 project to replace every single map at T stations. Download a hi-def copy of the new map (870k PDF).

Highlights: The updated maps show a new Sliver Line 4, which will provide direct service from Dudley to South Station starting next month (on surface roads; no, the T didn't build a secret tunnel), and, on the Green Line, riders will get to see which line actually goes all the way to Lechmere (the E) and which end before Lechmere:

Silver Line to lose real-time arrival info for a month

adamg — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:14:15 +0000

The MBTA says it's shutting down its GPS-based arrival system along Washington Street tomorrow to comply with a federal mandate to change the frequencies used by the system.

The T says it expects to have the system up and running by Sept. 24. The FCC is forcing the T to change frequencies to keep the system from possibly interfering with public-safety services. The T adds:

In addition, Global Positioning System (GPS) technology will be unavailable to dispatchers in the MBTA's Bus Operations Control Center. As a result, bus dispatchers will not have the capability of making real time schedule adjustments. As the MBTA’s mobile radios are reprogrammed, they will begin to migrate over to the new frequency set and begin to populate the data system. Completion is slated for September 24th, but communications personnel are determined to complete the transition before that date.

Jim Aloisi rides the bus from Mattapan to Ruggles

adamg — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:28:28 +0000

Takes the 28 this morning to see just how much marvier life for riders will be when it transmogrifies into the 28X Super Bus, which I know because Alex Owens is live-twittering the ride:

... Aloisi and Chang-Diaz getting breakfast @ Brother's...

Ed. question: Is there any station in all of T-land with a better name than Ruggles? I'd rank it even higher than Wonderland.

It just wouldn't be Friday afternoon without at least one major problem on the T

adamg — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:28:02 +0000

This week's Friday-afternoon issue: Disabled Green Line train at Haymarket.

Also heavy delays reported on the bus rapid transit line due to traffic on Washington Street.