Silver Line

'Service is moving with delays' on the Red Line

adamg — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:13:46 -0400

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 15:29:58 -0400

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 09:36:53 -0400

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 17:45:09 -0400

$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 11:40:56 -0400

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:

Read more

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

adamg — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:14:15 -0400

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 10:28:28 -0400

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 16:28:02 -0400

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.

Read more

Today's list of things you don't want to see on the Silver Line

adamg — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:44:37 -0400

It's a short list, Lynne tweets: someone PULLING A KNIFE ON THE BUS DRIVER ON THE SILVER LINE AND THREATENING HER.

She adds:

Said person was off the bus with her toddler when this all went down; situation resolved by driving away from inbound Herald St stop.

Going for a ride in the country on the Silver Line

adamg — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:08:15 -0400

They have lots of gravel roads in the country. Bill Daras posts some photos showing that the Silver Line tunnel past South Station is becoming a gravel road as well:

... If someone paved your driveway so that it felt like a dirt road, was flooded 24/7 and started to turn back to gravel after five years you would have the contractor rip it up and start again. In Boston you just let it go, and ask for over a billion dollars to do it all over again.