General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I was out in San Francisco this week (first time since I was about 10) and really enjoyed it. I thought the "F" line was pretty cool (not so much practical, but cool). One evening while out this caught my attention:



Please pardon the grainy iphone pic. It seems that San Francisco has given a little nod to Boston's old Elevated Railway cars. I don't know if this is the same model trolley that was used in Boston, but the paint job is spot on (it even says, "Boston Elevated Railway" in the back). Anyway, it was cool to see this in use (They also had some from Miami, Philly, and Kansas City that I saw... probably more).
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It's not just a nod; I think they literally acquired cars from other cities and kept their original paint schemes, although some were repainted to match other cities' colors.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

czsz said:
It's not just a nod; I think they literally acquired cars from other cities and kept their original paint schemes, although some were repainted to match other cities' colors.
Click to expand...

Yup, the Boston cars in SF are actually Boston cars.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

From Kenmore:

Anybody have any details on this map? What was bus 58? When did routes 8 and 19 join Kenmore? Any idea when the map is from?

IMG_3486.jpg
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I recall that 58 was a 1970s experiment to supplement the B Line with a parallel bus route for short-hop passengers.

8 started out as a very short route from the Columbia Point apartments and UMass-Boston to JFK-UMass station, then got longer and longer over time until it eventually was extended all the way to Kenmore. 19 is a much more recent addition.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Ron Newman said:
I recall that 58 was a 1970s experiment to supplement the B Line with a parallel bus route for short-hop passengers.

8 started out as a very short route from the Columbia Point apartments and UMass-Boston to JFK-UMass station, then got longer and longer over time until it eventually was extended all the way to Kenmore. 19 is a much more recent addition.
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So 58 was essentially what today is 57a (short turn at oak square)?

Although I think back then the 57 did not drop of passengers until packards corner, and did not pick up after packards inbound....did this practice originate with the 58?

You have a very good memory Ron, but do you know if theres a resource online that tracks these things? I assume that before the modern 19, a 19 existed elsewhere.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Ron Newman said:
Yes, there is! Check out Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district, 1964-2009

58 didn't go to Oak Square, it ran entirely parallel to the B Line all the way to BC. I remember it mainly because of signs along the route when I lived in Kenmore Square in the late 1970s.
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Interesting link, Ill read it in full tomorrow.

I did notice this near the beginning

"Special "Owl" bus routes (which operated from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.) were discontinued in June 1960."

Seriously? There was 24 hour service back when most businesses closed hours earlier than today? Damnit Massachusetts.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

There was also more limited "Night Owl" service ~ 2002, and the T said ridership didn't justify the budget dent.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

This is pretty cool. Someone has taken the new bus data and you can now see where the buses are

http://mbta-bus.appspot.com/

I dont use any of those routes, nor do I have internet on my phone....but for those who do, this could help.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Seems there is a hole in the bucket...
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

What it means is that the change has already gone into effect and is currently reflected on the T's website.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Ron Newman said:
What it means is that the change has already gone into effect and is currently reflected on the T's website.
Click to expand...

That notice wasnt there last week however....


(Which is why I read it as December and posted it here, woops)
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Boston Globe - December 4, 2009
Ubiquitous Charlie Card celebrates its 3d birthday

globegiftastic__1259923238_0678.gif


By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | December 4, 2009

The Charlie Card, which turns three years old today, has cemented its place inside the Bostonian?s wallet almost as firmly as a driver?s license and a pocket-size Red Sox schedule.

With more than 6 million cards now in circulation, the plastic card is so ubiquitous that many commuters barely glance at the design, a cartoon retro-man in a fedora (Passengers can swipe the cards through the fare gate or add credit without removing them from their wallets).

But there was, in fact, quite a bit of thought put into the card?s logo and its name, a reference to the mythical Charlie made famous in the 1948 ?The MTA Song,?? whose coauthor, Bess Lomax Hawes, died last week.

In recognition of the card?s birthday, the MBTA released six designs that it rejected before ultimately settling on the current representation of Charlie, with his mouth settled into a sidewise smile, his tie aflutter, and his hand improbably sticking out the subway window as a diverse group of cartoon riders look on.

The rejected designs demonstrate a variety of approaches. One looks decidedly like a Community Chest card from the game Monopoly.

Another, a jaunty stick figure holding an abstract card, recalls the Barcelona Olympics logo.

A Chamber of Commerce-type design serves as a catch-all, with fall leaves and the impression of a lobster draping a photographed Boston skyline.

And then there is the 1980s modern art piece: a swirl of pastel colors over a black background with no recognizable figures at all.

?We were just looking to try out different styles,?? said Barbara Moulton, the T?s director of marketing, who led the design process five years ago.

Moulton said the cartoon Charlie she and her staff eventually chose, drawn by freelance designer Chris Crutchfield, was based on a 1958 Boston Globe illustration used in a Life magazine article about ?The MTA Song.??

?I think it was unanimous once we saw the cartoon,?? she said. ?It just fit. It became kind of the ode to Charlie.??
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The Charliecard design they chose is wonderful. I really hope they don't introduce these other varieties... I would feel so much worse about Boston if my Charliecard had stock-photo fall leaves and a lobster on it.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I'm not a big fan of the current design, but I'm not sure any of the other 6 were any better. The second one in is probably the best of the bunch, and "leaves" one is terrible.

I'd like to see some of the design gurus here come up with some ideas.
 
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