I'm going to respond here to a tiff going on in the
Summer St. Gondola thread:
Silver (1) to Purple (2)
You folks are coming off as tourists.
I've lived here for 40 years and never made that connection, because it is too low frequency. It is NOT rapid transit.
If you HAPPEN to be at South Station at the magical witching hour when it works, great, otherwise the triple connection is faster and more reliable.
https://d3044s2alrsxog.cloudfront.n...nts_and_Press_Releases/BackBay WEB 052316.pdf
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If this is a problem for you, I dont think public transit is for you.
And that "magical witching hour" is commonly referred to as "peak demand hour".
After 10pm? Yeah, take the subways. But thats not when most people are moving between the stations is it?
^ This is a great example of some definite low-hanging fruit for easy transit improvements.
Travelling on CR within Zone 1A can be really fast, easy, and convenient. But most people--even T-savvy people--simply don't consider it as an option. Ask 100 people in Dewey Square how best to take the T to Fenway Park, and I bet almost everyone would say the Green Line. Those who think of CR to Yawkey are probably Framingham/Worcester commuters. But if you're getting off of work in the area of South Station and want to catch the first pitch, Yawkey is probably your best option.
I blame this in large part on the CR fare system being (mostly) separated from Charlie. This will be (eventually) addressed with the next fare redesign (even though it could have been addressed long ago with the current Charlie system and the T chose not to). But I also blame it on the CR being seen as "different" and, to a degree, scary. Plenty of daily T riders don't get how the CR "works". They don't know where the different trains go, how fare payment works, if riders need to signal for a stop, where on the train they should get on/off at different stops, etc. T signage and public outreach could do a lot to address this. Running ads and public service announcements within the T's system is basically free for the MBTA. I'm picturing an announcement that plays every 10 minutes or so over station speakers that sounds something like this:
"Hey! Did you know that your T pass includes local trips on the commuter rail from here to (Fenway Park/Back Bay/Porter Square/JFK UMass/etc.)? And if you don't have a monthly pass, the trip is the same price as a ride on the T! It's fast and convenient and easy! Ask a friendly T representative for details."
The message would be customized so, for example, announcements on the Porter Red Line platform mention North Station while announcements on the South Station Red Line platform mention JFK/UMass, Yakwey, etc.
