General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

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Post your MBTA related gripes/observations/feelings here! :mrgreen:
 
While I was waiting for an outbound train I noticed every green line trolley coming from a Red Sox game dumping all its passengers at Park and going out of service.
 
Yesterday's ride on the C line was insane! They need to implement those three car trains during games. Weren't they going to do that anyway?
 
Foot dragging and no funds for station design at Fairmont and the Red Line in Dorchester is always last in line for things like public art and amneties. They always seem to run out of money when it comes to that end of the line. It`s sad that almost half the city`s taxpayers have to beg for decent transit that is a given in other areas.
 
The Globe said:
Courtesy call

By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist | June 16, 2006

Can there be courtesy on the T?

The question, equal parts hypothetical and practical, is posed by John Cogliano, not only the state's secretary of transportation, but himself a relentlessly courteous guy. Walking through the cavernous lobby of the Transportation Building one afternoon this week, he casually held doors for others. He called out greetings to what seemed like everyone who passed by. At lunch, he said please and thank you when ordering grilled salmon and rice.

``What I see a lot of on the ride to work is able-bodied people sitting down and, more times than not, not getting up for someone who needs the seat more," he said .

Wait a minute. The state secretary of transportation is taking the MBTA to work? Doesn't he get free parking in that huge Park Square building of his?

``I had to take some parking away from people because of costs, so I figured I wouldn't take up a space," he explained.

Good God, he's the real thing. Anyway, last November, as part of a social experiment, I took a pregnant woman named Michelle on the T for the afternoon, the goal being to see who gave up a seat for her and who did not.

Most people, as I reported at the time, simply stared at their newspapers or books, vacantly gazed around the car, or looked at Michelle but didn't budge. The few who offered seats were typically older people or laborers who looked exhausted from the day's work.

Immediately, e-mails and calls flooded in with tales of T woe. Among them was one from the aforementioned Cogliano, promising to launch the courtesy campaign that I had recommended at the end of the column. This week, over salmon, he (courteously) unveiled it.

It will work in three parts. First, he has printed 10,000 brochures targeted at T employees, titled: ``You are the face of the MBTA. We count on your courtesy." Inside, the brochure urges employees to ``be professional," ``be helpful," ``speak as you'd like to be spoken to," and ``say, `Thank you for riding the T.' "

The brochure will be bolstered by posters displayed in all backroom locations with faces of T employees and messages like, ``Go the extra mile for your customer, and you'll go far."

``The majority of our workers are thoughtful and courteous," he said. ``But it's important to educate the ones who may not be. They work for the public. To assure a high level of ridership, we have to. The public is not going to ride if we're rude."

Part two goes directly at riders, the whole discourteous lot of them. In the next couple of weeks, the T will post 1,000 placards inside rail cars urging passengers to give up seats, to use trash cans, not to smoke on T property, and to quiet cellphone conversations. One poster features a hazy photograph of a seated elderly man tipping his fedora, with the headline, ``Sweep someone off their feet."

The slogan for the whole campaign: ``Courtesy counts."

The third part is the most novel. In November, a reader wrote to suggest that if the T can't appeal to riders' sense of civility, then it should play to their greed. Cogliano agrees, so on an announced day in the next few weeks, undercover T employees will wander the system handing out $2 Dunkin' Donuts gift cards to passengers seen committing random acts of kindness. After that, select employees will hand out gift cards when they see riders offer up seats.

Dunkin' Donuts, Cogliano said, donated 500 gift cards for the campaign. That's certainly commendable, but is it enough? Maybe it was discourteous of me, but I called Dunkin' chief executive Jon Luther yesterday and (politely) asked for more.

``We're about hospitality," Luther replied. ``We're about at-your-service. That's the mindset in our stores. Upping the ante is not a problem; 1,000, 2,000, if we find people committing random acts of kindness, we'll certainly do it. It's time for us to be nice to each other, isn't it?"

It certainly is, but the question remains: Can we?

Brian McGrory is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com. You can view the T's campaign at boston.com/globe.
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Link
 
From the Globe, a a word word on on transit transit... (Boston.com is full of typos!)...

Time for a a word on Massachusetts transit

Put transit on agenda

By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist | July 19, 2006

Maybe now we could begin talking seriously again about mass transit in Massachusetts.

If nothing else, the problems with the Big Dig tunnels should put state transportation policy, or the lack of it, back on the public agenda.

Drivers desperate to escape the traffic of the last week, who turned to the T and commuter rail, learned what regular riders already knew: The state's diminishing commitment to mass transit has left us with a fractured system plagued by dirt, delays, deferred maintenance, and declining ridership.

It was not supposed to be like this. The Big Dig was meant to be one part of a more comprehensive transportation scheme. In 1990, environmental groups extracted promises of expanded mass transit from state officials to counter the expected increase in air pollution caused by the Big Dig and to ensure that public expenditures on transportation did not begin and end with cars. To avoid a lawsuit, the Commonwealth agreed to restore dormant train and trolley lines in the city and to expand commuter rail service to outlying areas.

After interminable delays, the Greenbush commuter rail line to the South Shore is nearing completion. And the Silver Line is running between Washington Street and South Boston. The state has promised to add 1,000 parking spaces to commuter rail stations; to add stations to the Fairmount Line in Hyde Park, Dorchester, and Mattapan; and to extend the Green Line to Union Square in Somerville and to West Medford.

But instead of extending rail service to the economically depressed communities of New Bedford and Fall River or to Springfield, instead of expanding the Blue Line to Lynn or restoring trolley service in Jamaica Plain, the Romney administration is spending millions on a flyover at the Sagamore Bridge to ease traffic tie-ups for weekend beachgoers.

The state's failure to deliver on its promises has triggered the lawsuits that previous administrations had pledged to avoid. The Conservation Law Foundation and Partners Healthcare filed separate suits last year, the latter protesting the state's failure to build the promised subway connector between the Red and Blue lines at the Charles Street station, which serves Massachusetts General Hospital.

Skyrocketing gas prices and the collapse of ceiling panels in the Interstate 90 connector could give fresh political impetus to a plan floated last spring by mass transit advocates to invest $2 billion in transportation construction and expansion projects. The money would come from existing tax revenue and new fees on everything from hotels to rental cars.

It sounded implausible in May. But the gridlock of the last week might have cooled the fevered antitax climate that has doomed so many initiatives for the communal good in the past 25 years, especially after Revenue Commissioner Alan LaBovidge reported on Monday that state revenue is running $1 billion above administration estimates.

Massachusetts is going to need that money and more to fix what went fatally wrong in the design and construction of the Big Dig. As the state's senior senator made clear on a visit to Beacon Hill this week, no one should expect any help from Washington, where the Big Dig is the Republicans' favorite symbol of pork.

Governor Mitt Romney has put on quite a performance at the easel in the past few days. Clearly a quick study, he has mastered the intricacies of undercut anchor bolts and hanger ties, translating engineering theory into plain English. But the alternate routes on Boston's surface arteries that he sketched at his easel are a temporary solution to an immediate crisis, not a permanent solution to a long-term problem.

Romney will not be around to propose, let alone implement, a comprehensive transportation plan that gives commuters an alternative to the automobile. Those candidates who would replace him in the corner office next January might want to add mass transit to their stump speech lists of pressing issues facing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Eileen McNamara is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at mcnamara@globe.com.

Link to Article
 
Well today was miserable on the D line. I board at Reservoir every morning, and I can safely say today was a bad day. I watched 5 - count em 5 - outbound trains go by before mine showed up, and as expected, it was already packed. With the extra long wait time, every station from there until Kenmore was overflowing with disgruntled commuters. Usually I manage to squeeze into the center of the trolley and pitch camp on the pivot point, but this time I barely got past the door. One thing I did notice - the fare machine was broken, so everyone rode free.
 
Yea the mbta is suck and not just the train, the buses as well. When I was taking the 93, I saw 4 buses heading to Sullivan Station at seperate time which mean they were at one point on time. So I was waiting for the :30 bus and the 1st bus that went up to Sullivan cambe by at :25. I was waiting about 7 minutes from Sullivan. It didn't come until :55 and not did only one bus come down, all four did. I mean wats the use of having four bus coming at once. Just to piss you off? And no there is no traffic at Sullivan otherwise all 4 buses wouldn't have ended up together. What the hell were they doing, throwing a party?
 
I know what you mean. I've seen the 66 do that in Harvard Square so many times. I think they are clueless.

Park Street during Red Sox games is hell on earth. All the fans seem to crowd the C line area and of course the only trains that come in abundance are the E trains.
 
Figures. And I actually need the E train, and when I want it, all I see are C trains...
 
bitch bitch bitch. whine whine whine. Get a clue people - CARS are the way of the FUTURE. They're air conditioned too!
 
bosdevelopment said:
bitch bitch bitch. whine whine whine. Get a clue people - CARS are the way of the FUTURE. They're air conditioned too!
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Dude, you crack me up. I was just thinking about what sucks more: The T between Kenmore and Park during a home game, or what would be the alternative--a sea of parking lots surrounding the the ball park. I'll take over-burdened public transit over acres of asphalt, hands down.
 
chumbolly said:
bosdevelopment said:
bitch bitch bitch. whine whine whine. Get a clue people - CARS are the way of the FUTURE. They're air conditioned too!
Click to expand...
Dude, you crack me up. I was just thinking about what sucks more: The T between Kenmore and Park during a home game, or what would be the alternative--a sea of parking lots surrounding the the ball park. I'll take over-burdened public transit over acres of asphalt, hands down.
Click to expand...

I'd rather spend an hour and a half in my own air conditioned car with radio presets and comfortable seating than say, 45 minutes on a crowded hot smelly trolley car underground. Especially this past week - today and yesterday were very cool (good for sleeping) but before then the temperature was just brutal.
 
DarkFenX said:
Yea the mbta is suck and not just the train, the buses as well. When I was taking the 93, I saw 4 buses heading to Sullivan Station at seperate time which mean they were at one point on time. So I was waiting for the :30 bus and the 1st bus that went up to Sullivan cambe by at :25. I was waiting about 7 minutes from Sullivan. It didn't come until :55 and not did only one bus come down, all four did. I mean wats the use of having four bus coming at once. Just to piss you off? And no there is no traffic at Sullivan otherwise all 4 buses wouldn't have ended up together. What the hell were they doing, throwing a party?
Click to expand...

After resisting making this comment for a long time, I have two words for you:

GRAMMAR. PROOFREADING.

It takes thirty seconds of proofreading to go from sounding like you're 9 years old to sounding like an adult.
 
It doesn't matter to me as long as people can read it. Stuck using aim writing anyways.
 
To combat the Park St Red Sox insanity, I've been walking from where I'm working near MIT over the Mass Ave bridge to the Fenway stop. It takes about 25 minutes, and on a nice day its about as pleasant a walk as I can imagine. And then when I finally do get on the train, there's actually a decent chance of getting a seat!
 
DudeUrSistersHot said:
DarkFenX said:
Yea the mbta is suck and not just the train, the buses as well. When I was taking the 93, I saw 4 buses heading to Sullivan Station at seperate time which mean they were at one point on time. So I was waiting for the :30 bus and the 1st bus that went up to Sullivan cambe by at :25. I was waiting about 7 minutes from Sullivan. It didn't come until :55 and not did only one bus come down, all four did. I mean wats the use of having four bus coming at once. Just to piss you off? And no there is no traffic at Sullivan otherwise all 4 buses wouldn't have ended up together. What the hell were they doing, throwing a party?
Click to expand...

After resisting making this comment for a long time, I have two words for you:

GRAMMAR. PROOFREADING.

It takes thirty seconds of proofreading to go from sounding like you're 9 years old to sounding like an adult.
Click to expand...

dude, i don't think english is his first language. the anime avatars and pro chinatown agenda lead me to believe he's from asia.
 
bosdevelopment said:
I'd rather spend an hour and a half in my own air conditioned car with radio presets and comfortable seating than say, 45 minutes on a crowded hot smelly trolley car underground...
Click to expand...


Then you must enjoy getting fat. :shock:


.
 
bosdevelopment said:
DudeUrSistersHot said:
DarkFenX said:
Yea the mbta is suck and not just the train, the buses as well. When I was taking the 93, I saw 4 buses heading to Sullivan Station at seperate time which mean they were at one point on time. So I was waiting for the :30 bus and the 1st bus that went up to Sullivan cambe by at :25. I was waiting about 7 minutes from Sullivan. It didn't come until :55 and not did only one bus come down, all four did. I mean wats the use of having four bus coming at once. Just to piss you off? And no there is no traffic at Sullivan otherwise all 4 buses wouldn't have ended up together. What the hell were they doing, throwing a party?
Click to expand...

After resisting making this comment for a long time, I have two words for you:

GRAMMAR. PROOFREADING.

It takes thirty seconds of proofreading to go from sounding like you're 9 years old to sounding like an adult.
Click to expand...

dude, i don't think english is his first language. the anime avatars and pro chinatown agenda lead me to believe he's from asia.
Click to expand...
Yes English was not my first language but I'm not from Asia. I'm born here but some of the reason why I'm typing so bad for most of the time is that I'm either a)trying to surf on the internet at work while making sure none of my co-workers catch me, b)half asleep after taking someone home after I finish work, c)aim writing makes me want to shorten every word possible, and d)I made stupid mistakes. But let's get back on topic.
 
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