Buses do the trick for trolley riders
Commute OK as track work starts
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff | June 26, 2007
So far, so good on the Green Line shutdown.
Thousands of passengers boarded buses instead of trolleys yesterday morning between Riverside and Reservoir stations on the D branch, the first weekday commute to make room for two months of summertime repairs.
While it went relatively smoothly, there were complaints, this being the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Some riders told T officials that to limit delays, they should bypass certain unpopular stops or have an express bus run from Newton Centre to Reservoir. The diversion is costing commuters an additional 15 to 20 minutes per trip .
"Things always take longer than they say," Linda Sweeney , a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital, said as she arrived to get the bus 20 minutes earlier than usual.
Dennis Howard, a Harvard Medical Coop employee who commutes from Newton Highlands, was stunned at how well things worked.
"It was inexplicable that it was as efficient as it was," he said. "Given the T's lack of common sense sometimes, it was very surprising."
He said his bus driver bypassed stops where no one was getting on or off, speeding up the trip. "So far, I'm impressed," Howard said.
T officials said the usual drop in summertime ridership helped.
Until Aug. 3, repair work on the trolley track during the project's first phase will have buses serving riders between Riverside and Reservoir stations in Newton. However, full trolley service will be provided on the Fourth of July, when thousands of commuters take the line to see the festivities on the Esplanade.
The second phase of the project, from Aug. 4 to Aug. 31, will eliminate trolley service between Reservoir and Fenway stations. Again, buses will serve instead .
The D branch , which has 20,000 daily riders, is the last on the Green Line to get major track work and repairs that will allow trolleys to go faster and allow the use of low-floor trolleys that are more accessible to the elderly and disabled.
There had been fears that the bus shuttles, combined with roadwork on adjacent Route 9, would create huge backups on local roads. None of that was evident yesterday.
Kevin McGuire, the MBTA's deputy chief operating officer, said the diversion went extremely well, despite a bus breakdown in Newton Highlands that briefly held up traffic. Along the route, the worst obstacles for buses were lawn-cutting crews.
The MBTA had 32 shuttles taking passengers between stations. The inbound trip took about 20 minutes, while the outbound, with more stops, was a bit slower. There was, however, little wait for a bus at any of the stations, where the T had stationed numerous employees to help passengers.
"I wasn't expecting it to be like this," said Bernice Sookie, 48, who left herself an extra 90 minutes for her commute from Jamaica Plain to Newton Center. "I was expecting it to be chaotic, but it's running smoothly."
