Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

East Somerville represent!

35C6B699-71DB-4101-B863-A08DA74D1882.jpeg
82567E19-4C4B-4FA9-AB30-FB4A3104D3C6.jpeg
357F682C-3BC5-4E89-A5D6-7AF9AF7B0CC2.jpeg
D793D08F-E612-4C9C-9D93-027F15AE0811.jpeg
98FD8F31-FE64-41A0-83C8-DA8E7E0F807C.jpeg
8B264123-FB03-4A4B-BACA-F872BD850AE7.jpeg
 
Arlington said:
The fare validation was really awkward (and badly explained).
1) Go to fare "Vending" machine (it turns out it is also a fare-subtracting machine, but that isn't how any of us think of it)
2) Tap your card
3) At the lower left corner of a grid of all the usual "add value buttons" but the same size and color, there's a "validate fare" button. Very much hidden in plain sight, undifferentiated from the other buttons. Because I was transferring from the 80, I was offered a strange button where a $0.70 amount stood out, even if the text that said "Validate" didn't stand out.
4) poke that button
5) Did I tap again? I don't remember.
6) Then if you "miss" tapping at the FVMs, you're supposed to enter the front door of the cars and tap the farebox

As a result, nobody 'cept me was seen to pay a fare. I'd say 80% never even tried...expecting to be "asked" and 20% who seemed to hesitate/seek mostly went unhelped by environmental and UI cues (the FVMs don't have a big "Validate Here" look. I'd say I paid only because was determined to figure out how it worked, half from honesty, half as a student of UI/UX.

I judge the system is stupid-bad in all kinds of ways:
1) Why isn't there a big, brightly labelled tap target on either doorpost as you enter the station? Cheap, no screen, just a target, with a ping and maybe an LED (to be ADA )
2) Same for inside the trolley. Are/Arent there supposed to be tap targets at every door?
3) button on the Fare Vending Machine should look very different from the others. Its crazy to "hide" the Validate button among identical "buy" buttons having the same size, color ('cept validate has a smaller font)
4) FVM button should match the look of the physical tap targets Whatever logo / image / color / shape is used. Maybe a bright orange circle. Isn't the FVM just code? Can't you get me a circular Validate button among the rectangle-buy buttons?
Click to expand...
This seems like the cheapest way to provide a temporary fix, aside from just having free rides. Adding a button/function to fare vending machines that were gonna be placed at stations anyway. But let's ask this: will there be more lost from fares evaded than the cost of fare gates? Is this the right equation? I am not in the industry, only a fan, and someone must have calculated this...
 
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
This seems like the cheapest way to provide a temporary fix, aside from just having free rides. Adding a button/function to fare vending machines that were gonna be placed at stations anyway. But let's ask this: will there be more lost from fares evaded than the cost of fare gates? Is this the right equation? I am not in the industry, only a fan, and someone must have calculated this...
Click to expand...
I'm not advocating for fare gates. I love Proof of Payment systems, but can't ask people to do it (and we'll never get the social compliance) if validating fares is as obscure and difficult as they've made it here, particularly when there were lots of low-tech, no-tech, free-tech ways of explaining it and making validation more fluid/natural/obvious.

I always admired French railways and their virtual cordon just a bunch of posts with yellow validators in the middle of traffic flow at any platform access
1520186458508
 
Last edited:
As a city we havent built a new transit line in… I dont even know how long. That being the case a lot of people havent seen first hand the massive improvements that comes with a new line. Hopefully the glx is a huge success and leads to more of the projects on the board getting off the ground with much more support, after thousands of people see first hand just how transformative it is. On top of that we now have contractors/workers with experience building a transit line so we should take advantage of that now to lower prices vs having to retrain a bunch of people in 10 years.

Also this new line being grade separated shows another example of just how fast the green line can be when not in mixed traffic. This should be used as an example for getting signal priority on the rest of the green line. It would be one of the easiest and most transformative upgrades to an existing line that there is. That should be next up on the GL wish list.
 
Last edited:
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
This seems like the cheapest way to provide a temporary fix, aside from just having free rides. Adding a button/function to fare vending machines that were gonna be placed at stations anyway. But let's ask this: will there be more lost from fares evaded than the cost of fare gates? Is this the right equation? I am not in the industry, only a fan, and someone must have calculated this...
Click to expand...

Don't know if anyone calculated it. The GLX stations were all originally supposed to have faregates (being island platforms the T's standard front-door-farebox practice is not so feasible) but they were cut when Baker & Company slashed the budget for the stations. That particular decision left a gap that I imagine they expected would be filled by AFC 2.0 (which presumably wouldn't require such a kludge...right?), but of course that project is also running very late (good job, Cubic), so they were left with a situation they probably didn't properly plan for.

Arlington said:
I'm not advocating for fare gates. I love Proof of Payment systems, but can't ask people to do it (and we'll never get the social compliance) if validating fares is as obscure and difficult as they've made it here, particularly when there were lots of low-tech, no-tech, free-tech ways of explaining it and making validation more fluid/natural/obvious.

I always admired French railways and their virtual cordon just a bunch of posts with yellow validators in the middle of traffic flow at any platform access
Click to expand...

Any idea if AFC 2.0 is supposed to be more along these lines? It definitely work better, and also explain why they had such a clumsy option now if it really is just a kludge because the GLC and AFC 2.0 scheduled went so badly out of sync.
 
stick n move said:
As a city we havent built a new transit line in… I dont even know how long. That being the case a lot of people havent seen first hand the massive improvements that comes with a new line. Hopefully the glx is a huge success and leads to more of the projects on the board getting off the ground with much more support, after thousands of people see first hand just how transformative it is. On top of that we now have contractors/workers with experience building a transit line so we should take advantage of that now to lower prices vs having to retrain a bunch of people in 10 years.
Click to expand...
FYI, the second Medford train (mostly people who couldn't board the first train) has about as many people as the first Union Square train. And December has worse weather than March.

This is obviously not a scientific measure at all, but I wonder if it's sufficient to make the point that new transit lines are more popular in places further away from existing options. Although in this case, Tufts students contributed to the crowd as well.
 
Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
It seemed partially open - heading west from the East Somerville stop had no fencing; the inbound direction had minimal/easily moved fencing.
Click to expand...

yeah, i think certain portions are open, but not the whole thing. the portion immediately behind the high school and city hall is open, but further west is not and from the HS towards east somerville is not, either.
 
the old rule of thumb was it took transit 3 years to reach its full potential as it took time to be added 1) to people’s mental maps 2) to people’s habits and to change 3) where people work, live, shop & recreate (like me switching from REI Reading to REI Lechmere)

A single seat E it will make me more likely to use transit to Longwood.

I also think with Work from Home we’ll be moving non peak trips and those will be harder to see in congestion
 
Took the GLX to work today from Medford/Tufts. Complete game changer for my commute. Instead of my old Bus to Red to Green commute I can now just do a short walk and then a one seat ride right to my job. I'll probably still ride my bike when the weather is nicer since that's still the fastest, but this extension opens up so much via transit that was previously kind of a pain.
 
Last edited:
Other reasons it takes newly-opened transit to reach its full potential are also applicable here
Punch List Stuff isn't done
1) Bus stops haven't moved (at least at Tufts, they're a block before (Tufts Garage) or a block after (College Ave)
2) Bike cages don't have Charlie Card Security (at Tufts and I think at Ball Sq)
3) Rideshare/Taxi/Kiss-and-Ride curb space is still clogged by construction vehicles

& People haven't had time to do the "weekend test run" (and might wait out the winter before trying) or they haven't ridden the other legs of their multi-seat ride (eg folks who will have to figure out both bus and GLX in order to make a trip out of it)
 
737900er said:
I don't think it's an unreasonable policy, just needs to be better communicated to people who might be new Green Line branch riders. Several Highland stops (Newton Highlands, Chestnut Hill, Eliot, etc.) aren't really "at street level" either, but how many GLX riders have been there?
Click to expand...
Its totally stupid. Its a new line that's completely separated, Just stop at every stop.
I'm not sure I've ever been on a light rail line with it's own tracks not running on a street where I've had to request a stop.
If someone wants to take the new line they have to go through the ticket validation mess and then request their stop on a new line that they're not familiar with.
I mean I hate to be a downer and I love that the thing is opened but come on...
 
Ruairi said:
Its totally stupid. Its a new line that's completely separated, Just stop at every stop.
I'm not sure I've ever been on a light rail line with it's own tracks not running on a street where I've had to request a stop.
If someone wants to take the new line they have to go through the ticket validation mess and then request their stop on a new line that they're not familiar with.
I mean I hate to be a downer and I love that the thing is opened but come on...
Click to expand...

This is how the D has worked for years, especially off-peak. Lower ridership stops (Woodland, Eliot, Beaconsfield, etc.) are routinely skipped at times of low ridership.
 
737900er said:
This is how the D has worked for years, especially off-peak. Lower ridership stops (Woodland, Eliot, Beaconsfield, etc.) are routinely skipped at times of low ridership.
Click to expand...
yea but the GLX feels different. 6 new dedicated stations. Just stop at them for a sec so that people have one less step to think about as they get used to a new system, they've already been made to do some basic computer programing to get their ticket. It's all about usability and the T don't seem to be any good at it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top