Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

HenryAlan said:
It's a complete waste, because it's not even a very useful REI. It's convenience store level, and most serious needs will still require people to visit the much better and larger Fenway store.
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Perplexed by all the hate for this REI. I’m not the most outdoorsy person but I’ve already used this branch to buy hiking shoes and outdoor pants prior to my last two vacations. The staff are super friendly and I found exactly what I needed without going all the way to Fenway. 🤷‍♂️ As for agglomeration, CambridgeSide is like two blocks away. The new development could be less sterile but the area doesn’t lack retail overall.
 
I pretty sure nobody hates REI, more of combination of the business and the building together. If it was a café, bar, or neighborhood-oriented retail - it would help cancel out the underuse of land. If the building was bigger but still only host REI, then at least it's making the most of the land parcel.

Between making more use of the space or a different retailer, I imagine it would be easier for the building to one day become a café or a brewery than to tear down and rebuild the whole building (not to mention REI may not even value having that much extra space).

Personally, the building kinda makes me think Japanese 7/11 (not American 7/11, Japan's 7/11 is way nicer despite both being convivence stores - I don't know how to explain within in message). If a nice, well-maintained convivence store is in that spot (ala Japanese 7/11s), it would be well-loved. I don't know if the market actually supports it, I mean for some reason we can't seem to get such nice shops).
 
Boarding at Ball Square this morning, a little later than my normal commute, the train was already pretty full. Most seats were taken, and certainly all of them were after Ball; I stood the entire way in.

It was also noticeably slowing down at switches.
 
LtKije said:
Perplexed by all the hate for this REI. I’m not the most outdoorsy person but I’ve already used this branch to buy hiking shoes and outdoor pants prior to my last two vacations. The staff are super friendly and I found exactly what I needed without going all the way to Fenway. 🤷‍♂️ As for agglomeration, CambridgeSide is like two blocks away. The new development could be less sterile but the area doesn’t lack retail overall.
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When I think of REI, I think of something that is much more substantial. So when I first visited this one, it was a pretty underwhelming experience. To be fair, though, I live closer to the Fenway store, so I might feel differently if the CX location represented improved accessibility. But just the same, I want REI to be more than just a good shoe and clothing store.
 
HenryAlan said:
When I think of REI, I think of something that is much more substantial. So when I first visited this one, it was a pretty underwhelming experience. To be fair, though, I live closer to the Fenway store, so I might feel differently if the CX location represented improved accessibility. But just the same, I want REI to be more than just a good shoe and clothing store.
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I bought two e-bikes off them there.
I'm not a big bike head and the fella who assembled them really seemed to hate ebikes!
The thinking was that once the path opens, it'll be easy to take them there to get serviced.
I've no need for a huge outdoor gear store so not bothered about the size but I like the thought that I can get there on a dedicated bike path.
 
The path will be great for REI and vice versa. The bike servicing station, the lockers, etc., are all very nice features. But there could be a lot more. As for the mechanic's behavior, a lot of them don't like e-bikes because they are worried about voiding warranties if they touch them in the wrong way. Enjoy riding, @Ruairi!
 
LexSEDotVille said:
I like to think the REI building will eventually be replaced with a tower, à la 135 Broadway. This assumes a future where Cambridge is more serious about building some housing and permits taller buildings.

Lots of activity on the site of the former Lechmere Station today.
1 by LexSEDotVille, on Flickr
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That's quite some hefty equipment for the construction of pocket park.
 
-anarresti- said:
Are speed restrictions back to normal on the GLX?
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Something strange is going on with the TransitMatters data, no?
1679359766168.png

Mar 9 would be when the speed restrictions were announced, slightly under 20 minutes, then it jumps to >80, then back down to ~20 through today...

I wasn't really paying attention to the speeds today - I can usually tell by the travel time, more so than gauging the speed, now that this is a normal commute, and today, my commute time was extended ~10-15 minutes while the train sat at Lechmere for reasons unrelated to the speed restrictions..
 
Admittedly, none of this happened during rush-hour, so... but I just went from Gilman to Medford/Tufts and then to Lechmere and finally back to Gilman.

Never had a wait of longer than 4 minutes, the stretch between East Somerville and Medford/Tufts (in both directions) was going pretty damn fast (I'd guess top approved speed, regardless of any speed restrictions elsewhere on the line), and other than the brief semi-slowdown at the viaduct, the whole thing was pretty speedy.

They did have multiple announcements re: speed restrictions on the Green Line and advising that trips may take longer than usual.

The T is also still making no concerted effort to actually get folks to pay anywhere along the GLX in either direction. I have a Charlie Card and paid when I first got on heading to Medford, but after seeing literally no other passengers pay, validate, or even grab one of the many unclaimed receipts in the fare machines, I just figured "fuck it" and followed the herd behavior on the other trips.
 
chrisbrat said:
Admittedly, none of this happened during rush-hour, so... but I just went from Gilman to Medford/Tufts and then to Lechmere and finally back to Gilman.

Never had a wait of longer than 4 minutes, the stretch between East Somerville and Medford/Tufts (in both directions) was going pretty damn fast (I'd guess top approved speed, regardless of any speed restrictions elsewhere on the line), and other than the brief semi-slowdown at the viaduct, the whole thing was pretty speedy.

They did have multiple announcements re: speed restrictions on the Green Line and advising that trips may take longer than usual.

The T is also still making no concerted effort to actually get folks to pay anywhere along the GLX in either direction. I have a Charlie Card and paid when I first got on heading to Medford, but after seeing literally no other passengers pay, validate, or even grab one of the many unclaimed receipts in the fare machines, I just figured "fuck it" and followed the herd behavior on the other trips.
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yea, I'm with you.
I validated once (granted I've only used it about 4 times) but there were lots of receipts in the machine and I'd no idea what I was supposed to do, sift through them? so I just left it.
Also on the way back out, I got caught with the 'signal for your stop'. No notification, whizzed past east somerville. No one got on or off at Science Park, it stopped there. There's no sign anywhere saying what to press, those long black strips. I had no idea!
The usability of the whole thing is so hilariously bad.
Also, I asked someone what I was supposed to press (for Gilman now) there was no ding or 'stop requested' displayed anywhere. No auditory or visual feedback. I was wondering if the passenger was winding me up!
 
stefal said:
Something strange is going on with the TransitMatters data, no?
View attachment 35501
Mar 9 would be when the speed restrictions were announced, slightly under 20 minutes, then it jumps to >80, then back down to ~20 through today...

I wasn't really paying attention to the speeds today - I can usually tell by the travel time, more so than gauging the speed, now that this is a normal commute, and today, my commute time was extended ~10-15 minutes while the train sat at Lechmere for reasons unrelated to the speed restrictions..
Click to expand...
-anarresti- said:
Are speed restrictions back to normal on the GLX?
Click to expand...

That's probably a DST issue, but I'm not seeing it tho here.

Medford - East Somerville


1679429319838.png

1679429354824.png


East Somerville southbound:

1679429410680.png

1679429461114.png
 
Ruairi said:
yea, I'm with you.
I validated once (granted I've only used it about 4 times) but there were lots of receipts in the machine and I'd no idea what I was supposed to do, sift through them? so I just left it.
Also on the way back out, I got caught with the 'signal for your stop'. No notification, whizzed past east somerville. No one got on or off at Science Park, it stopped there. There's no sign anywhere saying what to press, those long black strips. I had no idea!
The usability of the whole thing is so hilariously bad.
Also, I asked someone what I was supposed to press (for Gilman now) there was no ding or 'stop requested' displayed anywhere. No auditory or visual feedback. I was wondering if the passenger was winding me up!
Click to expand...

Interesting. Other than feelling like it's a missed revenue opportunity for the T not to have a reliable fare collection system in place, my experiences with the GLX, today included, have been great.
 
They were running what felt like full speed between Ball Square and Gilman Square this morning. Got to experience it twice because we got to the station before I noticed my younger son had forgotten his backpack. So he didn't validate because guess where his card was.
 
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