To restore or to not restore the MBTA's late-night service

How could this be forced upon the MBTA? It appears that they will do everything in their power to not extend service beyond 12:30 even though the excuses are terrible(track work is already accomplished with shuttle buses during normal service hours anyway).

I would imagine something would also need to be done to eliminate the automatic overtime that T employees get for working after 12:30.

I'm surprised none of the candidates for governor are pushing for this...
 
Marley said:
I'm surprised none of the candidates for governor are pushing for this...
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the subway is about as close to any of their present-day realities as their Psych 101 final or their prom date: a long-forgotten part of their youth that they are occasionally reminded of by movies.

Map the residences of those in power in this city and state and I'd wager you'd find very little correlation to a mapping of building density or public transit.
 
Let's create the "The T Stops Too Damn Early" party!!

I think it would get a lot of votes.
 
Then, the cab driver gets pissed when we tell him we are going to use a card. 9 out of 10 times I have used a card in a cab, I have had to deal with the driver getting annoyed and mad at me. I enjoy the.."the machine is broken" or "you pay cash or get out" lines. I have no problem if the driver is willing to take me to an ATM and not charge me for the extra distance. Cabs in Boston are ridiculous and getting one late night can be an issue.
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Cabs are not supposed to be on the road if they're CC machine is broken. They can get their medallion suspended if they are. So, the next time a cabbie gives you crap, give him crap right back. I took a $30 cab fare to Logan the other day and all I had on me was a $20. The guy told his CC machine was broken and told me I "had to" go into the terminal and find an ATM. I gave him the $20 and told him to get his machine fixed.
 
If only Metro/Greater Boston had a separate night bus system similar to Noctilien.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Because you can put a price on your life, or that of someone special to you, being taken by a drunk on the road. What about the property damage caused by them? What about their puke, piss, and blood and guts on the road that has to be cleaned up?

And maybe I didn't get the memo that I, and everyone else, have to be tucked into bed by midnight just because I'm from the Boston area, but I'm pretty sure many people enjoy/require staying out late and scuttling around the city through the whole night who aren't drunk as a skunk.
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bbfen said:
Yeah, I don't know about the old-style Italians: It's actually this thinking, the stereotypical Puritanical holier-than-thous, that cracks me up.

Not everyone out on the streets after dark is a drunk. Or even out because they were drinking.
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Mayor Menino's Crohn's said:
Since where have you seen drunk people puke on the subway? Are you part of the neo-temperance movement?
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Calm down guys, I believe the T should be open later, however I just never see it happening due to the huge costs, I wouldn't mind paying a couple extra bucks in taxes to keep it open later. Its hard to think that lives could be saved if it was opened later.

When I'm talking about Drunks pissing, puking, fighting, stabbing, shooting, damaging property etc, I am only thinking of the Fri and Sat night bar crowd that all exit bars and spill onto the streets at 2:30am (if Boston had later closing time this wouldnt be an issue.

For those who do not think this is an issue I suggest you go observe the crowd at 2:30am on a good saturday night at State St and Broad St., North/Clinton St Area, or Stuart/Tremont/Boylston Area
 
Mayor Menino's Crohn's said:
Actually, the new(er) green line trolleys are assembled in Northern Italy.
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They were manufactured in Italy, but assembled in New England due to the Buy American law that makes it pretty much impossible to order trains from overseas if the equipment is being purchased with Federal funds.

(This bit the T in the ass recently when the FTA refused to allow the MBTA to order prototype commuter rail engines built and assembled in Europe. If accepted, the company would have opened a factory in the U.S. to fulfill the order. A member of Congress wanted to force the T to buy an inferior product from his state. It worked.)
 
Arborway said:
They were manufactured in Italy, but assembled in New England due to the Buy American law that makes it pretty much impossible to order trains from overseas if the equipment is being purchased with Federal funds.

(This bit the T in the ass recently when the FTA refused to allow the MBTA to order prototype commuter rail engines built and assembled in Europe. If accepted, the company would have opened a factory in the U.S. to fulfill the order. A member of Congress wanted to force the T to buy an inferior product from his state. It worked.)
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Which distinguished member of Congress came up with that brilliant plan?
 
bosma said:
When I'm talking about Drunks pissing, puking, fighting, stabbing, shooting, damaging property etc, I am only thinking of the Fri and Sat night bar crowd that all exit bars and spill onto the streets at 2:30am (if Boston had later closing time this wouldnt be an issue.

For those who do not think this is an issue I suggest you go observe the crowd at 2:30am on a good saturday night at State St and Broad St., North/Clinton St Area, or Stuart/Tremont/Boylston Area
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I suggest you observe the 24 hour service in NYC, Philly and Chicago. They manage alright and also have residents who enjoy drinking.


mass88 said:
I am tired of being screened by potential taxi drivers for where I am going. I had 6 cabs turn me down the other night when my friends and I told them we were going to Brighton......6 cabs.

Then, the cab driver gets pissed when we tell him we are going to use a card. 9 out of 10 times I have used a card in a cab, I have had to deal with the driver getting annoyed and mad at me. I enjoy the.."the machine is broken" or "you pay cash or get out" lines. I have no problem if the driver is willing to take me to an ATM and not charge me for the extra distance. Cabs in Boston are ridiculous and getting one late night can be an issue.
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Both are illegal and you have 100% of the power.

If you get in a cab and they say they wont take you somewhere, then you tell them they're taking you, or you're calling the Hackney division to get their license revoked.

Same with the credit card, if they say it doesnt work, tell them it's illegal to drive with a broken unit and that you won't pay for illegal service.
 
Mayor Menino's Crohn's said:
Hey easy, I'm sicilian too. I know that coming from a Neopolitan family, the way that men think are different. They're old fashioned. They don't adapt to the modern times very well.
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Not offended in the least. I just didn't know old Italian men (including myself) had any distinctive thought pattern. If we do, I don't know that we are distinctively geezer-like and averse to modernity. I kinda like the idea of of being special.

Now get off my lawn.
 
No, I didn't...I just couldn't find the icon to communicate that. Trust me, I was mad as heck.
 
Gee. If only there were other cities in the world that offered 24-hour transit, 7 days a week for which you didn't have to pay a surcharge.

I get that the T is woefully in debt and that right now isn't the best time to start a costly new endeavour, but at some point, if Boston wants to be a big-boy city, we're going to have to come up with a way to allow certain major bus routes and replacement bus service along the subway lines to start.

Hell, even much smaller cities in Europe and Canada have 24 hour service, and Boston's transit usage levels aren't that much lower than what you'll find in those place. For example, Ottawa (population 900,000) has 24-hour bus service on one cross-town route and 21-22 hour service on several other lines. Also, Ottawa is a sleepy government town that goes to bed by 9, so you can't claim that it's an ingrained, cultural norm that transit goes to bed with the city.

As it is, the MBTA more or less runs 20 hours a day. I'm sure they can figure out a way to run a few extra buses between 1 and 5 at 10-15 minute intervals until 2:30 and then 30 minute intervals from 2:30 to 5:30ish when the trains start up again.
 
Amsterdam's night buses do have a surcharge, and a whole separate pass system. Don't know whether that's typical of other European cities.
 
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