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Can you believe it? Kenmore station officially finished
By adamg on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 7:15am
MBTA officials are scheduled for a ceremony at 8 this morning to commemorate the completion of the Kenmore station renovation - several years behind schedule, but now with snazzy new Red Sox murals.
Drew Phillips tweeted this morning:
Tons of new signage added overnight at Kenmore. Amazing how quickly the MBTA can finish a station once the GM schedules an event there.
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Comments
I saw the GM as I was getting
I saw the GM as I was getting off the 57. He and other T honchos were also supposed to be talking to people about their morning commute (http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news_events/?id=19191), but instead they were just chatting and goofing off with their backs turned to everyone walking by. That's how outreach works!
Bad morning for the Green
Bad morning for the Green Line --
Green "B" Line is experiencing delays in service due to a disdable train at BU east inbound. 4/22/2010 8:57 AM
Green Line experiencing 10-15 min inbound delays on the (D) Riverside and (E) Heath St. lines due to disabled trains 4/22/2010 8:57 AM
Yep, I'm sure all those Red Sox murals
will make the Green Line trains run MUCH faster and with greater reliability.
Green Line Zen
I love everyone on this blog who moans about how slow the green line is and how the T isn't doing anything to make it faster. Let me give you some news. I have lived here my entire life and I can tell you, the green line is never going to go any faster. Never. It never has gone faster and it never will go faster. This is how fast it goes and it always will. This is the nature of the green line.
Do yourselves a favor; close your eyes, take a deep breath and repeat: "the green line will never go any faster. It is what it is and I have to accept that." Exhale. Repeat.
Here is the good news: If you dislike the speed of the green line there are only two solution between which you have to chose: (1) you can find another way to your destination; or if that does not appeal to you (2) you can move to a place that does not require you to take the green line to get to your destination.
Wrong
The B Line got faster in 2004. The removal of 4 stops between BC and Warren St decreased travel time through that section of track. When I "wrote to the head" of the Green Line back in 2005-2006 to ask that stops between Packard's Corner and Kenmore get hacked the same way, I was told that there were too many people getting on and off at each stop to allow them to condense the stops because they'd *lose* more time by stopping to deal with such a large number at a single station than they do with 2 separate stops now. I think that's a pile of crap...but I'm not the one making the decisions. In the meantime, it didn't seem like the condensed BU Central/BU East stop while they were upgrading the two separate stops caused any extra panic or delays.
So, sometimes it gets faster. Of course, they've gone ahead with some other really boneheaded moves that added new delays back in (like stop signs for the TRAIN!! at the Linden St crossing next to Harvard).
Also, there are streetcars that do far better than the Green Line in this world...and most of those don't even have semi-dedicated right-of-ways! It's absurd that you can basically jog faster than the Green Line and that's unacceptable. A bus route down Comm Ave would probably do better than the B Line at this point (it wouldn't need to wait for its own light cycle at 2 different road crossings and could run more frequently without headway problems because it would terminate at Kenmore). The B Line should have about 1/3rd less stops than it does now and increased dedication to its right-of-way by increasing signal priority and decreasing its deference to cars at crossings (aka remove its stop signs).
Of course! A six-year
Of course! A six-year reconstruction of a horrendous trolley stop isn't complete until it has Red Sox banners. THAT'S what matters. I wouldn't be too eager to point out how "quickly" this project has moved. No functional difference between the new station and the old one. SIGNS?! That's what you waited for?! Here's a novel concept, T: why don't you design and execute something that doesn't make me want to fucking kill myself. By the way, you all make me sick.
They did install elevators
They did install elevators and raised the platforms 8-inches to provide wheelchair access via the low-floor streetcars.
Access in fact was supposed to be one of the primary reasons for the project.
access is the sole reason for
access is the sole reason for all the green line renovations. While they're in there, they may be trying to modernize other aspects of the stations, but they wouldn't be doing this work if it wasn't for the settlement.
And they could have very easily installed the elevators
and higher platforms without doing the totally wasteful and pointless remodeling of the station.
Elevators and the higher platforms provide better service to all passengers, not just the impaired. Replacing functional brick structures with ineffective glass and steel lids because some local neighborhood group or the politicos deem such treatments are "more asthetically pleasing" is just a HUGE waste of money! Oh, but that's right - the T HAS to spend that money on needless frills because they aren't allowed to use it to run more trains or maintain track or do something that's actually USEFUL FOR THE RIDERS!
Of course! A six-year
Of course! A six-year reconstruction of a horrendous trolley stop isn't complete until it has Red Sox banners. THAT'S what matters. I wouldn't be too eager to point out how "quickly" this project has moved. No functional difference between the new station and the old one. SIGNS?! That's what you waited for?! Here's a novel concept, T: why don't you design and execute something that doesn't make me want to fucking kill myself. By the way, you all make me sick.
We killed ants with the sun, now let's try humans
Thank goodness they got rid of the old brick busway, which provided shelter from the sun, wind and rain, and replaced it with a man-killing sun magnifier.
I may have shed a tear. I
I may have shed a tear. I will miss the endless construction, which could be witnessed for 4 hours a week.
Now I have to go all the way to copley to witness a much delayed, incredibly slow moving project.
Funny enough, there's still
Funny enough, there's still leaking, stagnant water in both passageways with a slight rainfall.
The station might be renovated, but they sure as hell didn't solve any of the problems that most likely caused the need to renovate; IE water leaking in everywhere!
Big Deal
It looks like hell already!! The bricks are heaving, the back of the signs are full of stickers and graffiti, the grass and some of the trees are allready dead....we waited for this?