Boston.com reports that the mayor is urging people to use the T tonight for getting around Boston for First Night. The MBTA will also offer free service from 8 pm to 2:30 tonight in honor of NYE. Now if only they would do that every night to save bar-goers from the nightmare of finding a cab at 2 am.
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Comments
Awful
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 4:21pm
You're losing money. Collect the damn fare. Nobody needs a free ride.
Where have ya been WIll?
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 4:23pm
They have been doing this for about 15 years that I can remember.
It is called "getting people to come into the city" and "preventing drunk driving".
I don't think they run the buses, either.
Fair enough
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 4:29pm
Reduce the fare to $1, but don't make it free.
You gonna collect it?
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 4:38pm
With large numbers of people to move around, that makes no sense. The lines to get through the open gates and out to the platforms are bad enough without lame attempts to get money from people who likely lack charlie cards.
Many people using the system have passes, anyway.
The subways are not that expensive to run, and it introduces some people to the T who would otherwise not use it.
Do what they used to do at Kenmore
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 4:48pm
"Dollars in the box..."
Or hold up your Charlie card. Easy enough.
Oh lord
By JohnAKeith
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 5:42pm
Oh, lord, that takes me back to ... 1985?
finally
By finally
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 4:40pm
I know that the T has massive debt, a crazy union, etc. etc. but is there any real possibility of getting it to stay open till 2:30 on any other night of the year? I know they used to do the night owl buses and canceled them after awhile but it is just inane that Boston public transportation stops at 12:30-1 and bars stay open till 2. It has driven me nuts for the past 7 years and the only response you get when you talk about it with other people from Boston is sort of a knowing chuckle and "yeah, stupid MBTA." What would it take to get later T hours? Would the MBTA union have to fall apart first? I assume it is in part of their collective bargaining agreement that they only work certain hours. It is just bonkers and definitely a reason that a lot of the world look at Boston as a not quite up to snuff city.
Come to think of it,
By independentminded
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 5:19pm
The MBTA should extend its hours until 2:30 a. m. every night of the year and not just on New Years Eve.
Can't do that.
By operator
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 6:10pm
Maintenance has to be done to the tracks and since there is basically only one set of tracks throughout the system it has to shut down overnight to get it done.
What maintenance?
By Brett
Wed, 12/31/2008 - 8:09pm
Are you serious? The T does so much maintenance that they need 4-5 hours EVERY NIGHT to do it?
Are you talking about all the maintenance they do so that we don't have constant "switching problems" on just about every line? Doors that don't open? Announcement systems that are almost constantly broken? Wheels and tracks so pitted and worn that on some cars, the noise levels are painfully loud? On the red line it's more-often-than not that the automated announcements don't work, the operator's announcements are unintelligible, and the cars so loud that you have no hope of carrying a conversation without licking their ear.
You mean all the maintenance they do so we don't have massively disrupted service, like that bullshit with the Longfellow bridge, which had them shutting down the red line and bussing every weekend, all weekend for a month so we could get packed into sardine-can busses and drive by watching a bunch of lazy jerks stand around on the Longfellow bridge earning double overtime doing nothing?
Somehow, methinks the world would not end if the T ran until 2 on Fridays and weekends.
Day track repairs and paying a premium for night T service?
By mmurph
Fri, 01/02/2009 - 1:59am
Last I checked each subway line had two sets of tracks on each line. In fact they routinely do "track maintenance" in the middle of the day, delaying trains while they share the right of way. I doubt adding another 2 hours of night service would be detrimental to the track repair and maintenance schedule. It's not like they can't run bus replacement when repairs are absolutely necessary -- we're all used to that anyway.
No, I'm convinced the cab companies (the cab mafia?) in this city/region are influencing the local government the most on this matter.
If it's a matter of budget on the T's part I'm sure they could get away with charging more for night service. I'd pay $3, even $4 for a subway ride at 2:30AM over searching for a cab (on a freezing cold night) that's going to cost me $25+ and give me a nice tour of Boston the way to my destination.