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Cascading pile of problems brings Red Line to its knees
By adamg on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 8:44am
It's not just that there was a "medical emergency" at Charles/MGH (although if you're going to have a medical emergency ..), but that an inbound train chose to die on the Longfellow this morning
"The worst is having people walk by, watching you not move," Marti V. tweets. At least, until somebody pushes the emergency button, apparently just because they can.
Ben Becker adds: "On bridge for at least 30 min, probably 40. Charles platform now so packed that people can't move."
Photo of Charles/MGH platform after the T asked everybody to just walk to Park Street.
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Comments
And despite both problems
There's no sign that it had happened, and no way to know if it's over yet, because... why?
The MBTA status site says "Normal", but there's no way to see the status history.
@t_redline says "OK" at 11:26AM, but there were no problems tweeted before that, so should I believe it?
@mbtanow, which may or may not be official, doesn't show that 11:26AM all-clear tweet.
@mbta_alerts, which is not official, mentions the problems but not the 11:26AM all-clear.
#mbta and #mbtafail have plenty of tweets from only an hour ago.
Why do I have to check six Twitter feeds just to find out if the Red Line is maybe probably likely to be running?
"We'll be moving in about 5
"We'll be moving in about 5 minutes."
10 minutes later: "We apologize for the delay folks, we should be moving in 10 to 15 minutes."
20 minutes after that: "There's a medical emergency at Charles Street, we should be moving shortly."
20 minutes after that: "We apologize for the delay folks, we should be moving in a few minutes."
**
When MBTA staff "on the scene" don't know what's going on, how can we expect the Web site to be any clearer?
Or, if the staff *do* actually know what's going on but refuse to communicate this properly in some attempt to avoid customer backlash, don't they realize people would rather hear "Yeah, we're going to be stuck here for over half an hour, might as well go try to grab a taxi"?
When this happened, I was a
When this happened, I was a car down in the train with the medical emergency. They didn't even tell us anything on the speaker! We had no idea if our train had broken down or what had happened. It was bizarre. Finally when the EMT team got here it was announced that no one in "car 4" should get out, because there was an EMT group rushing in.
MBTA Mobile Page
The MBTA has a mobile page that lists the alerts in real time as they change very quickly. Got to http://mobile.usablenet.com/mt/www.mbta.com/ on your smartphone and you can see the alerts, schedules, and a few other things.
Fact is, as far as I know, the T does not run or actively monitor the Twitter feeds. The supervisor in charge of where all the Red Line trains are at all times and is in charge of redirecting subway traffic and dealing with backups when a crisis happens is the one who posts the alerts. However their priority is to make sure 1) no one is hurt, 2) get the shuttle buses off their regular bus routes to help waiting passengers, and 3) let passengers know what's going on through alerts and announcements.
Having witnessed it in the bus service operations center, I can tell you it's not pretty. Technology has a key role in helping, but it comes down to innovation and cost.
Sure, but again, no history
That was the first page I checked - well, the non-mobile version, at http://www.mbta.com. But, unlike the Twitter feeds, that shows me only the alleged current status, not any prior updates.
So if the MBTA web site says the Red Line is "Normal", does that mean that (a) there was a problem, but everything's fine now, or (b) there was and still is a problem, but the supervisor hasn't been able to update the site? There's no way to tell the difference.
It's in the supervisor's best interest to publicize the problems as quickly as possible. We'll all avoid the subway, the crowds will be smaller, and they'll need fewer shuttle buses. And Twitter is freaking FREE. C'mon, guys, this one's easy.
Did I make the right decision?
I got on an inbound train at Harvard this morning at around 8:45. After listening to the delay messages for several minutes, I decided to get off the train, and instead go downtown via the #1 bus to the orange line, arriving at Downtown Crossing at around 9:40. At the time, I questioned whether I actually saved any time by this maneuver, or whether I should have just stayed on that red line train. Any thoughts, from those of you who actually stayed on the red line?
I missed that mess but, I'd have preferred your route
I'd much rather be moving and have it take even longer, than to be stuck on an immobile train.
For what it's worth...
....I arrived at Harvard Square a couple of minutes after 9:00 and there was an inbound train standing there with people milling around. I thought about taking the #1, but decided to stay put.
We waited at Harvard for maybe 7 minutes and then headed out; it was a little slow en route but not too bad, and I caught the Green Line to Arlington and arrived at work right about 9:40. So, you might have been a little bit better off staying with the Red Line, but not much. And you kept moving!
Probably
The trains started moving again around 9:15-9:20 so you may have made it to DTX a little bit quicker if you had stayed on the red line. But standing on a packed train for more than 30 minutes was pretty miserable so I think you made the right choice.
I waited at Wollaston about
I waited at Wollaston about 15 minutes for an inbound train, and others had been waiting longer. Finally an outbound train came, so I took that to Quincy Center and got on the commuter rail to South Station. While I was waiting for the commuter train, only one inbound subway train passed through, but it was extremely crowded, and the conductor said he had no idea when the next one would be along. I get really claustrophobic when I have to stand on crowded trains, so I was glad I hadn't waited for that one at Wollaston.
When I got to work, I saw the MBTA website was reporting a "10 to 15 minute delay." Sure.