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Red Line signals are defective; Red Line commute is ineffective
By adamg on Fri, 01/22/2016 - 5:37pm
Ailing signals are keeping southbound Red Line commuters from dinner tonight, but possibly driving them to drink.
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Comments
END THE MATTAPAN HIGH SPEED LINE
Every single problem the T has experienced in the past month can be directly attributed to that horrible Mattapan line. When will someone have the balls to just cut that rolling museum so all the other lines will finally run without incident!
Edit: I'm being sarcastic. Yet, the MBTA is saying exactly the same thing and they are not sarcastic.
Don't oversimplify...
The low, low fares are also a big part of the problem. When will someone finally drive the fares up high enough so everything can work perfectly?!
Charge museum fare!
Consider that adult admission at the Museum of science is $23.00/day, the MBTA isn't charging nearly enough for admission on the Mattapan line!
Don't say this. They won't
Don't say this. They won't understand that this is sarcasm.
Can you explain how the
Can you explain how the Mattapan line is impacting the rest of the red line? I'm confused. I might just be ill-informed.
I definitely didn't get the
I definitely didn't get the sarcasm, particularly when I noticed Boston dog supported the line in another post. Thanks for clarifying. I was getting my dander up, as they say. I see (now) what you were doing there ;-)
Parts Are Available
Parts for PCC cars are available in a number of places. Stating they have to get them from museums is also a falsehood, at least in so far as the suggestion is that is the only location they can be had.
Gomaco and Brookville manufacture parts for PCC streetcars and also manufacture "heritage" type streetcars with modern parts that are being used in many cities.
The PROMISE the MBTA made when they rebuilt the streetcars and the whole line, and that happening when they rebuilt Ashmont Station, was that the streetcars would last and be available for at least another 25 years, and that was before they added the AC units. And the AC was added based on customer input - and complaint.
A number of cities are embracing the PCC units that are still available and there are plenty in boneyards to pull parts from.
Let's remember that the MBTA is now being operated by some younger people who have no clue regarding rail history or operation. I reflect the GM didn't know what a Cineston was or how it operates and Stephie didn't seem to have a grasp either when they were all a-dither about the runaway Red Line train.
This is also not the first PROMISE they have made regarding that line and Mattapan Station that they have broken either. Ask any neighborhood activist that has been in meetings with the T about that. Items promised in the station rebuild of Mattapan have yet to manifest.
So this one will need strong activism from the public and their elected officials.
Lies and Dirty Liers
Somehow they've managed to source parts of these for the past 80 years even though they haven't been produced for at least the last 40.
We're entering the golden age of custom manufacturing and these parts are all simple, non-propriety, well documented, and not based on some odd microchip that can't be reproduced.
Oh, and there isn't even shortage of parts yet.
For them to claim there's nothing they can do except spend millions to buy busses and maybe pave the tracks is an absolute lie. It's an insult to a state home to some of the most sophisticated manufacturing in the country.
No, actually, keeping them from drink
Southbound delays flow into northbound delays. I'm trying to get from Quincy into Boston for a well-earned margarita (or six) and I've seen four southbound trains in the ten mins I've waited for an alewife train. And the next one after that is 11 mins.
Prison Labor
We are going to use prisoners to shovel out the rails! Can't we use prisoners to hold lanterns and signal the trains to stop and go.
Reason 1,546,876
Too drive a car!
to drive a car
If everybody who commutes on the red line drove their car instead, we'd have the same problem but it would be a traffic jam not a transit delay.
But we'd have ~1.2B/year to
But we'd have ~1.2B/year to spend elsewhere -> schools, homeless, etc.
Oh Yeah
And no one would be able to go anywhere as the roads would be so jammed packed. The T is a major benefit to drivers by reducing traffic by more than half.
Boston can't turn into some enormous, sprawling, big-lane town no matter how much people like to dream.
And even now I pass by
And even now I pass by traffic jams every day. While on the generally non-jammed T.
Not that our public transport couldn't be a lot better, mind you.
#transitcarsmatter
#transitcarsmatter
Is this a result of the Longfellow construction?
are signals fully operational on the new track there yet?
Yes, northbound trains have
Yes, northbound trains have been going at full speed over the bridge since Wednesday or so.
I wonder if the formerly northbound track will be turned into the southbound track this weekend, with residual southbound slowdowns next week.
I believe that's the plan, yes
although there is one more weekend of scheduled Red Line bridge shutdown after that (January 30-31).