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MBTA struggles to get everybody to and from Boston Common protest
By adamg on Sat, 01/21/2017 - 4:33pm
Maverick station, 10:48 a.m. Photo by Max Grinnell.
Even with extra subway trains and more commuter-rail coaches, the T groaned under the load of the larger than expected crowds heading to the Women's March on the Common this morning.
People unlucky enough to try to get on a train once it had left the first stop watched helplessly as overpacked trains simply passed them by without stopping.
Shortly after 11 a.m., Rus Lodi reported from Newton:
Wife Liz heading to Hub march from Newton. 10 full trains have gone by stop. T instructing riders to go west to Riverside in search of empty trains. Some waiting 2 hrs.
Mamajoan reported similar conditions at Central on the Red Line shortly before 11:
Three completely packed full trains have gone by with not a single person getting off or on.
A half hour later, she updated:
After six trains went by, we switched to the other side. Rode the wrong way to Alewife and turned around. Train completely packed!!
Similar conditions occurred on some commuter-rail lines. Jennifer Ross was one of the lucky ones on the Needham Line:
As the march wound down, the T ran shuttle buses to supplement Green Line service to Riverside. And managers opened up the fare gates at Park Street to avoid a potentially dangerous bottleneck:
The gates were open at Downtown Crossing as well.
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Comments
Planning
I don't understand the MBTA planning. I remember the Bruins parade in 2011 was on a Saturday and they were over capacity on the commuter rail. They should've looked to that event knowing Saturday service should be increased
By a lot. Perhaps they underestimated the crowd attending today's rally?!?!
Estimates weee for 70,000 but
Estimates weee for 70,000 but 120,000+ showed.
They did increase service
It still wasn't enough. Same thing happened in DC. There's only so much capacity available.
Additional coaches on commuter rail trains
running on a normal weekend schedule (i.e. 3 hours between trains) is NOT increased service. Shutting down two key downtown Blue Line stations is NOT increased service.
Too Little, too late
They should have started the day with a normal weekday schedule. I took the Lowell line and the trains were so crowded people were standing on the seats just to make more room.
in defense
In Defense of the MBTA... which I don't do much these days..
A lot of their ridership for these events is decided by the event host. The event throwers tell the city and local PD "we expect xxx people" so the city responds in that same manner. I'm sure the MBTA is also kept in the loop also.
Today's Women's March in Boston was expected to have ~25-35k people. Instead that number was 4-6 times that amount. Way more than anticipated. And the actual number of attendees keeps going up (was originally 125k, now 150k.. and even seeing 175k being thrown around)
I just don't think anyone expected the crowds to be this big.
Other events, such as the Rolling Rallies or big concerts.. we have many years of precedents to know what ridership would be like on those days. This event was just one of the history books all around. No other event has *ever* been this large.. not in anyone's recent memory.
agreed
The fine spring-like weather probably also paid a large role in last-minute attendees: I doubt we would have seen these crowds if there was a cold rain or if was 15° or if it was snowing.
As far as the commuter rail, the larger issue is that weekend service is always pathetic, and practically useless unless the every-2-3-hour headways happen to exactly work for your plans.
Look at the Providence Line, for example: on a Saturday morning you're either getting to South Station at 9:43 or 12:30. And on a Sunday, that 12:30 arrival is the earliest arrival.
I'd imagine that it would not be too feasible to at the last minute have run a weekday schedule this morning — probably issues with overtime and staffing — and Keolis did send out short-turn extras — but if the base weekend schedule were actually useful, these issues would not have been as severe in the first place.
And how long did the MBTA know about this event
in advance? Sorry, but it's not practical to add additional service "at the last minute" is NOT a valid excuse to adequately accommodate people. Nor is "the event organizers estimated that X number op people will attend" either.
And it's not like there's been precedent for large public gatherings in Downtown Boston before. Just another inexcusable MBTA fail.
You sound like the type of
You sound like the type of person who, if the T ran a usual weekday commuter rail schedule today and it was 33° and raining, you'd be whining about the massive waste of running said service.
If you're such an awesome predictor of crowd sizes, maybe you should stop being anonymous and sell your services to the city and state.
The closest comparison is probably to the 2004 Sox parade. Here's an article discussing the T's performance that Saturday:
http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/10/31/smooth_ride_on_...
While those crowds were larger, they were also spread out over a much larger area. This morning you had over 100,000 people converging to Boston Common.
Uh
So what do you suggest? Just running rush hour service all weekend? Even if no one rides? So a transit agency that already has cost over runs due to over time will just have service because "well you never know"
It was unpredictable. I give them props for even trying. They didn't have to at all.
But facts don't matter, you just wanted to bash the T and give no ideas of your own. Typical.
As far as I can tell, Keolis
As far as I can tell, Keolis had no plan for the march until this hero convinced them to make one.
Headcount
The organizers publicly reported 90,000 registered on Friday night and there was no reason (weather, etc) to assume a suppressed turn-out. The event exceeded expectations but even if it was "only" 90,000 there would still have been too few trains in the AM.
As I said above
What are YOUR suggestions then? So we have a broke transit agency that already pays out a ton in Overtime. Should they just run trains all the time at rush hour levels "just in case"? Great, so we're paying OT for this "just in case"?
Like I said above, you're just being critical of the MBTA as usual because your can. Everyone is so critical yet can offer little of their own ideas for a solution.
So Let's hear your ideas.... *taps fingers on desk*
I think they would have earned that OT pay back today...
From my experience returning home tonight, they added cars, but did not add staff to the trains. This was a ridiculous self defeating move, as it meant that the overwhelmed conductors could not collect fares (they couldn't even man HALF the train doors- we were told to go one car up or two cars back to exit), so Keolis made NO money today.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that they're in lame-duck mode since the MBTA decided to announce that they're not renewing the contract that expires in five years?
I had a similar experience. I
I had a similar experience. I got on in Ipswich and we filled the train, with tightly packed isles and all. We were able to fit maybe a handful more on at Hamilton. Conductors didn't even attempt to collect fares, probably because the isles were so packed, so they made no income aside from however many fares they were able to collect between Newburyport and Rowley. We passed so many people at the rest of the stations that could easily have filled another train. It was the same on my train home - a ton of people got turned away from the 4:30 and no fares were collected. One thing about this event that could have inspired the T to run more commuter rails, but for some reason didn't, was that they knew lots of people were traveling in from all around MA and New England, which would indicate heavy ridership on the commuter rail.
Wow
I bypassed the insanity by biking, because we kind of knew that the T would be nuts from so many years of experience with events. I have indoor secure parking downtown at work, where I could also ditch some things for the duration. When we passed Assembly at 9:35, the platform was already filling up. We saw an outbound arrive as we biked by around 3:30 and people were streaming out in huge numbers, up and over the bikeway.
We made a good move with my SIL and MIL and walked them up Charles St. to Charles Station. They were only letting Southbound passengers on there to avoid a dangerous platform crowd, which worked for her. She got a seat all the way to Braintree.
"Today's Women's March in
"Today's Women's March in Boston was expected to have ~25-35k people"
No, it wasn't. Over 100,000 people registered.
You sound exactly like Trump and his press secretary - making up things at random.
Who is like Trump?
The original permits were for 25K
The registration topped 100K at a time WHEN NOTHING COULD BE DONE.
Please get your facts straight. ONLY in the LAST WEEK was it clear that it was snowballing.
They simply cannot call in enough people or magic enough equipment into existence.
Chinatown too
Gates also open at Chinatown at about 2:20.
And at Harvard around 10:30.
And at Harvard around 10:30. (We rode back to Alewife because the inbound platform looked dangerously crowded.)
The scene at harvard station
The scene at harvard station was insane-- this was around 11:00:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/C5wVhxmbTc4S1C8bu-euMelGUoeXsxwu7Rxvtd...
The fare gates were open there, too. I waited maybe 30 minutes but was no where close to being able to get on a train, so I ended up leaving, taking the 1 bus into Boston, and walking.
Donate Your Unpaid Fare
In lieu of the free, though crowded trips today, take your car fare, whether it was just under $6 or over $20 roundtrip and donate it to Planned Parenthood, the Massachusetts Women's Political Conference, or some other group that you think would benefit.
Just a thought. Every little bit counts and kudos to the people out there today.
Or, hey
Even to TransitMatters.
The MBTA did a fantastic job today
And that's saying something coming from me. I had to let 6 red car trains pass before I could squeeze on a crowded car, but trains kept on coming every couple of minutes. People were good natured.
Commuter Rail
They added extra cars but not nearly enough. I was barely able to get on a train in Salem, mostly because I spoke up and started encouraging people to move in to the train and that we could get in if we worked together. (People were just standing around d looking helpless on the platform- it's amazing how a little leadership can make a difference!). No one else was able to get on for the rest of the trip though. Tons of dissapointed people on the platforms in Swampscott and Lynn.
On the way home at 5:30, the train was at full seating capacity but no standees. The conductors did not collect fares, because they were understaffed and could not do it in a timely manner. So we all got to ride for free. (Well, I had already paid via app when they announced this.) Keolis will take a big $$$ hit today.
It makes no difference to
It makes no difference to Keolis, beyond the few thousand it cost to add coaches and possibly a few thousand more in fines for trains that ran late due to longer dwells (though skipping inner stations may have helped there). The MBTA gets the fare money, they just pay Keolis X amount to run the trains.
Blue Line
They also picked a horrible weekend to do work on the Blue Line, and doing the one train back and forth between Maverick and State thing.
bowdoin
This work seemed fairly last-minute. Is it to address the recent ceiling issues?
Not sure
I'd assume more than that if they had to close GC instead of going back and forth from there or just looping trains at an empty Bowdoin. The website just says "station maintenance" and it's for this weekend and next.
During the GC rebuild, running trains down one side between Wonderland and Maverick and then another between Maverick and State usually happened when they were working on or around the tracks.
Please surface to the rest of the world
--- "The website just says "station maintenance" and it's for this weekend and next."
-----------------------------------
Yet on these and other pages it was reported that the Blue Line tunnel between GC and Bowdoin needed repairs because of falling concrete. In other words, the tunnel was caving in or falling apart in that area.
Keep in mind that tunnel goes back to the early 1900s at least.
So they immediately scheduled necessary maintenance. There was no latitude that allows them to put something like this off.
Their not going to say "we have to close it to patch the tunnel."
Please show me
where this specific issue was reported. Because when Bowdoin closed just before the new year, uHub reported it as a ceiling issue in the station, and WCVB never gave specifics.
And even if you are somehow correct that this and next weekend's closure is directly related to these previous reports:
1. Why, during that emergency Bowdoin closure in Dec., did they continue to run otherwise regular service between GC and Wonderland, with trains still looping at Bowdoin, if they closed it due to a collapsing tunnel?
2. If the supposed tunnel issue is between GC and Bowdoin, why can't they run the limited same-track service they have now between State and Maverick between GC and Maverick instead?
3. Why would the MBTA specify "Due to crews performing necessary station maintenance..." in its service alert?
Pro tip, my aspiring keyboard warrior friend: Do your homework before you attempt to be a dick on the internet.
Also, it's "they're not going to..."
Maverick
Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking. Once they learned of the event, they should have adjusted because the one train was not able to run fast enough to keep up with a once every 10 minute schedule, let alone more frequent..
They ran some shuttle buses
They ran some shuttle buses between Maverick and State to handle the crowd. I'm guessing it wasn't possible to reschedule the work.
Too many people at 9:00 this
Too many people at 9:00 this morning at Braintree. Lines of people to go in Station. Ridiculous. The real important people like doctors and nurses are now forced to wait to get to work. Unacceptable. I don't like it when events mess up the safety and welfare of everyday people trying to go about their day.
OK, I'll bite
Which hospitals have shifts that start at 9:30 or 10 a.m.?
How about you hold a rally to
How about you hold a rally to protest against the tens of thousands of elites who screwed up the commoners' commutes today. Perhaps even hold it on the Common.
What about the docs is just false drama
Driven by the same people who like to throw in What About The Children in an attempt to seize the moral high ground on false pretenses.
I am very supportive of yesterday's march and all who participated. But Try. Not. To. Complain. About. Every. Inconvenience.
No right to convenience
Clearly defined right to peaceably assemble in the first Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
BTW, when I worked at MGH the shifts for the clinical staff started at times outside of rush hour - like 6am and 2pm. That is probably different now that most hospitals do 12 hour shifts, but they still start off-rush hour. 9 or 10 am would be all kinds of wrong given patient schedules,
I like a good DK reference as much as the next guy but
The trains were full is now a violation of Constitutional Rights? Bit of a stretch, don't you think? (Maybe you were jk, that would make sense.) Remember what the day was about, don't get bogged down in this nonsense. Amazing how fast it went from: "Excellent, look how many people we have here!" to "Hey, what are all these people doing here?"
Porter at 9 am was OK
I'm glad my group at the last minute changed its meeting time from 9:30 to 9 this morning at Porter Square. The station was not especially crowded, and the inbound Red Line train was standing-room-only but not jampacked.
I'm reading similar stories from Washington, DC and Los Angeles
The events wildly exceeded the best estimates of organizers and public transit systems.
The 77 bus from Arlington was a nightmare
It was packed by the time it got to Arlington Center, and the bus kept stopping to try and let even more on.
About half the people on it eventually got off near Alewife Brook Parkway and walked over to the Alewife T station. But at least we got seats on the train :-) After Porter, no one could get on.
Seriously, I'm amazed that we didn't have any stalled trains or switching problems today. The trains were packed, but they ran.
What are these 100,000+
What are these 100,000+ people going to do now to continue their ideas of changes that need to be made? I hope they are not going to rest on their went to a rally laurels. I hope all those people will now get out and make true change in their communities by volunteering in the schools, shelters, etc. There is so much that needs to be done locally that can make a big change in our little corner of the world.
Were you one of them?
Were you one of them? What are you doing?
Nope
Like most everyone else, I'm making a huge change in our society by sitting on my couch and posting my outrage. It's almost as productive as marching.
I guess I was lucky. I left
I guess I was lucky. I left Forest Hills at 10:00am and had a completely smooth ride downtown.
The march just made people
The march just made people feel better at the end of the day. I agree people should of just gotten involved in their communities to show solidarity instead of marching down the street.. We are all individuals and need to show it by doing on our unique contributions to society.
"INSTEAD of marching"???
Why do you seem to feel it must be either-or?
Some people...
...are capable of holding more than one idea in their minds, and some people clearly are not.
T ok at Ashmont
We live in Carruth St area - took red line from Ashmont at 9:45 am without any difficulties. We followed up the Women's March with a stop at a local restaurant and didn't have any problems heading home approx 5 pm. Bonus for the day: entry gate was not working at Ashmont and T employee allowed us through without charge and returning home gates were open at Park St. Yay - wondrous and uplifting day on the Common and free T rides - all good!
The Green Line trolley from the Lechmere station-
The Green Line trolley from the Lechmere MBTA station was the most jammed I'd seen, even for a Saturday. Even the line to add value to our Charlie Cards was long. We eventually got there, however.
On the way back, the MBTA staff was letting everybody into Park Street station without paying.
I was wondering if there were people from the different
I was wondering if there were people from all the different Boston neighborhoods. I guess there were.
C Line above ground was packed at 11am
I was thrilled to see we couldn't get on a C Line train inbound above ground at 11 am.
I noticed two gentlemen standing near the bike lane on right side of Beacon inbound, and asked them if my son and I could join them in their Uber or Lyft. "Of course!" He said, and I flipped him a $10 to cover half the fare.
Loads of people were walking inbound at that point, which is about 3 miles to downtown. By Kenmore Square the stream of walkers was far steadier.