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No, Green Line drivers are not like halibut because halibut don't fall asleep
By adamg on Tue, 06/24/2008 - 12:23pm
This is the sort of thing that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in trolley drivers:
Several people, including a Boston magazine staffer, witnessed a T driver repeatedly drifting off to sleep between Hynes and Coolidge Corner shortly after 6 p.m on June 17.
Nobody was hurt, but the story gets even better when that staffer attempts to report the incident to the T.
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Comments
Hmmmmm
So, if I read this tale correctly. Only one person - a staffer from Boston Magazine - reported seeing this alleged act. If, as the writer claims, 'there were many witnesses', why has no one else come forward? Also, Boston Magazine talks about the uproar and fallout after the Newton accident. What fallout? I can tell you with 100% certainty that ridership has not declined on any of the Green Line trains I've been on in the last 3 weeks.
Hello There!
Thanks for commenting at Universal Hub, Mr. Grabauskas!
^^^^ Dan Grabauskas
^^^^ Dan Grabauskas
Fallout can mean different things
Okay, first off, you aren't reading correctly if you think the take-away is only one person complained. A big point was that the one person they know complained saw their complaint buried and ignored. Boston Magazine KNOWS that person complained, and the MBTA acted like it never happened. How many other complaints stayed ignored?
Beyond that, fallout from the D Line accident doesn't necessarily mean reduced ridership. I can tell you that as a Green Line rider, I was certainly upset about that accident. Doesn't mean I don't have to continue going to work, though. That's like pointing out to how people continue to get electricity and saying it shows high consumer satisfaction in the electric company.
How Would We Know?
How would we know no one else has complained? All of their complaints could have been ignored and tossed in the circular file as well.
The only reason Leif's complaint got noticed was because a well-known magazine called to check in on it.
Put on your thinking cap
A driver supposedly falls asleep at the height of rush hour... and the only known "witness" is a creative writer from a magazine. Nah, nothing to be suspicous of in that story.
Then Read the Story
The witness isn't a creative writer. She's a projects coordinator in the sales department.
Ordinary people don't send out press releases
Do you expect everyone who complains about the MBTA to issue a press release when they do so? Maybe that's the problem, that the MBTA *DOES* expect that and when people don't happen to work at magazines which can follow-up on complaints, the MBTA just assumes everything is fine. And if they do work at a magazine that can follow-up, the MBTA just assumes they are lying and thus everything is still fine.
Shouldn't you be extorting Legal Sea Foods for free food or something?
Block that cynic
I once saw a T bus driver do the same on a morning rush hour trip; nodding off at red lights (yes, multiple), jerking awake well into the green light cycle when his internal alarm went off.
At the route's destination, I reported the behavior to the dispatcher, who did seem to take the matter seriously. The same driver has been on the same route since, alert and attentive; I like to assume that he had been reprimanded and enrolled in bus driver rehab.
bus driver rehab...
... is for quitters!
fishy story
did the driver look like a halibut?
halibut
No, see.. that's the... Adam already did that in the... You can't just repeat...
Wow. How to explain comedy to newcomers?
100% certainty?
"I can tell you with 100% certainty that ridership has not declined on any of the Green Line trains I've been on in the last 3 weeks."
Cool! Please post the passenger counts for each trip.
(Hey, you're the one that wanted specifics.)
That does it
I'm driving to the airport for my vacation next month.
I have no choice
With two kids in tow for a 5:20 am flight, the options are pretty spare.