No T service
By pixiedust on Mon, 02/16/2015 - 9:25am
Let me get this straight. So T Red Line service has resumed today, but only between Andrew and Alewife.. MBTA Alert states there is no Red Line service between Andrew and Braintree/Ashmont. No word of shuttle busses. Explain to me how this is acceptable. I need to work in Boston and live on the South Shore. The MBTA takes $ out of mtu check each month for me to utilize the train and subway. So I deserve to have service just like everyone between Alewife and Andrew. I feel if you can't run whole line then don't do this! I know I'm not alone on this one.
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Why would you want zero rail
Why would you want zero rail service instead of 50% rail service? That makes absolutely no sense. You deserve to have service on your above ground portion and if you cant have any then the UNDERGROUND NONE SNOWED IN portion shouldn't run? That is bananas. I live in Savin Hill and being able to walk to Andrew and T in is way better than having zero T. Sorry the T isn't running everywhere but something is better than nothing.
I feel if you can't run whole
So you don't get service, no one should get service? Sorry, I cannot agree with this. It is better to run where they can than not run it at all. The few reasons I can reasonably imagine to not is the partial service would creates more inconvenience than helps (like if it better to just shuttle all the way than shuttle and transfer)
It sucks that the Alewife and all surface branches are knocked out. But it is better some people continued to get served than none.
Nope you are not the only one
Nope you are not the only one. I live near the NQ stop and work in Cambridge. I want a refund on the useless piece of plastic in my backpack, since I've been stuck driving to work and working from home.
The buses themselves are
The buses themselves are probably hampered by the cold. A 70 I was on pulled over b/c of an air brake problem, then a 71 I was about to board had to stay in Watertown Sq., also b/c of a brake problem.
I think the point is that
I think the point is that many people buy expensive monthly passes for a certain level and extent of service. I don't hear anything about the T refunding monthly pass holders for significant reductions in service. Think about it, who would want to invest hundredsof dollars in a T pass during the winter if there is a chance you wont even be able to use the service anyway
Unfortunately...
$75 a month is in the end, fairly low. Boston fares have risen slower than any other municipality despite likely having some of the highest costs in regard to maintenance. NYC is like $115 per month and has orders of magnitude more riders helping fund a system that is also likely less proportionally susceptible to snow and mostly all underground as well (not to mention amazing in regard to how much more distance you can cover for the time you spend). Chicago is $100, SF Muni/Bart is $80, but it’s not like they have the weather costs and it may be the one place with a more complained about transit system than Boston (one of the reasons why Uber started there)
There’s a lot of reasons that the T is doing poorly, and funding is a big one. I complain about it as much as the next guy, but in the end we need to fund it more and the people riding it are the ones whose primary responsibility it is to do so. I’d like to see monthly fares go up another $10, so we can get started on replacing things more quickly.
And before someone brings up the big dig, there’s a lot to say about that as well as the obligations it put on the T to expand… but as someone who drove to work for the past 6.5 years, the cost of a monthly T pass is a joke compared to the costs of a car if you need that to commute… so when people come saying “just take it from the gas tax” - which in and of itself is also screwed due to the recent drop in prices and the utter shambles that our road infrastructure is in… that’s not a realistic solution to the T’s woes (which ultimately, despite the egregious way the construction swindled taxpayers across the board, was a huge boon for everyone in the city with how much moving the highways underground benefited things. Now if only we could put the subways down there too…)
Again in summary, $75 for unlimited rides around the city, is really anything but expensive.
A bus/subway pass is
A bus/subway pass is reasonably priced. But the Commuter Rail is probably the most expensive system per mile in the whole country.
An MBTA Zone 5 pass gets you from Campello to Boston for $265/month. It's about 21 miles.
On the LIRR, Mineola to NYC is about the same distance, and it's $242. And the NYC railroads are not known for being cheap. (They also run way more frequently, and faster, than the T commuter rail.)
On New Jersey Transit, Rahway to NYC is $233.
On SEPTA, Paoli to Philly is $191.
On Metra, Braeside to Chicago is $171.
On Caltrain, Belmont to San Francisco is $126.
I'm amazed that anyone still rides the T Commuter Rail when fares are this high, schedules are slow and infrequent, and most importantly, trains are an hour or more late on a regular basis.
NYC
Not a fair comparison with the LIRR or NJT because those commuter rail passes don't also include subway and bus access.
Ok, then compare NYC's with
Ok, then compare NYC's with the T's smart phone mTicket price of $255. That doesn't include buses or subways.
Even if NYC were more expensive, this shouldn't be a race to the bottom for providing affordable and reliable mass transit.
raising fares
I've always been a proponent of raising the fares. But it will do nothing to improve the situation if the T continues to drive past paying customers leaving them to seek other options. Any business can raise prices but will there's no reason to do so if you are turning away customers.
This is an everyday routine that has nothing to do with the weather. They simply don't have a robust enough service to transport everyone who would like to use it. And until they figure out how to get people from point A to point B they shouldn't worry about the price.
This is no different than any business
that offers monthly passes/membership but then shuts down due to a blizzard. It's an unusual situation to have so much snow in so little time.
$75/month is still a good deal for subway and bus use. It comes to $2.68/day for February, and that's if one's company doesn't offer any discount.
Personally, I rather not get a refund for the days it was shut or offering limited service. I want their focus to be on cleaning the tracks and getting service back up, not giving out refunds.
MBTA says limited bus service. Modified Saturday Schedule
http://www.mbta.com/winter/
Just saw many shuttle buses in Quincy
I was driving up Burgin Pkwy/Newport Ave all the way up to the North Quincy station and there were five, yes five, T/Peter Pan buses alongside me. They took a detour to get to the Quincy Center Station but got right back on Newport Ave, stopped at Wollaston and, I can only presume, went to North Quincy, JFK and then Andrew.
What Red Line commuters have is what we used to call a combo bass. It's a bus-subway combo. There's no subway right now. There are buses and I just saw on bostonglobe.com it'll be that way for a while.
I'm almost starting to become sympathetic with the T. When I see that many buses going through Quincy, one right after the other, I think "Well, they're doing what they can."
well
well first off, if you looked at www.mbta.com/winter
You'd see that there's "limited" shuttle bus service most of the non-operating sections of the rail lines. Yes I'm well aware that its limited, but to do shuttles on just about every line strains the bus garages (there's only oh so many buses they own), but its something.
Also, if you watched that page, you've also noticed that they are slowly bringing back service online throught the day, like the D line is now operational all the way to Riverside (vs ending at Kenmore), the Orange Line now goes to Sullivan, and the Blue Line is fully operational again. Plus I hear they have national guard people shoveling out bus stops along major bus routes.
Yeah it's not YOUR line, but many others (I'm a BL rider myself). And as far as the Red Line south of Andrew, they have crews out there shoveling off the tracks because it's so bad.
Yeah I know it sucks out there, I'm a daily T rider myself. But I give the T props to what they are doing. They are keeping what they know works well running (i.e underground portions of subway) and slowly bringing service back online when it's OK to do so. It's far better than them trying to run all the service and just it being delay city and/or have people stuck on trains. Yeah it wont be perfect 'sunny day in june' service, but I think it will be better than what we've seen the past few weeks.
Of course, we're about to get to get a few more inches of snow so all this effort may just go out the window...
Yeah it's not YOUR line, but
I'd like to add that Red Line Braintree is where they've called on the general public to help shovel out for $30/hr. They're pulling it out of their butts at this point to clear tracks with the resources they have available to them.
monthly pass holders
I think the point is that many people buy expensive monthly passes for a certain level and extent of service. I don't hear anything about the T refunding monthly pass holders for significant reductions in service. Think about it, who would want to invest hundredsof dollars in a T pass during the winter if there is a chance you wont even be able to use the service anyway
Yeah
but that's standard operating procedure for anyone who sells something where the weather can unexpectedly interfere with providing the expected services. If you join an indoor pool and then there's a ton of thunderstorms that shut the pool and cancel lessons, or blizzards close the place down, trust me, no facility will give you a refund for that. If you buy a lift ticket and then it stops snowing, you don't get a refund.
It isn't fair, but that's life.
It's reasonable to close a
It's reasonable to close a pool in bad weather. But public transportation should work in winter as well as summer. Sure this is a bad storm, but the truth is the T doesn't even work in good weather.
And people pay yearly car
And people pay yearly car taxes, why isn't anyone asking for a deduction for not bring able to drive? Pretty sure the T has legalese somewhere saying service is not guaranteed. Expecting a refund is a bit delusional to be honest. Sucks but no one is getting a refund from a broke agency.
This comes across as so whiny.
Just because you don't have service, doesn't mean everyone else should have to suffer.
They are running buses from
They are running buses from Andrew to Ashmont and Andrew to Braintree
The problem is that the MBTA
The problem is that the MBTA is saying that they are running limited shuttle bus service. They have been pretty good about responding to inquiries on Twitter, until someone asks them for their definition of "limited." They refuse to answer amy questions asking for more specific information, including how often we ahould expect the shuttles. It was zero degrees this morning, so we need to be able to make informed decisions. Also, there have been a lot of complaints from passengers who get to a station looking for a shuttle, and there are no MBTA employees available to direct the crowd.
I understand that they cannot control the weather, but they need to communicate better.
I have no service in my area
I have no service in my area either. At least the MBTA isn't continuing the farce the Keolis is perpetuating by telling people there will be service and then cancelling it, sometimes without making sure the word gets out beyond Twitter or their website, leaving people stranded on outdoor platforms, or tossing them off after boarding them at South Station.
I don't want a refund. I want tracks cleared and equipment repaired as quickly as possible. I want the state to make whatever changes in governance, funding, and management that result in long term fixes that help prevent this level of chaos in future winters. I want people to be able to get where they need to go even if I can't. I want Keolis to cut the shit and stop telling me I'll have rail service when experience, equipment levels, and weather conditions are telling them otherwise far enough advance.
It's reasonable to be epically furious about having no service in your area, It's reasonable to want a refund for service you aren't getting or find unacceptable, but to want to punish people who do have service and spread the misery. That's not cool, not cool at all.
Not only that...
Fields Corner Station was open around noon and letting customers in. Then someone else said the trains weren't running. The one T employee I saw said nothing official and disappeared behind a door. After half an hour I just gave up and went home.
Those of you that have train
Those of you that have train service and are telling people that dont have it to "deal" with it....KARMA will get you
That's the reason there is a
That's the reason there is a website.