Hey, there! Log in / Register
Well, the C Line now goes all the way to Cleveland Circle and the Orange Line to Wellington
By adamg on Wed, 02/18/2015 - 8:51am
Aggro Maverick: No train for 20 minutes. Photo by Tim Lawrence.
But the B Line? Amanda McNeil reports:
Direct quote from 57 driver "All the buses leaving Watertown are full. Y'all better just start walking"
An Orange Line tried withered on the vine at Tufts.
Three inbound Red Line trains passed through Central after 8:30 a.m. and nobody could get on any of them.
The Blue Line? Not so fast there.
Commuter rail? Still with the delays "due to snow conditions." Roving UHub photographer Will figured things would be bad when he got to his stop and saw a Channel 5 van there:
He reports his intuition didn't fail him: When he checked in, his train was 30 minutes late.
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
I was probably in that Red line photo.
I ended up bailing and taking a cab. Surprisingly there were few available at the cab stand.
I'm definitely driving in the rest of the week.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again: Cocoanut Grove.
Scenes like these on so many of the underground platforms in the subway are making me very worried that if there is an incident, we are going to have another Cocoanut Grove. If the turnstiles and snow don't impede exit, the hundreds of people trying to get into the stations will.
It is especially terrifying when I think about the response being hindered considerably when the apparatus and personnel from the several fire departments get stuck in the surface traffic and/or can't make turns because of huge snow banks.
It is long past time for the Governor, General Court, the T and the several cites and towns to stop treating this like an inconvenience, and to start treating this as a public safety emergency.
Otherwise, they are all on notice that the blood will be on their hands.
While I don't disagree with you,
T stations, as far as I know, aren't covered in copious amounts of paper decorations.
All it takes is smoke and a stampede, man.
And we don't have to get to 400+ deaths for it to matter. One will be enough, as it has been for Metro in DC.
Platforms are so packed that
Platforms are so packed that I can definitely see a group of people getting accidentally pushed onto the tracks.
a smoke and a stampede
was what happened in the King's Cross station fire in London in 1987. I'm actually surprised a similar fire hasn't happened in the U.S.; our subway stations aren't all that different.
Wood escalators?
The issue at Kings Cross was old, wooden escalators which flashed over. There's nothing like that in any T station.
My bus driver in QUINCY
Told all the riders he is disgusted and embarrassed and apologized to the riders. Be careful quoting honest T Workers management will hunt them down and punish them quicker than the KGB
That's an important note
T drivers and operators are just as frustrated about this as we are. I do not know if reducing schedules also means sending drivers home (though I wouldn't doubt it, and I'd feel terrible for them if it did), but operators don't want to get stuck on a dead train any more than we do, and bus drivers don't want to sit in gridlock and miss their schedule by fifty minutes either. Having to speed past crowded stations/stops because their train/bus is already bursting with angry commuters must also take its toll on their mood and well-being.
(On that note, kudos to my #66 driver from this morning, who put in extra effort to coordinate people getting on or off and basically played human Tetris to accommodate every one of us, even if he had to violate the white line and ask people to take off their backpacks to make room for everyone at the stops.)
But it's also true that, as angry and frustrated as we are, and as much as that affects our drivers and operators, they don't have the ability to complain without risking flak from the MBTA. It'd be nice if we would all just work together, and acknowledge that this problem spreads to all commuters and we all just want to get to work/go home as quietly and quickly as possible, but it'd be nicer still if we spared half a second to say "Thank you" to the operators who are right there with us.
Thumbs up
When possible, I have tried to say "thank you" to each bus driver and train operator. I have always received a courteous "You're welcome" or "Sure thing" from them. I am sure they are just as frustrated as we all are.
I have upgraded my standard "thank you"....
... to "thank you very much!" ;-}
yup
here here.. tired of people crapping on the drivers when they are just doing their job.
If you think it's been tough for us commuters, try being a driver for a day or two. You'll have a new found respect for these folks who do this thankless job daily.
Blue Line
of course I missed Tim Lawrence again at Maverick! After an hour of waiting and not getting on the BL, I went north to Wood Island. One train went by.. too packed. Another came.. made sure roommate got on (he had meetings), and waited 25 minutes for another packed train.
Door to Door took me three hours :( I almost went home and took another PTO day (like I did yesterday). I can't continue to do this and work 5 hour days because I lose so much commuting..