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Evening commute out of South Station to be a mess, state announces
By adamg on Thu, 02/18/2016 - 3:03pm
This just in from MassDOT:
Amtrak officials notified MassDOT today that the Amtrak signal failure will not be resolved by the start of the evening commute. Because of this Amtrak failure, the only commuter rail trains that will depart from South Station are those that serve the Providence/Attleboro and Stoughton Lines.
MassDOT is urging all other Commuter Rail passengers not to arrive at South Station. Instead, MBTA will post new schedules by 3:30 PM today indicating which trains will depart from the alternative stations. These alternative stations will include JFK/UMASS, Back Bay, Forest Hills, Quincy Center, and Braintree.
The new schedules for today’s commute will be posted on MBTA.com by 3:30 PM today.
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Comments
Well its 3:26pm
Tick Tock ______!
Friday 600 AM reported fixed.
Friday 600 AM reported fixed.....
World class City?
World class City!Olympics
Everything would be working if we voted for the Olympics
\\FTFY :-)
You know, I hate to be
You know, I hate to be pessimistic, but - if our world was ever devastated by a Cylon ambush at a bogus peace conference, I have very low confidence in the MBTA's ability to get me out of town to rendezvous with a rag-tag fleet of fugitives.
Fortunately, like the
Fortunately, like the Galactica, the MBTA equipment is so decrepit and obsolete the Cylons wouldn't be able to take control of it either. So there's that.
Any you might want to make alternative plans for tomorrow morn..
Amtrak is not saying whether or not the signals will be fixed for tomorrow morning's commute.
Weather Report
It will be rather cold (near 20F) in the morning, but up into the low 40s by evening. 0% chance of rain or snow, too.
Might be a time to consider experimenting with active commuting, if you have the clothes for the morning cold and live close enough to make it worthwhile. The streets are pretty clear of most icy mess, as are the pathways and sidewalks.
Most people can walk 3 to 4 miles per hour, and bike 8-10 mph.
You know, if it was the rapid
You know, if it was the rapid transit lines that were messed up, that comment might be helpful. The folks coming in on the Commuter Rail from Franklin or Worcester or Rockport are probably not planning to walk, though.
Swirly's heart was in the right place, though.
I walked this morning from Back Bay to MIT (around 2 miles). I am about 14-15 miles from downtown Boston so walking would take me a bit of time.
Last miles
Folks who normally arrive at South Station and walk or hop on the T will end up instead at JFK/UMASS, Back Bay, Forest Hills, Quincy Center, or Braintree. If instead of hopping on the T they can walk to work from tomorrow's terminus, that will still help alleviate the extra crowding on the subways.
It ain't perfect, but it ain't nothing neither.
Commuter Rail Mess Not Limited to Commuter Rail
If the trains don't come all the way in to their terminal stations, it will be a bit of a mess. You may not be able to even get on inside of those junctions. That's where the other options come in. If your choice is between not getting on a train full of commuter rail passengers and walking, you might want to walk.
I used to ride all the way to Lowell and back, but, no, that kind of distance is not reasonable unless you are a seasoned cyclist.
In fact....
TV news reports at noon mentioned that many people were walking from South Station to Back Bay Station, a better option on this relatively nice day than dealing with heinously crowded platforms.
Can't load the MBTA's list of these "outlying stations."
Shock. ( http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/mbta/commuter-rail-afternoon-status-... is linked from the top of MBTA.com, and 502s whenever I try to load it. GOSH I WONDER IF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW THE HELL THEY'RE GETTING HOME TONIGHT.)
In news from Bizarro Boston
In news from Bizarro Boston the gas tax will be raised 150% to match the increases T riders have had to pay in recent years and they are going to shut down the Mass Pike at night because it isn't as popular during those hours.
It's nice to dream
isn it? :-)
Snark aside
I'm wondering how much longer before this failure of major infrastructure starts hitting companies bottom lines. Chronically late workers, and workers stuck in 2 hour of traffic to go 40 miles is not something attractive to businesses that are actually looking to come to our medium of the road tax burden state. Our supposedly great infrastructure, density, and pipeline of highly educated individuals has been working out so far, but we need to keep attractive.
This is a very, very serious issue we have to tackle at some point; along with the flight of the next generation because they can't afford to stay in state due to housing shortages and high prices.
Dumping 2 million rides a day on the Pike, 93, and 128 is not an option. Raising prices to cover the fixes would just similarly do the same thing, in a state where we rolled back a negligible gas tax increase.
If the towns outside of 128 don't want to help cover the cost, then I think it's time to start re-appropriating inside 128 tax revenue away from their barely used road systems that the metro tax base pays for. We're all in this together, you cant have your cake and eat it too.
Rural Mass sure doesn't want to look like Rural NH, and Boston Metro needs working transportation infrastructure to keep growing the economy and tax base, for everyone.
Its a huge issue. City
Its a huge issue. City council president Wu tweeted this morning her staff was bare bones because of the delays, for instance. If you are an hourly worker and you get into work 90 minutes late that is some real cash coming out of your pocket.
On the other hand I do not feel bad for anyone who chooses to live 40+ miles from their job. Mega commuting is dumb and harmful.
Michele Wu and her staff
Are all non-essential employees, in fact the entire city council is non-essential.
People don't always choose to
People don't always choose to live somewhere after they gained employment at their current job. What an ignorant statement.
Additionally
most households have two working adults in them.
You can live near your work, but if Spouse A works in the far reaches of Roxbury and Spouse B works in the far reaches of Cambridge, or if Spouse A works in the suburbs of Boston and Spouse B works in the suburbs of Manchester, no one's going to get a divorce because they changed jobs.
And that's for people who rent. People who own can't afford to move every time someone changes jobs; people who have children in grades K-12 wouldn't want to.
On the other hand I do not
It's cheaper to live 40mi from Boston and commute than live closer to your job.
1BR apartments in southern NH for $700/mo. Commuting adds say $200. Find a 1BR apartment in Boston or any of the surrounding towns for $900/mo.
You might be able to find one
You might be able to find one in Revere, Lynn, Quincy or Woburn if you're lucky...
40 miles in 2 hours? If only!
a (now former) colleague just left my office because her 20 mile commute from a location about 1.5 miles off of 128 (ok! I-95!) to our office about 1.5 miles off 128 about 17 miles south was routinely taking her 75-85 minutes each way.
I've said it before and I will keep saying it: we are choking on our own success, and unless we fix our transport system, we're going to croak.
Raising prices to cover the
The gas tax was not rolled back.
The referendum repealed the part of the law that allowed the gas tax to be increased yearly without legislative oversight, that is, by allowing unelected technocrats in Washington to raise our gas tax each year when they calculate the consumer price index.
You want another increase in the gas tax, fine: Get your coward legislators to put their name on it each year.
Increased yearly in dollars
Increased yearly in dollars that lose value, or kept constant in inflation-adjusted value.
Are you this angry about the tax on toothpaste? Over the long term, that goes up without legislative oversight, since it's 6.25% of the inflation-affected price of toothpaste.
No, I'm angry about how
No, I'm angry about how people are intentionally spreading lies just because their side lost the referendum. I'm replying with a similar post to the above each time I see this "voters repealed the gas tax" lie.
And if anyone was going around spreading false statements because they didn't get the sales tax increase they wanted, I would probably be posting in response to that, too.
Its take your car/truck to
Its take your car/truck to work day! All the drivers who complain about the state funding pubic transit can get a glimpse of Boston without transit.
Could affect tomorrow's AM commute as well
To continue the MassDOT blog post:
what exactly
could the MBTA have done to avoid Amtrak signal failures?
Nothing
but as the commuter rail uses the Amtrak tracks, it is good to keep everyone in communication with each other.
Worked with Amtrak to make
Worked with Amtrak to make sure a disaster recovery plan is in place.
Doubled the income tax to pay
Doubled the income tax to pay for the construction of an entirely new set of rail lines.
Just sent out
I just sent out a company wide email telling people this. We have lots of people who use South Station ..
This WILL impact Friday regardless
Even if they fix Tower 1 overnight, they'll have to contend with:
1. Trainsets which don't end up at their right terminals: At the substitute terminals, they have only 1 or 2 tracks to work with. They're not going to get the right sized train consists going to the right places - just going to have to take whatever is in line and available.
2. Trains that haven't been serviced. Normally all trains are fueled/serviced at Southampton Yard near South Station. Many train sets haven't made it there yet. Hopefully they've been able to line up fuel trucks to service trains at the outlying terminals overnight.
3. Train crews that have worked up to their hours of service limits and/or can't get in place to make it back to their starting terminal in time to start tomorrow's service.
And that's all just IF they get Tower 1 working overnight..
Traffic prediction for tomorrow: Not good
I'll bet dollars to donuts that a lot of commuters will drive into the city tomorrow creating traffic from the North, West and South. I predict every highway and not-so-secret shortcuts will be jammed.
Edited to add: I now see this concern has already been raised. I'm just pissed off because I have an early meeting and my easy-peasy Friday commute is now screwed up.
School Vaction Week - the only saving grace
if this happened next Tuesday, we'd really be in for it.
Come to think of it, can we arrange to have this and some major subway failures happen next Tuesday? Then we'd really get a nice idea of what things would look like if the T is allowed to continue its agonizing demise. Maybe that would concentrate some minds.
Last winter already had that
Last winter already had that effect. People seem to be forgetting that the governor, the legislature, and the MBTA is well aware of the mess the T is in, and they're working on figuring out how to fix it.
The MBTA is a multi-billion dollar state agency; they can't just fix it in weeks. They can't just wave a magic wand and have billions of dollars dumped on the MBTA to immediately buy new equipment. For the past year, the MBTA has been under the control of a special board that the governor created, which recently issued a report on everything that's wrong with the T, and they'll soon be issuing a report on how they plan to fix it.
The signal mess is a gross
The signal mess is a gross failure, but the miscommunication is causing a sh*tshow. Text alerts say to go to South Station for Providence and Stoughton trains. Keolis rep doesn't know what I'm talking about when I ask to confirm (3:30 train info had been lacking in general), and asks me to show her the text. She directs everyone to back bay as a sure bet.
I call my husband who says that 1 minute prior the mbta site had an update indicating that the 3:30 PVD would indeed originate at South Stn, 20-30 minutes late. The same rep says her supervisor is telling her to tell everyone looking for Providence line trains to go to back bay. Meanwhile, there people visiting Boston with their kids who are now worrying about how to get to back bay, because they are tourists.
As the 3:30 was announced, there was also a request for assistance with unruly passengers at the information desk. We are now slowly on our way to the hordes at back bay.
The Red Line will be super
The Red Line will be super crowded tonight!
Especially when it dies....
Especially when it dies....
The orange line too. They
The orange line too. They will each have tens of thousands of more people on them than usual since so many trains are leaving from outer stations instead of South Station. It is going to be miserable.
Message to the MBTA from your friends at AMTRAK
Drop the lawsuit or we will drop you. If you don't drop the lawsuit the Amtrak police will tow all your managers fancy suv's parked at South Station.
I'd wait it out at Foley's
Why fight for a spot with the rest of the cattle.
DAILY MESSAGE FROM GOVERNMENT
ATTENTION: PEOPLE WHO RIDE PUBLIC TRANSIT ARE SECOND-CLASS LOSERS.
THE PURPOSE OF PUBLIC TRANSIT IS TO KEEP THE ROADS FREE FOR FIRST-CLASS CITIZENS, NOT TO GET LOSERS TO WORK ON TIME.
At least the buses are running...
...cuz the MBTA is throwing Amtrak right under one. They're being very clear that this one slice of today's commuteapocalypse is NOT the T's fault.
Well
The Red Line train that wanted to emulate the Amtrak signals is on the T's hands, but blaming the T for the commuter rail today is akin to blaming Greyhound for a car crash delaying your bus.
Exactly
I find it interesting they're working really hard on that distinction.
Also, and this may just be because I am (luckily) commuting by other means these days and don't pay as close attention as I used to, it seems like the T has been much more vocal about this problem (and how it's not theirs!!!!) than they are about, say, the usual red line failures.
Of course they are
I mean, they have little institutional excuses when panels start falling off Orange Line cars (except to note that new cars are on order) but when it is someone else's fault, you gotta play that up.
This dispute between Amtrak
This dispute between Amtrak and the MBTA probably plays a part in why they're not working together as well as they could be, and why the MBTA is very quick to emphasize when Amtrak is at fault for a failure.
Drive.
If everyone drives to work in Boston for the next year then maybe the Governor will see why the MBTA is important because his highway maintenance budget will skyrocket, business will leave the area and cause a loss in tax revenue and a surge in unemployment that will result in reduced tax revenue ... oh yeah and the city will become a parking lot and all of these multi-million dollar downtown condos will drop in price.
Venting
Can I vent and tell my story from last night? I live in Hyde Park and normally take the Readville train but there is a 515 Stoughton train that stops at Hyde Park. The MBTA site said all Stoughton/Providence trains were leaving from South Station.
So, that was my original plan. While at South Station they announce that the 515 Stoughton train is delayed but announce a shuttle bus for the Readville train. Riders can take the bus to Newmarket station and the train will pick us up there and continue with the normal route. About fifty of us take the bus. The bus lets us off at Newmarket and takes off.
There's no train. Someone calls the T and discovers that the train we just took the bus to catch has been cancelled as has the train after that. There will not be another train for over an hour. It's six oclock and we are outside in the cold. Most people walked fifteen minutes to Andrews to catch the redline.
To me, this just represents everything that is wrong with the MBTA. They are not capable of working together and so their customers never get a clear message from them. They always say one thing and then fifteen minutes later, when it is too late, turn around and say something else.