Hey, there! Log in / Register
At Ruggles, no one can hear you scream
By adamg on Mon, 12/19/2016 - 8:29am
Around 8 a.m., Adam Kessel boarded an inbound Needham Line train only to find (again):
Bodies packed tight, including in vestibules between cars. Unsafe, uncomfortable. Illegal?
A few minutes later, he checked in from Ruggles:
Train just left Ruggles with dozens unable to deboard, trapped on train. No one around to hear shouts.
Topics:
Free tagging:
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
Glad I opted for the bus from
Glad I opted for the bus from Rozzie Square then. Yikes.
As always, glad to make the
As always, glad to make the first Needham line train in the morning. Always wondered how bad it could get later in the morning.... Train pulling out before everyone who wants to has disembarked? Might as well not have conductors at all.
Sometimes you just have to
I wasn't on the train today, but I have been on both commuter rail and subway when there simply is no more room and they need to get going. It sucks, but they can't sit there and wait for space to magically appear where there is none.
Disembark
They're talking about people who want to get OFF the train not being able to. Not people who want to get on.
People were standing in the
People were standing in the aisles, the people trying to disembark had to make thier way down a full aisle of people who had no place to go... It didn't help at the very end of the car, in the 3 seater next to the stairs? The women in the three seater had two bags with cartons of Girls Scout cookies. No one could get by her. She had yet another bag too! Not on the shelf, not in front of her, but in the aisle. So that slowed down the process as well.
My bad
Oh now THAT is a big problem. (Not being able to get off the train that is, not my inability to read a simple post.)
Thank you Charlie Baker!
Thank you Charlie Baker!
Your grand plan of 25 years ago to force people into cars is coming to fruition!
Please, act like an adult
As someone who takes this train daily, its sucked equally as bad under Deval. Lets not forget how well Beverly Scott did running the T.
Yes, let's not forget her.
Yes, let's not forget her. She did quite well, until she was forced out by... Charlie Baker!
She did quite well?
Sorry, but decades of underinvestment goes beyond her, but the fact that they had no real snow removal plans, or even people capable of using the snow removal equipment, lays at her feet.
Rich Davey was a good head. Grabauskas should have been a good head but didn't know the shitstorm he was getting into when he took the job. Scott might have been good if not for the worst winter in memory laying bare her lack of skills.
But how is that her fault?
I don't want to get on a Bev Scott debate again... but.
They did have a snow plan.. it was running trains all night. They did that long before Bev Scott was ever around. Plus much of the equipment was broken.. Here we go back to the same old argument of decades of under-funding the T.. so much so they couldn't even get equipment fixed. She was handed a bag of shit... it really wasn't her fault at all. You can only deal the hand that you're given.
Out of the three people you mention, she was the most qualified to be the GM. She had practical experience running a transit system. Davey and Dan G did not. And don't get me wrong.. I like Davey because he's a train aficionado.. and Dan G was great that registry and knew his way around the state and how to get things done, but as you said, he had no idea what he was walking into.
I won't hash it out again
I'm just saying that Scott was not blameless.
Other than that, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I liked Grabauskas from the Registry, and my gut with him was that either he was going to soar or crash. In the end, the inherent problems of the T made him an albatross.
That said, Baker was still in his "honeymoon" phase of his governorship when the snow hit, while Scott had been there for a while.
Let's not forget
Baker was the one who cooked up the "forward funding" and arranged for debt that drivers should have paid for to be dumped on the MBTA because those mean old feds said "we paid for transit and we expect transit".
In sum: he stole money from transit, and, when forced to cough it up, dumped highway project debt overruns on the MBTA instead of the contractors who caused the problem (who were his friends).
Well, as someone who rode the commuter rail daily under
Deval, and continues to ride it daily, it sucks more now.
And the last time I checked, Deval was not in office.
Don't worry
The MBTA will fine Keolis. And then promptly waive the fines.
Pull the emergency brake
Train leaving and people not able to get off? Pull the brake.
They have to answer for that. You can always say "but people were still exiting the train and it wasn't safe", because that would be true.
Please only do that if the
Please only do that if the doors are actually open and people are actually still walking off the train. I'm guessing they weren't, and the doors were closed, because I can't imagine any conductor radioing "OK to go" without the doors all being closed - if they did and someone got hurt, they wouldn't have a job anymore.
I'm willing to bet the people who couldn't get off just hadn't fought their way over to the door in time. And I hate to sound insensitive, but that's kinda their own fault. If you're going to have to fight your way down the aisle to get off, you really ought to start doing so before the train actually gets to your stop.
There was no space closer to
There was no space closer to the exits--physically impossible for people to start moving toward exit before arriving at station without crowd-surfing.
"I'm willing to bet the
"I'm willing to bet the people who couldn't get off just hadn't fought their way over to the door in time. And I hate to sound insensitive, but that's kinda their own fault. If you're going to have to fight your way down the aisle to get off, you really ought to start doing so before the train actually gets to your stop."
People started moving at FOREST HILLS! There was no room to get out of the seats, no room to get down the aisle, and the stairs had people standing on them too. NOT THEIR FAULT!
Jesus. This sounds like a
Jesus. This sounds like a tragedy waiting to happen if there's some kind of fire or emergency evacuation.
Yep
I have definitely been on trains where a) there was only one conductor for the train and b) some of the outer doors were locked, which meant pile ups for people trying to get off at Ruggles. And, a likely nightmare situation in the event of an emergency.
The outer doors on new are
The outer doors on new are remotely controlled precisely so that you cannot open them yourselves. Some idiot is liable to open them when the train's not actually stopped at a platform, or open them at a low-level platform when the person doesn't know how to open the stair trap. I've seen it happen.
As the recordings on trains say... "Please exit the train ONLY at a door attended by a conductor."
You guys are clamoring about how unsafe the train crowding is, but then complain that actual safety-driven rules are bad.
Also, in an actual emergency, there is a door override, and several windows are removable. Check out the emergency exit map in the vestibule sometime.
Seen it
1) The event I am referring to was on an older train, no automatic release of doors
2) Still only one conductor on the train during rush hour with lots and lots of people wanting to make bus or subway connections.
So because Keolis is
So because Keolis is understaffed suddenly safety rules should no longer be enforced?
No, I'm saying that when I
No, I'm saying that when I ride the train I expect to be able to get off at my stop.
When was the last time you rode commuter rail
I'm guessing it was a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGG time ago.
It isn't "safety related" if there are NO CONDUCTORS and NO OPEN DOORS.
Please find your clue - or ride this line on a Wednesday until you do!
Actually the last time I rode
Actually the last time I rode the commuter rail was 12/9, a PM rush hour Lowell train.
I will admit it has been about a year now since I stopped riding it daily.
There is a term for what you are doing
Train-splaining.
If by "train-splaining" you
If by "train-splaining" you mean "explaining why things are how they are and the reasons behind it", then yes, yes I am.
*
*without bothering to listen to the reasons why this is all theoretical bs that is endangering people who actually ride these trains at these times.
people who actually ride
which implies that I do not. As I stated a few comments up, it's only been a year since I stopped riding the CR daily, and I still ride it regularly (most recently during rush hour a week and a half ago).
And what "endangers" people is things like taking it upon yourself to open a door because there's no conductor at it!
I'm less concerned about the
I'm less concerned about the door operation and more about what sounds like a trampling death waiting to happen.
Not a one-time occurrence
I hear from a coworker that inbound trains have been frequently not stopping at Ruggles lately - I think she comes in on the Providence line. So, not a one-time occurrence, but still it sounds like there has been no announcement or explanation of this change.
It wasn't that the train didn't stop....
It wasn't that the train didn't stop--it did. It was just so crowded that it pulled out before everyone who needed to was able to get off. And the conductors were scarce enough not to notice.
That's because
the Providence Line is only scheduled to stop at Ruggles about half the time.
More trains at some point
More trains at some point!
http://www.universalhub.com/2016/30-million-ruggles-revamp-slated-start-...