Our decaying infrastructure: Bowdoin on the Blue Line shut

The closure of Bowdoin was planned to take place well before the rebiuld of Gov't Center for other reasons.

The first was a demonstrated low-boarding ridership. They could calculate boardings but not exits, at least not easily.

The second reason is/was that the new Blue Line cars at 6-cars did not fit the platform length. When a train runs from GC to Bowdoin a T employee is supposed ot be emptying the last 2 cars and moving people to the forward 4-cars that fit the platform. That way when the doors open no one is in the tunnel. When the train goes around the loop the first 2 cars are beyond the platform with only the last 4-cars available for entry. You are then allowed to use the manual door open button to open the car door where you will be boarding.

Because of the low ridership and platform length problem, there was a plan to close Bowdoin anyway. They still planned to loop the trains there as well as store trains for the start of service the following morning if that was deemed necessary. The stub track that goes under Cambridge street is also still available and powered at last check, if needed.

I often wondered why they would not extend at least one of the platform sides at Bowdoin and allow exit and boarding on the single platform area but apparently for what ever reason, that is not feasible either due to existing utilities in the way or other structural issues.

The long range plan for GC was to create, or better stated, re-create an opening with fare fare gates to the BL platform at the edge of GC plaza. The entrance there was capped when old Scollay Sq station was rebuilt into GC and it remained an air shaft for the next several decades. The emergency exit now at the end of the BL platform (going towards Bowdoin) is that planned exit but remains an Emergency exit at this time. It may be interesting if they turn it into an entrance with fare gates at some point. Its close proximity to Bowdoin would definitely be the herald of the closure of Bowdoin.

As to the falling ceiling... well, sorry, nothing new there. That is happening all over. I'm frankly more concerned about the water at Haymarket Sta on the OL.

Imagine in your own home if your roof developed a small leak. It's not going away on it's own and will only get worse over time. You might not be ready to invest in an entirely new roof, but you usually can patch small leaks to buy you some time.

However, if you fail to do anything about the leaky roof, your problems will quickly multiply. The water will damage the interior of your home, its furnishings, electrical systems, etc. — damage that could all have been prevented, if you only patched the leaky roof.

Instead of patching, repairing, and correcting minor problems on an ongoing basis, the Ⓣ allows them to fester and grow to the point where they become major, service-affecting disasters. Then, outside consultants and contractors are hired at great expense to completely rebuild something that would have been fine had it only been properly maintained.

Leaky roofs are obvious to most people, but wherever you look there are other examples of total neglect. Even stations that are completely new, fall quickly into disrepair.
   

The Ⓣ spent lots of extra money to build these fancy staircases at Wonderland with granite treads and stainless steel handrails with LED lighting underneath. Two years later, and look at it!
                   
Why? Because the Ⓣ has no full-time craftsmen to attend to such things on an ongoing basis. In other words, there's nobody who cares about maintenance.

A crew of masons should be visiting every station on the Ⓣ, repointing and patching small cracks on a continuous basis. Just one season of freeze-thaw cycles will cause small cracks to get much bigger, so here is one area in particular where preventive maintenance can save lots of money!

Likewise, teams of carpenters, lathers, roofers, plasterers, painters other repair specialists should also visit every station throughout the year.

Unlike privatized outside contractors, full-time craftsmen take ownership of their work — especially when they keep revisiting it. They do a better job out of pride, so they want it to look good!

Spending a little bit of money to maintain the stations on a continuing basis would prevent major damage that becomes much more expensive to repair. In addition, it would make the stations more pleasant for passengers to use!
   

_{( alas, I don't imagine this would be considered by Stephanie Pollack, Governor Baker, or his "Fiscal Management Control Board" )}

      
      
                   
       ^{( Bowdoin Station in better days! )}

This was one of the most recently renovated Red Line stations, within the past 10 years.

Just the other day I had to stand on the Hingham boat.

All snark aside and this goes against my civic nature, but the boats run well and it is one of the few parts of the T that is privatized.

However in true T fashion whomever decided to mess with the ease of the boat service have spent two years building a $9M ticket office that no one will use because people buy tickets on their phones. Remember that next time you hire Sherpas to guide you up at Porter.