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Suggesting that driving a car
Suggesting that driving a car and getting on a plane is a way to protect the planet and celebrate earth day is like thinking that kicking your dad in the groin is a generous Father’s Day gift.
But Boston doesn't have said transit system...
The Silver Line is a bus line that's poorly connected to the transit system. Unless one's destination is on the Red Line, it's at least a 3-seat ride on the SL1 (SL - Red - Orange/Green), so it doesn't really count.
The Blue Line stops at "Airport", as does the SL3, but this requires travelers to take an airport shuttle bus with unreliable performance. Does that really count as a stop "at" the airport?
(Personal experience: it took 45 minutes to get from the Blue Line station to Terminal C on a pre-COVID summer Monday morning. The shuttle spent 10 minutes boarding passengers at the rental car center, and 25 minutes stuck in traffic at Terminal B.)
Asking the wrong question
For the hard core anti NIMBYs like Mr. Ofsevit, public transit can NEVER be questioned no matter how infrequent or inconvenient it is.
Oh, it will take 4 hops to get to the airport with a 30 minute walk to the nearest bus stop and 15 minute waits for the next Silver Line on a Sunday evening while lugging two suitcases? Well clearly YOU'RE the problem with your racist single family housing in the burbs and whining about your precious car. If you don't like it get a bike!
LOL
OK I have no love for Ari but this is crazy insane.
It also made me spit up my coffee and nearly choke in laughing.
Been a while since you flew anywhere?
Lugging two suitcases?
Really?
Really?
WTH does that? Not with the first one costing $30 and the second as much as $100!
And your description of using transit is rather precious. I used to travel a fair bit for work. I never had a problem getting to Logan on public transit.
I suspect that this uninformed little rant is about compensating for something, perhaps?
Really? Because I have.
Really? Because I have.
Also, 2 suitcases: One suitcase = carry on luggage and the other is checked baggage. Duh.
Personal experience:
I've been flying out of Logan for years, and it's never even occurred to me to drive there. I guess changing trains/buses once or twice is annoying, but so is the entire flying experience. Surely you brought a book or something to read on the plane anyway, right?
And regardless of how convenient it is, there's absolutely nothing eco-friendly about driving yourself to the airport.
Having worked at Logan at a
Having worked at Logan at a couple points over times- I found the shuttle bus was sometimes the bigger impediment to taking the T than the multi-seat ride from pretty much everywhere- worked with someone who forewent the T for the Logan Express bus from Braintree- On a related note- the parking there is no bargain, either- was around $40/ 8 hrs. if I couldn't get an employee spot in a timely manner
I absolutely HATE HATE what
I absolutely HATE HATE what they did to the Blue Line shuttle when they built the Rental Car Center.
It used to be a quick zip on free-flowing roads. Now the bus sits around for a while after you board, wends its way around the back streets of the airport with a lot of traffic lights, and picks up a giant load of rental car customers slowly heaving large bags since they didn’t pack for a transit trip. Then the bus sits there for a while after that for no reason.
I used to go that way because, despite the Red-Green-Blue transfer, it was still better for my blood pressure than the endurance test known as the Silver Line. Not any more.
There’s no reason to make Blue Line passengers endure this. There should be a separate shuttle route which waits for people to transfer from the train and then goes straight to the terminals.
Is this an accidentally
Is this an accidentally-recycled old photo and tweet?
----
Other than that, my best guess is they're promoting on-airport parking because of low demand/revenue, and are trotting out the rationale that driving to the airport & parking there until your return means only one round trip on the road as opposed to a friend or taxi or rideshare making two round trips (one dropping you off and then one picking you up.)
You have a point about round
You have a point about round-trips related to someone else shuttling the traveler to and from the airport having a higher impact than parking at the airport (particularly if demand at the on-site parking is low), but that doesn't change the fact that if they are trying to promote the most earth friendly means of transport to the airport, and as an Earth Day related message, we have ways of getting to the airport that don't rely on ever being in a passenger vehicle. Or, for those further away from the city, that may at least mean not traveling in a passenger vehicle within the boundaries of Suffolk County to get to the airport.
Thank you
It's still dumb, but at least it now makes sense of any sort.
Should I leave the car
Should I leave the car running while I'm away to avoid starting it an extra time or two as well?
Aaaannnnd the tweet is gone.
Aaaannnnd the tweet is gone.
“Our revenue is down...
“Please don’t have a friend drop you off, instead pay us to unnecessarily garage your car while you are on your trip.”
As someone who has often held
As someone who has often held the keys to social media accounts my educated guess is that whoever is in charge of social media was off for Patriots Day and someone had the bright idea to promote a half baked idea that had been kicked around in the office. Without the social media person there to stop them sending the Tweet was just a click of the button.
That half baked idea being that driving and parking is more environmentally responsible then having someone pick you up and drop you off twice. Four full trips versus two... Not only was this not made clear in the Tweet, even if it were it is still not a classic Earth Day message.
What might have made it make sense
IF they had electric car chargers in central parking. Something to keep you from coming back to a discharged car after a two week stay?
Some of us do the pick up/drop off thing because we only have one car and only one of the three of us that use it is going. But having one car instead of two or three saves resources, too.
Have you been to Logan in the last 10 years?
There’s no place for a public transit stop there unless they start filling in more of the harbor.
What are you talking about?
The Silver Line and Blue Line shuttle have stops right there. I use them all the time (well, pre-pandemic, anyway).