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MBTA adds extra Kennedy-related service
By adamg on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 10:55am
The T says it will add extra Red Line trains for the JFK/UMass stop and will increase the number of buses running between the station and the JFK Library between 5:30 and 11:30 p.m. on Thursday and 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Also, all Old Colony commuter-rail trains will stop at JFK/UMass, and the T says it may even add Red Line trains after the normal 12:30 a.m. shutdown time if warranted.
On Saturday, the T will stop E trolleys at Brigham Circle, but will compensate with extra 39 buses along Huntington Avenue, while the Orange Line will add extra service to Roxbury Crossing. Route 66 buses, which normally go past Mission Church on Tremont Street, will be diverted until after Kennedy's funeral Mass. The Mission Hill Link bus won't operate at all.
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Comments
move in weekend
I enjoy the fact that the funeral is going to be in my hood, but what a logistical misstep. It is move-in/out weekend!!! Uhauls and Limos ALL over the hill.
Thank god I'm going to NJ
how inconvenient for you
how inconvenient for you that a Massachusetts senator has died at this time
Kennedy Funeral and Move In
Don't worry, Nick. I do not know how much moving in is (was) slated to happen in or around Mission Hill on Saturday, particularly in view of the fact there might be a tropical cyclone of some sort, but I do know one thing from experience:
The United States Secret Service is not going to be at all interested in how many college kids or other citizens it inconveniences for many hours before and during the funeral service on Saturday, and will not be allowing large moving-type vehicles into the vicinity.
We are going to have all living Presidents, including the sitting one, over there. There will be a virtual lockdown, at least for a while. And the traffic created by the various motorcades (you didn't think all of these dignataries were going to travel together, did you?) is going to tie the rest of the northern part of the City up, as well. Sounds like a good day to evacuate to the suburbs. Just follow Tommy Boy's signs.
Sorry MBTA , but a 'by invitation only' funeral at
Mission Hill Church will have absolutely NO impact on your ability to run streetcars beyond Brigham Circle on Saturday morning.
Please stop coming up with these pathetic "E"xcuses to try to convince people to allow you to abandon yet another piece of VERY USEFUL Boston transit infrastructure.
except...
Can you imagine the number of people under Secret Service protection who will be at this funeral? The road closures and diversions are sure to be massive and erratic. And all those not invited may decide to hang around outside or nearby to see people going in and out. I don't think anyone wants the trains getting stuck down there in the section where they run in the street. Brigham Circle turnaround is probably the best way to keep service at some semblance of normal, which would surely be appreciated by the entire rest of the E branch.
It might be invitation only,
It might be invitation only, but Tremont St. near Brigham Circle is going to be closed. I suspect Huntington Ave. might be a tad bit more crowded than usual as a result.
Not the T
Far be it from me to defend the T, but police/Secret Service are actually blocking most of MH streets during the funeral. No traffic means no T, too.
Nearly a dozen of the
Nearly a dozen of the invited guests are under Secret Service protection, there will likely be several motorcades crossing Brigham Circle, and the church is only 350 yards away.
Since streetcars can't change to an alternate route when a road is closed unexpectedly, this might be one of the few times that going with buses is the better option.
So, temporarily interrupt the streetcar service while each
motorcade passes Brigham Circle. That's what they're gonna have to do with the buses anyway.
I suspect the real issue here is that the T doesn't want to be bothered with putting one or two extra trains into service to preserve headway.
And I'm sure management has already ruled out re-routing a few trains on other lines to serve Lechmere during the temporary E line disruptions.
I'm sure the issue is the
I'm sure the issue is the Secret Service told them not to run. End of story.
But, running extra buses on the same street
the streetcars would otherwise use, which doesn't even go by the church that the high profile people will be at, is OK and poses NO security risk?
Sounds a lot like the old "you can always blame anything on security" justification. And you know what, I'm not buying it for one minute. Unless you have actual written proof you're willing to share with the rest of us that such a Secret Service order exists.
Furthermore, it would be one thing if these E line closures happened only once or twice a year, and were for truly legitimate reasons (BTW not having enough trains in service to start with due to a lack of planning is NOT a legitimate reason).
However, the T routinely suspends the service beyond Brigham Circle for anything and everything from an ambulance parked on the sidewalk to a candy bar wrapper in the middle of the tracks or whatever dubious excuse they can dream up that day.
Read between the lines here and you'll see the obvious facts. Current T management seriously wants to unload light rail service beyond Brigham Circle in favor of an all-bus service, and are making the existing streetcar service as inconvenient as possible for passengers to use with the hopes that the people and the politicos will eventually cave in and grant their wishes. It's not exactly a secret that similar tactics resulted in the Watertown Line being torn up instead of being rebuilt and were how the T managed to overturn the court order to restore the Arborway line beyond Heath Street.
It's funny that most other cities with both established and new light rail lines have LOTS of in-street running, and you never seem to hear of these sorts of problems with trains being delayed or re-routed due to traffic or special events or kids spitting on the tracks occuring on those systems.
not arguing the E-line closing thing...
Just wanting to point out that this invitation-only funeral still involves 1450 invited guests, plus security, plus The Media, plus who-knows-how-many well-wishers and gawkers, plus I'm sure other people of whom I'm not thinking.
Much smaller funerals seriously snarl traffic in the area when all the streets are open; this one will probably be a logistical traffic nightmare without factoring in trolleys.
That said, there's a part of me that wants to go down and observe the whole thing (from the outside, of course) and a part of me that thinks that's really disrespectful and that I should be at our own religious services anyway. Part A points out that getting to our place of worship will probably be problematic; part B agrees with that, but mentions there's supposed to be some kind of hurricane a'blowin', and then both parts think maybe it would be best to stay in bed.
It would be nice if they
It would be nice if they could commit to keeping the T open late or not. Would really help me to know this if my plans involve staying in boston till 2AM or so and avoiding a $40 cab ride.
If they could get their act together and bring the union
in line by dropping the silly "night work is automatic overtime pay" provisions, there is no logical reason they couldn't run at least partial service on the subways and key bus routes (like the # 1 for example) 24/7.
IIRC, New York City has done this since the IRT was originally opened for business.