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What, there's a road race and a ball game today?
By roadman on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 11:42am
Apparently that's news to the MBTA management, based on the latest T alert:
Green Line experiencing 15-20 min delays on all lines between North Station & Kenmore stations due to increased ridership for the Boston Marathon & Red Sox game. Please allow extra time for commute. 18/2011 11:26 AM
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Comments
Light traffic today
Obviously the game and the race are big draws, but there was NO traffic on the streets around downtown at rush hour. Partly people with the day off, partly people avoiding the congestion and shut down streets, but there was no one around, made my ride in much easier!
Shopping not bad either
There are a lot of people wandering around the Prudential Mall, but I found a clerk right away at Lord and Taylor, and didn't have to stand on line for lunch.
Of course, the lead runners were just about to come through. It might be different now...Glad I went when I did! :)
As a runner in the Marathon,
As a runner in the Marathon, I thought the T did a great job yesterday. They were well staffed and got people into Arlington Station and on trains quickly and efficiently. The delays seemed to be mostly due to the physical infrastructure of the station not being able to handle such crowds, not due to any lack of preparedness by the MBTA management. They can't exactly expand the station just for the crowds this station faces one day a year.
Agreed
Yeah, I don't understand exactly what roadman's complaint is. The T seems to have been as prepared as it could be, but the massive crowds and what seemed like lots of extra Green Line cars in use meant that everything just ran slower, meaning, yes, delays.
Because the 66 bus wasn't running between Brookline Village and Union Square Allston, I had to come home from work in Brigham Circle the long way round - E line to Gov't Ctr and out on the B line. I managed my trip so it was fairly comfortable, but it took 90 minutes in spite of a perfect connection at Gov't Ctr, mostly because of lengthy waits in the tunnels to get from one station to the next.
why did you go all the way to Government Center
instead of crossing over at Arlington station?
Why Gov't Ctr
Because the B line starts from Gov't Ctr, and it's worth the extra time to me to go that far in and get on an empty car at the originating stop rather than fighting my way onto a packed-solid platform from which to squeeze onto a packed-solid train, that's why.
The Marathon and the Red Sox game, and
the large crowds both events attract, have been occurring on April 18th for years and are hardly a secret.
So the fact the T has to issue an alert advising Green Line users of significant delays due to increased ridership because of these events is a huge red flag to me that management didn't adequately plan in advance to adequately accommodate these additional riders.
You're way overreacting. Yes,
You're way overreacting. Yes, they can predict that crowds will be larger, but they can't exactly predict when swarms are going to hit.
Service yesterday wasn't actually that bad at all and I ride the E-line, the worst of them all. Trains were coming more frequently in both directions than they usually do.
Just chill out.
I don't get it
Perhaps you mean "on the third Monday in April" rather than "on April 18th," since the date has varied year to year for several decades, and was April 19th before that.
In any case, I really don't understand how you think the T failed. They added lots of extra service on the Green Line, but the crowds and the extra trains in transit slowed everything down. Because the T now issues alerts when service is running behind schedule, such an alert was issued. Please explain how this is a failure?
inbound C Line has to crawl through Brookline on Marathon day
because Marathon spectators are pressed hard against the tracks, and the train has to honk its horn repeatedly to get them out of the way. The narrow inbound platforms are also full of spectators, which makes boarding and alighting difficult.
I think the B Line encounters similar problems on its last half mile, from Chestnut Hill Ave. to BC.