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Area bus company could try to provide late-night service once the T stops offering it
By adamg on Mon, 02/29/2016 - 11:26pm
Bridj, the sort-of buspooling service, says it's working out a plan to provide late-night service on weekends after the T stops running past 12:45 a.m. or so come mid-March.
The start-up says it will soon unveil plans to "quickly implement a whole new type of service to keep Boston open for business." It notes it filed a proposal with state officials last fall for a late-night service relying on small shuttle buses and a computer-driven system for determining routes, based on where riders are requesting rides.
Bridj has an app for riders to find a ride. In its filing with the state, Bridj said "solutions are available to make the system accessible for those riders without smartphones or credit cards."
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Comments
How Do You Say That's A Bingo?
I can just see Charlie putting a notch in his belt tonight. This private enterprise triumph can only just whet the appetite for killing the Mattapan line even more.
I also just realized that the past two out of three trolley lines killed in the city (Camden Street and Arborway south of Brigham Circle) were done when they were majority minority neighborhoods.
Hmmmm.
Those trolley lines were
Those trolley lines were eliminated under Democratic governors,legislatures, mayors, and city councils without protest from them.
Hmmmmm
Hey Mensa
John Volpe, you know,Nixon cabinet member, was in charge of the state when the Camden and Watertown lines were shut, but who wants that pesky fact to get in the way of your rebuttal.
PS. When I say Nixon cabinet member, that means he was Republican. Ok?
Which president segregated
Which president segregated the federal government and which desegregated it?
Wilson (D), Eisenhower (R)
Think about it before throwing accusations of institutionalized racism around casually.
The past sounds like a lovely place
I hope I can visit it someday.
Anybody who thinks something Wilson did in 1917 has any remote connection to the Democratic party today, or who thinks Eisenhower would be a Republican today has somehow managed to ignore the last 40 years of American history.
And please note I'm using my moderator's prerogative (OK, OK, my brutal dictatorial powers with this iron fist I just bought, mwa-ha-ha) to declare this the last message about presidential politics, because this is a thread about public, well, public-ish transportation late at night in Boston, not a place to re-hash your feelings on American history in the century starting with 1860.
Which current front runner
Has declared his events to be "whites only" and has been systematically ejecting non-whites?
Hint: it ain't Sanders or Clinton.
please provide link
To the declaration that any event was "whites only" please.
Why would you need a link to
Why would you need a link to show you that the literal KKK candidate wasn't whites only? When did you see a Trump rally not have virtually only white people in it? This could go on and on, but since you asked...
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-35694006
Sander's had an "English only
Sander's had an "English only" gaffe.
Hilary seems to have a penchant for being rude to BLM protesters every chance she gets.
No, he didn't
Lies and bullshit. Videotapes of the entire event show no such thing.
SNOPES SAYS ...
Hillary brings blacks "to heel" before allowing them in
Hillary allows all blacks at her events, even the ones she calls "super-predators." Of course, she "brings them to heel" first. Total fraud.
A-waaahh!! A-wahhhh!!!
A-waaahh!! A-wahhhh!!!
Democrat is meaningless in Mass
In states and commonwealths and especially cities where Republicans are the tiniest of minorities and where primaries are the de facto election, not registering as Democrat effectively wastes one's vote (assuming a person gets off their lazy bums and makes the arduous trek to vote. I assume that the same principle applies in Republican dominated areas as well.
Voting is too important to let narcissistic politicians use subtle ways to cancel votes (why do I vote if so many politicians are worthless - because I can't legitimately demand better if I don't do my part to make things better). So I hold my nose, walk through the wasteland that much of American politics is, and vote for either the person I hope to win or the person who I think will do the least harm. Not a particularly Pollyanish view of politics but politics are a blood sport where the worst civilize humanity plays.
So to say that these lines were canceled under Democratic administrations is a meaningless statement. And for the record the current executive administration is Republican. So that dismisses the red herring implication that only Democratic administrations are destroying public transportation.
The legislature - Democratric and Republican - because they refuse to provide sufficient funding is what destroying public transportation in the Boston area.
Massachusetts doesn't have a closed primary...
Massachusetts voters who are not enrolled in either party are free to vote in the primary of their choice. This is partly why over 50% of MA voters are not enrolled in any party. So, in MA at least, the desire to participate in elections does not drive voters to register as Democrats. At all.
Will they serve all neighborhoods?
Will they be allowed to pick up passengers at existing MBTA stops?
Nobody else will be using those bus stops at that hour
so why not?
Let me suggest that the bus
Let me suggest that the bus drivers driving these late night buses should resemble Dwayne Johnson, to prevent any drunken idiots from acting like drunken idiots and to make anybody think twice before assaulting / spitting at the driver!!
Size doesn't matter
There was a driver on the 87 the other day who was a short bearded guy - and looked like he could have beaten the crap out of Dwayne. He was not kind to people that had parked in bus stops.
oh phew
this post made my day!!!!
Just wait
Just as BRIDJ has done with other non-profit making routes, it will drop them once they realize there's no money it.
It's the privatization way!
Agreed
If you wanna get to Allston, Cambridge or Somerville, you'll be covered. I wil most likely still be trying to get a cab to take me to Quincy...
yup
That was kinda my point also.
Sucks to be you if you're going to Ashmont, Oak Grove, or Wonderland.
I'll be waiting with you praying a cabbie won't drive off the minute I say "I need to go to Chelsea".
Or East Boston
A year or so ago, when the City Council was having one of its fun Uber hearings that, of course, went nowhere, there was a pretty stark divide on the council based on age: Under-40 councilors loved Uber, over-40 councilors, even the ones who knew how to use a smartphone, were more hostile.
The one exception to the over-40 rule was Sal LaMattina of East Boston, who said he loved Uber because it was the only way his daughter could get a safe ride home late at night, because hackney cabbies would just refuse to take her across the harbor.
I think hell find as time
I think hell find as time goes on itll get harder and harder to get an Uber to go there. As rates have gone down, drivers are acting more and more like cabs and refusing trips.
Apostrophes
Looks like you ran out of apostrophes. Here, I've got some spares:
'''''''''
Tip: When you run out of apostrophes, use "he will" instead of trying to type "he'll", because otherwise it will look like "hell".
Yawn.
Yawn.
It's a tough question though, right?
What's the core goal of the MBTA? To provide transportation to people across the region yes, but obviously there are real limits across the system as some people can walk the T, others have commuter rail, others get the boat, etc... Decisions have to be made (or largely were already made) about which neighborhoods get what level of service. Hence, Rosi/WR not having the Orange Line, etc... If we're not going to use popularity (i.e. most paying customers i.e. most profitable) to judge which routes should be open, then how? I'd argue the MBTA should just look at the usage data to date and only run the ones with proven customers- Green, Orange and Red lines, but not the full Red out to Braintree. No buses, no Silver Line, no Blue Line (which would quickly become a class/student issue of course).
With late night service, is it the right expectation that late night service would exist on the less heavily used transit routes? For example I don't expect commuter rail to run on Sundays, but I'd argue that would be a much better use of MBTA money as it would allow people who live beyond the core subway lines to easily get into the city for events, etc... That's my bias though based on where I live. I'm sure you'd argue the bus would get more traffic due to where you live.
Thanks
Always appreciate a well written reply.
I agree, maybe it would have worked better if they cut down on where it went based on ridership. However, one of the main cores of the T is to provide affordable transportation, outside of boundaries. Meaning, it's a service. Whether it makes money or not, the service will run regardless. This is the point i was trying to make, once BRIDJ or some other similar service realizes there's no real money to be made, they will leave riders stranded.
Its hard to depend on a service, such as Late Night Service or a private firm like BRIDJ, when the service could disappear on a drop of a hat. Hard to plan your life around that when you have a job to get to.
I could argue about the buses and blue line. I ride three key routes (111, 116, 117) all hours of the day.. day or night. The 111, in particular has HEAVY ridership, regardless of time of day. I can be on the first run in the morning (a bus that leaves Woodlawn at 4:25am) and it's jammed backed. All people waiting to do a connection at Haymarket to the other 1xx routes (those weird early morning routes that congregate at Haymarket around 4:55 before subway service start). So the argument for key route bus service, along with BL is there.
But I still renew my paragraph above in regards to.. hard to plan a service to be dependable when it could disappear at the drop of a hat.
There is a certain fairness
There is a certain fairness to basing the amount of service on a line to ridership, but I'll argue a certain unfairness to it, too.
If you cut service in an area because few people use it, even fewer people will use it because it's so infrequent. Then you can cut it even more because less people use it, and even fewer will use it. So on until no one is using it, and you can cut the service for good. I think that the availability of other service in the area must also play a part in any decision.
I can also argue against added weekend commuter rail service. It's great to provide non-car alternatives to people, when that can be done. But if we're talking about the need to trim services... I live in Quincy. During the last round of major cuts, they eliminated weekend service entirely on the only bus line that goes by our only emergency room. But the T should better accommodate the recreational needs of suburbanites? That's a tough sell to me.
Good points, both of you
I think the question of 'profitability' in terms of a public service comes more into play when there is an interest in growing a new level of service for reasons beyond sheer demand. Civic promoters would argue that extending night service makes Boston more competitive with other cities in the world who are competing for a certain type of person and reputation to attract those people. We'll never be the cheap option like say, El Paso, so there's some merit to this without going full Leung and demanding we be a 'tiny New York'. Having a late night T isn't a core requirement for our dynamic economy the way the MBTA is (in spite of its challenges) so it's a different set of considerations.
I'm not making the argument that the CR should run on Sundays, just that it's an example of service extension which isn't being considered. One I like the idea of but don't understand the justification is the boat to Hingham. The Greenbush Extension should have replaced that IMO, even though I love the concept of taking a boat.
Fung Wah late night local bus service!!
Just imagine ...
In my experience, Fung Wah
In my experience, Fung Wah was safe, frequent, and convenient, with fares that were a fraction of the government-subsidized competition.
Seriously ...
New York has these. Why not here?
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/jitney_minibuses_provide_a_che....
how long
until they want a state subsidy?
Well ...
If they are willing to provide service to East Boston, Mattapan, and all major routes in Dorchester ...
And they should get one
If the T won't run it themselves, then pay somebody who will. As others have said, there's no money to be made doing late night service, because it's just that -- a public service that is beneficial to our city and region.