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Shiny new Blue Line trains do little for commuters if they never show up

By adamg on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 2:18pm

Lewis Forman is not a happy Blue Line camper this week. He recounts a 25-minute wait for a train during rush hour this morning - which follows a 20-minute wait on Wednesday and a 14-minute wait on Monday:

... I was the only one in the station when I missed the train at the beginning. By the time I was stepping onto the train and looked behind me, Maverick Station was yellow safety band to back wall packed with increasingly angry and frustrated people. Some asked the MBTA "officials" that were there but were just sent back to wait with everyone else with a shrug and not even an attempt to use the walkie talkies that were attached to their hips. Just another case of the high quality customer service you expect from a transit system.

Hopefully this gets ironed out or some explanation is provided. However a trip to work that normally takes 30 minutes door to door for me is now almost a full hour. At that rate, I could swim from my condo, and walk to the Hancock building. ...

Topics: 
The T
Free tagging: 
Blue Line
Maverick Square


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Comments

By coffeeweasel on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 4:09pm.

I think the Blue Line is taking lessons from the 65 bus.

Generally, the 5:14 bus is 15-20 minutes late, except once a week or so when it doesn't show up at all and you get about 35 people trying to get on the already-half-full 5:45 bus at Brookline & Longwood.

By Brett on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 5:19pm.

if I had a penny for every time the Orange line starts doing 20-30 minute intervals past 7-8PM, I'd be a rich man. More than half the time I come into Downtown Crossing late at night, I end up sitting on a packed outbound platform for ages. It's especially maddening when you can hear (in that same time span) 3 Red Line trains come like clockwork, and you know that the Red Line platforms are festooned with a dozen fans to help with the sweltering heat. Fans the MBTA doesn't feel are necessary on the Orange Line platform, which is generally hotter. Each redline platform gets something like 6 fans, and the Orange Line platform doesn't get a single one.

The fun doesn't stop there- whereas the Red Line cars always have functioning A/C, on the Orange Line, most of the cars have little A/C or fresh air circulation.

By Arborway on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 5:37pm.

The Orange Line gets very little love from the T.

Sunday morning or Sunday night is the absolute worst though.

By Neal on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 6:51pm.

Or the 10-15 minute headways after 5PM at the height of rush hour on the Orange Line. (I get the feeling that they bunch trains on purpose, I'm not sure why though). I got so sick of it, I began to walk to and from work every day (I work in government Center and live at Massachusetts Av and Tremont St in the South End). On average it only takes a few minutes longer to walk than to take the T.

By independentminded on Sat, 09/20/2008 - 11:56am.

It's the same sort of baloney. Many times, during decent weather, regardless of the time of year, I opt to walk home from downtown rather than wait 20-30 minutes in Government Center for a Lechmere train.

By Cleary Squared on Sat, 09/20/2008 - 5:24pm.

Whenever I go to Cambridgeside, I make it a point to take either the Kendall MIT shuttle or walk over the Gilmore Bridge to the Orange Line at Community College. Time spent: 10 minutes for the shuttle, 20 minutes to walk.

Last weekend I attempted to take the Green Line from Lechmere to North Station. Lotsa cars moved around, very few cars, and tons of people squeezing onto the trolleys. And it's mostly "E" line cars now; all of the "D" line cars now terminate at Government Center.