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Green Line photo not taken in May, 2020
By adamg on Sat, 05/18/2024 - 7:29pm
Mbcrowley snapped an inbound D Line trolley just past Waban around 7 tonight:
No One is using the T … yes some will board but they have a ton of work to do to get people back and spending $$$ on consultants to figure out how to save money is not going to get riders
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Comments
Fwiw
The GLX from Park St. out to Medford is often standing room only.
Yes. The E line ext is always
Yes. The E line ext is always full. Other than blue line I’ve never had to always stand
Fwiw, even MBTA commuters don
Fwiw, even MBTA commuters don't take T anymore.
Actually
Some people do leave their house, as some people have loftier ambition beyond "I have to make worthless Internet comments and I have to make them fast" 24/7
Better yet, let's wait for a
Better yet, let's wait for a train in 20° weather for an hour, finally make it to work (making less than 20 an hour,) where the boss is 10 years younger and gets to write you up for being late so you can wake up and do it all over again!!!
Young people?
Oh No!
It is just the third stop
It is just the third stop inbound. And the trains can be very bunched, just now here are the arrivals to Riverside:
Arriving (to Riverside—vehicle 3888-3699—arrives 7:58:04pm) Arriving
4 minutes (to Riverside—vehicle 3923-3922—arrives 8:02:42pm) 1.8 miles away
6 minutes (to Riverside—vehicle 3643-3852—arrives 8:04:40pm) 2.5 miles away
9 minutes (to Riverside—vehicle 3864-3696—arrives 8:07:25pm) 3.0 miles away
22 minutes (to Riverside—vehicle 3653-3826—arrives 8:20:34pm) 6.9 miles away
33 minutes (to Riverside—vehicle 3915—arrives 8:31:26pm) 8.5 miles away
Five trains in nine mins and two in the next 27 mins. So possible a train went through minutes earlier.
Yeah, an anecdote isn't the result of data
I didn't get onto an outbound Green Line car at Copley today because it was much too crowded for me. I was in no rush so I figured I'd just take one of the three that were coming in behind it within the next five minutes. The crowded one pulled out, and the next car that pulled in -like a minute later- had maybe ten people on it. I had no problem finding a seat. I'd rather see MBTA Blue Book numbers before making any assumptions based on one person's photo at the leafy suburban beginning of a long inbound trip.
Is this photo supposed to be meaningful?
Waban is only the 2nd stop inbound from Riverside. Not sure why there would be a mass of people heading inbound at 7pm. Sox crowd already there. Too early for the night club crowd. I was on a Riverside bound train from North Station this morning at around 930 am. Packed. The trolley's are packed during weekday rush hours. College crowd is now on recess so there's also that.
Waban inbound on a Saturday …
I've taken plenty of rides through Waban at non-commute times and the cars often look like that. (Once I got to ask some LDS missionaries about my favorite verses in the BOM.) Woodland and Riverside are park-and-ride lots, not a lot of people parking there on Saturday evenings. Waban is a village center with like six stores, not a lot of ridership there. It will get busier at Highlands/Centre, which have more people and employers nearby (yes, some people working there do take the T) and after a quiet stop at Chestnut Hill take on more passengers at Reservoir. It won't be full inbound on a Saturday evening, but an empty train near the end of the line means very little.
Fun fact, many moons ago I worked for a small last-mile shuttle operator. Someone who lived along the route complained about our "empty buses" coming by our house and asked the City why he should have to hear buses when there was never anyone on them. Turns out he lived at the end of the route, there would be no reason for anyone to be on them. The trolley cars in the back of the Riverside Yard, back in the day when the looped around before dropping off at the old Riverside Platform (like 30 years ago) were pretty empty, too.
Also the far end of the D
Also the far end of the D branch runs through single family neighborhoods and golf courses, so it doesn't pull in the most ridership. They get some park and ride travelers from further west, but those people are probably more inclined to concentrate around peak times than people who actually live near a train station.
Newton would benefit from a lot more transit oriented development, but although they begrudgingly went along with the MBTA Communities requirements there's not much appetite for more than that.
Is this photo supposed to be meaningful?
Waban is only the 2nd stop inbound from Riverside. Not sure why there would be a mass of people heading inbound at 7pm. Sox crowd already there. Too early for the night club crowd. I was on a Riverside bound train from North Station this morning at around 930 am. Packed. The trolley's are packed during weekday rush hours. College crowd is now on recess so there's also that.
The reality is
The system is designed for commuters. Less people going in to the office = less commuters. The answer is beyond what the T can do, as they can't force employers to mandate in person all the time.
Also, as people noted, this photo is an aberration. I'm not saying the Orange Line to Forest Hills is packed during rush hour, but it ain't empty. On the other hand, leaving the Forest Hills on my walk on Fridays, I can't help but notice how little traffic there is. Again, it's not like the city's Transportation Department is solving the traffic problems Thursday night then throwing out the solution every Sunday night. It's work patterns.
okay? post a picture of
okay? post a picture of Copley westbound at 5pm
No one is paying on the T
That is the major reason that ridership is down. The Transit police refuse to enforce fare evasion so the T is hiring dozens of fare evasion officers at a starting salary of 45 dollars an hour plus benefits.