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The T should play up its new sleeper-car service

By adamg on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 6:45am

Madfilkentist chronicles his three-hour, 45-minute ride from Porter to Fitchburg last night - a trip that normally takes an hour and 20 minutes:

The next stop was Waltham. Before we reached it, the train was stopped for an unusually long time. Finally we were told there were mechanical problems that were being looked at. The lights went out for about ten minutes as all power was cut so the mechanic could look under the train. They came back on again, but there was still no motion. Finally we were told that the next train would hook up to ours and push us.

The double-sized train proceeded at a slow pace. At South Acton, we were all herded off the train. It went back in the direction of Boston and presumably pulled onto a side track somewhere, and around 8:25 a third train, which had been following behind us, took us all on.

Neighborhoods: 
West of 495
Topics: 
The T
Free tagging: 
Commuter rail
Fitchburg Line


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Comments

By anon on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 7:33am.

So his commute is normally about 80 minutes each way, plus getting to/from the station, plus fudge time for late trains, plus having to fix his schedule to the T's? Commuting *normally* costs him almost 4 hours each day?

What about reversing white flight? Make the city a place people would want to live. Make the schools be places people are not scared to send their kids. Move the public housing projects an hour out, and let people who are working be able to get to work in a reasonable amount of time. Crime would drop, too.

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By Atwater Flinch on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 8:42am.

It has nothing to do with schools, public housing, or even transportation. Get me a rent I can afford and a place to park and it might just be a done deal.

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By merlinmurph on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 9:04am.

He just doesn't want to live in the city. Not because of any negatives that might be associated with city living, but because of things he prefers in the burbs.

I'm the same way. I definitely can appreciate the positives of living in the city. However, almost all the things I like to do and do on a daily basis can only be done, or are more easily done, or are more enjoyable to do out in the sticks. It's as simple as that. (In my case, I actually work out here, too).

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By madfilkentist on Sat, 03/05/2011 - 10:43am.

I live in a city, Nashua. It's Massachusetts I don't want to live in.

I didn't say anything about my race. On what basis does anon conclude "white flight" is my motive?

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By chicken on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 1:50pm.

Affordable rents could be done if you could build more housing in the city. That would preclude your parking though, since parking is a waste of space. But you wouldn't need a car anyhow.

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By Where's the E-line on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 9:01am.

Are people actually scared to send kids to BPS? And why move the housing projects?

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By rsybuchanan on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 10:46am.

"The Commuter Rail: When you absolutely, positively have to get there overnight."

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By Lunchbox on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 3:07pm.

Are things at the MBTA / MBCR worse than they were last year, 5 years ago, 20 years ago? Or is it just that, with the ubiquity of instant social media tweets/posts/etc and up-to-the-minute blogs, we're just more aware of the problems?

Any stats out there on MBTA / MBCR performance, year to year?

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By Lecil on Sat, 03/05/2011 - 11:19am.

Article in the Globe addresses the subject;

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/art...

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By adamg on Fri, 03/04/2011 - 5:38pm.

WBUR talks to MassDOT head Jeff Mullan, who explains what made this train different from the one on the Worcester Line a few nights earlier.

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