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There are problems at Maverick with power, Blue Line riders feeling pretty dour
By adamg on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 9:11am
UPDATE: Trains began running again around 9:20, but with the ever popular residual delays.
Tim Lawrence is among the people who showed up at Maverick Square this morning figuring they'd get downtown pretty quickly. But that was before the Blue Line developed what the T calls "a power problem" and now there are the dreaded "severe" delays.
At 8:55 a.m., our own Cybah reported:
Still stuck at airport station. Trying to get out of here to go somewhere that isn't here. No shuttles. Trains aren't moving
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Comments
Oof.
I was trying to decide if I'd played myself by biking to work as I watched the sky get rapidly overcast during my soul-destroying transit of Chelsea, but apparently I made the right choice.
Ugh
So today I was suppose to be on a 9am ferry to the cape for a biz meeting this afternoon. But I've done this trip so many times, I have the T down to a science except for today.
7:40am - I check real time tracking to see if the 112 is coming or it's late. It's late as usual (it's always late)
7:55am - Get picked up by the 112. I still have plenty of time, ferry doesn't board until 8:40.
8:10am - After several stops and what not (which should be a 6 minute drive in zero traffic), we arrive at Wood Island. I make a mad dash for the approaching train
8:12am - We pull out of Wood Island Station and sit there between there and Airport station for 20+ minutes. Announcer says it's a switch problem in the area, then in a few minutes corrects himself and says its a power problem from Maverick to downtown and they will be shutting down service.
8:27am - Arrive at Airport Station. Platform is full. Everyone gets off. At this point I debate on calling an Uber or taking a cab to Long Wharf to catch my ferry. But I look at the edge of the tracks and see 1A all backed up and not moving. Plus since everyone along the blue line is hopping into Uber's now Uber says 10 minutes for a pick up, plus another 15-20 thru traffic into the tunnel. Yeah not gonna make it.
8:27am - Decided to just try to go somewhere else, and wait on the outbound platform to go to Wonderland to catch a 116/117 (trying to go to Maverick would have just been a mad house even though it's closer)
8:35am - Succum to the fact that I am not going to make my meeting so I email the client and reschedule for tomorrow
8:40am - Finally find a station official to see if any outbound trains are coming at all, or if I should just sit in a uber to go home. Says they should be coming shortly.
8:57am - Outbound train finally arrives. Slowly moving outbound
9:10am - Arrive at Wonderland and immediately get on a 116.
9:38am - Arrive at Bellingham Sq in Chelsea. Decided to go vote early and pick up a McMuffin at McDonald's
A couple of things to note
1. Virtually no communication. Station attendants (which had very few of them there at Airport), had no idea what was going on. It took a full 20 minutes for anyone to have any idea what was going (except for the train driver)
2. No Shuttle buses at all. (and none were provided). Many friends at Maverick were told to find "alt transportation".
3. Airport station just sucks to get stuck in. It's not near anything, nor has any connections besides the MassPort shuttle.
4. Those MassPort shuttles immediately disappeared after my train unloaded. I didn't even see any more come until at least 8:50. So even if I wanted to head over to Logan and try the silver line (or even just to get a cab at the airport), it would have been futile.
Overall a crappy day so far. I think the rest of the day will just be spent in bed under the covers watching stuff on Buzzr.
Sorry about your commute,
but a couple of notes:
1. There usually won't be shuttle buses during rush hour, especially on that side of the Harbor, if the T determines the shutdown won't take at least a couple of hours. It's difficult to call off buses from other routes that already have high passenger volume AND get them across the Harbor if they are on the other side.
2. You could take the Massport shuttle to a water taxi to take you over to Long Wharf.
3. Silver Line service from Chelsea to South Station via Airport is coming eventually (next year?)
yup
Yeah I figured that was the case anyways. I wasn't too angry about there not being any shuttles. 99% of the time I usually just walk elsewhere or get on a local bus. Unless I *have* to go in that direction, I rarely use shuttles.
I also assumed no shuttles since traffic was at a standstill, shuttles would have been dumb and it would have taken close to an hour for any to arrive.
I thought about that too. It would have let me off directly behind where the Cape ferry takes off on Long Wharf. But again by the time I got to Airport, realized I was screwed and Uber wasn't going get me there any faster. The massport shuttles had disappeared until 8:50.. still not enough time to get over there, get on a taxi and head over. Good idea. I did suggest it to a few people who were desperate to get to downtown and out of Airport station.
As someone who takes nearly monthly photos of the project, i kept thinking about it over and over again. Not only would I have had an avenue to get out of there, it would have taken me into town OR back home without the need to get on a train or a massport shuttle to make a connection somewhere else.
> Chelsea
Justa woulda, coulda, shoulda but instead of the 116 you shoulda taken the 111 to Haymarket.
That sucks
Seriously. Next time you get stuck at Airport head to Helados (https://www.yelp.com/biz/helados-julis-frozen-dessert-boston) for ice cream and frozen desserts. Super cheap and awesome. The library is right there too and really great, plus phone charging and free wifi!
Switch to Silver
Last time I was stuck at Airport due to a canardly (*) problem and no trains were moving, and shuttle buses were boarding with long lines, I took the MassPort bus (free) to the airport and switched to the Silver Line. It's free running from the airport to South Station. We cruised along well.
I brought a handful people people with me to share the experience. None of them knew that they could do this as an alternate to get into Boston.
I was a hero.
*(Canardly... can hardly... as in canardly go anywhere)
As someone who was stuck in this morning's mess...
...and many other messes like it, I just don't understand why the T always seems so utterly unprepared to deal with emergencies. There is no chain of command. Front line employees have no information and are frequently rude to riders with questions. Promised shuttle buses never appear. Everything devolves into a free for all. Given how many breakdowns and emergencies the T has you would think they would know how to move right into action.
From everything I've read
this is the kind of situation that should cost people their jobs.
But every time there's turnover at the MBTA, the cost to ride goes up, and quality of service goes down. Sooooo... yeah.
[duplicate of above]
My bad.
a novel personal solution
Here's one guy's approach to overcoming the shortcomings of mass transit.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaUrWQbzVms&list=WL
I wasn't affected by this
I wasn't affected by this particular delay, but as a frequent blue line rider it's situations like this where I wish they would restore the Maverick to Aquarium water shuttle they had in service many years ago. There have been times I've been at Maverick waiting for a shuttle bus, looking across the harbor and seeing downtown Boston. So close yet so far away. That's one disadvantage of the blue line. At least with the red and green lines if you're stuck in Cambridge you can walk or bike across one of the river bridges.