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The crowds began to swell when the Red Line went to hell
By adamg on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 9:03am
Nick Favorito was among the growing hordes of Red Line commuters at JFK/UMass when a "power problem" shut things between Park and JFK/UMass down this morning:
The @MBTA & @MBTA_CR at its finest - a broken red line, stranded urban tax payers cramming into nonexistent shuttle busses, and a completely empty commuter train whizzing by…
At 8:35, Tina Mello reported:
30 minutes waiting for a shuttle and now being sent back to train. Let's see how long I have to wait for one of those. Sigh.
That was just as the T was announcing the resumption of service - with 15 minute delays.
RC reported:
It took @MBTA one day of being back in the office to break down and screw over 100s of people and it’s employees get into yelling matches with commuters. Nature is healing.
He added:
Been on a shuttle bus for an hour to go 4 stops.
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Comments
And this is why I'd rather
And this is why I'd rather work from home.
The good news
Rude employees,trains breaking down, cops charged with stealing time, pissed off commuters its good to see the T has returned to its high standards of providing safe on time performance.
Commuter Rail
I'll never understand why they do not divert folks at JFK to ANY inbound commuter rail train that happens by; whether it is a scheduled stop or not. Most if not all of those people could have fit on one train at least to South Station instead of waiting for the buses that then stop at every stop.
What about all the trains
What about all the trains heading to Braintree and Ashmont and all the stops in between? Commuter rail is great if you go to Quincy Center or Braintree but if you go to N. Quincy or Fields Corner, you are SIL.
This was the morning rush
This was the morning rush hour. Most of these people in the picture at JFK were heading inbound, and would benefit from a Commuter Rail ride to South Station.
Almost every commuter rail train stops at JFK/UMass
On the three lines that pass through the station in either direction, I see only one evening train that skips the stop.
New normal
Same as the old normal!
Nature is healing!
Nature is healing!
Kind of amazing
That the first order of business when the Red Line fails here for the T is not to call Keolis and have them radio over to Old Colony operators to stop all trains at JFK/UMass. Especially right now with a lot of capacity on the Commuter Rail.
That would require competent
That would require competent management that cared about its customers.
I had heard that pre-pandemic
I had heard that pre-pandemic congestion had returned.
On the commuter rail?
Don’t know about other lines, but I’ve been riding the Greenbush line a couple of days a week recently and it has never been crowded. Also, they are running multiple-car trains of which only the first two cars, often double deckers, are open to passengers. One of those trains could likely have cleared all the people going downtown. Every train but one, which passes through JFK around 5, stops to let passengers off. Busses could have taken care of those needing to reach Andrew & Broadway
Now it's time for the Delta
Now it's time for the Delta Virus congestion.
Cluster
Seems there was a fire downtown which caused the mess.
Was a disaster at Andrew & Broadway, as the buses from JFK were showing up full at those stations.
As for 'rude', the T guys trying to help out at Broadway were pretty good, given the situation they were trying to deal with. They were just as pissed as us that busses were full, and were constantly on the radio trying to get some empty buses sent to to mid-line stations. They also had the sense to throw folks onto the #11 whenever one arrived to get folks to downtown faster than the shuttles were running.
Yet another reason why the
Yet another reason why the Post Office needs to reopen Dorchester Ave for pedestrians and bikes: it would make the walk shorter from Broadway to South Station when the T has a problem. Maybe they could open it to MBTA buses as well.