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PSA: do not take the Red Line shuttle

By Matthew Miller on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 8:16am
A map of Boston. A blue line meanders and loops across the map, approximating a random walk. It goes on tiny streets, loops around, and seems to seek out busy intersections intentionally.

I knew it would be bad, but oh my god. It took an hour to get from Broadway to Kendall yesterday, and this was before rush hour proper. Find some alternate route instead.

I guess the insane loop is to avoid a tight left turn, but it costs 30 minutes!

Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
The T
Free tagging: 
Red Line


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Comments

By Zhu Hengpeng on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 9:39am.

The goal is to stay away from the Park Street stop as far as possible.

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By Eastie Girl on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 9:43am.

I think the bus driver was lost. Or following crappy GPS like many Uber drivers. Every bus I see takes a left at Milk St on to Congress St.

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By CuteUsername on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 5:01pm.

When the MBTA hires charter busses for when they need extra for things like this, the company also provides the bus drivers, so the bus drivers may not be particularly familiar with Boston. And even MBTA drivers can get confused when they get assigned a new route.

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By SwirlyGrrl on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 7:57pm.

I had a Redline Adventure this morning with the shuttles, but I can't complain about getting dropped at State Street being part of it.

I got to Harvard and there were no signs directing people out of the station and to the buses.

Then I boarded a bus - a local rather than the express to South Station - and it was most entertaining. We got to the intersection of Prospect and Mass Ave just as one of our many incompetent truck drivers took the corner onto Mass Ave and nuked a bunch of the construction stuff there. It was about 10 minutes before the cops got things sorted enough for the bus to pull ahead to Central. There was a mob waiting, but only 10 people could board.

The bus wound its way around illegally parked cars and through intersections clogged with vehicles box blocking and running reds to keep turning. At Charles/MGH the bus was starting to pull out when a taxihole illegally cut in front into the bus stop, blocking the bus - but at least there was a T cop there to tell him to move or lose it.

I was confused when the bus made a left toward Congress St. but the driver said they stop at Haymarket and State (making up for connections that don't happen at Park, apparently).
I don't know where it went after that. It wasn't down Devonshire, which would have made more sense getting to DTX.

I wish that I had checked about the shut down - I would not have taken the red line. I wasn't late to work, but it was still a solid 70 minutes from Alewife.

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By anon on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 9:44am.

What's up with the escalators being shut down at Broadway? It happened a few weeks ago during a planned shutdown and it's happening this week too. But between the shutdowns the escalators were fine.
It's almost as if the escalator shutdowns are planned to inflict as much pain (literal pain for my legs) as possible. And yes there is an elevator, but with the entire train being emptied at Broadway, the lines are long, and the elevators crowded during respiratory virus season.

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By Daan on Fri, 11/22/2024 - 1:56pm.

Where a manager of the T,
Annoyed at having to work,
Finds a way, on custmors to wee,
Giving them an MBTA tell,
Go to Hell.

But anyone who has been riding the T going far back as Grabauskas knows that above the entrance at every underground T station, in ethereal invisible carvings in the air is Dante's words:

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

By anon on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 9:47am.

Arrived at Harvard station at 8:40
Arrived at Central square at 9:30

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By ridgerunnr on Fri, 11/22/2024 - 7:00am.

Not everyone is able to do a long walk, but if you are - it’s only a 20 min walk between the Harvard to Central stations. So much less frustrating and some exercise at the same time!

By SwirlyGrrl on Fri, 11/22/2024 - 5:57pm.

I was on a bus around that same time. One of our region's famously alert truck drivers plowed into stuff taking the turn onto Mass Ave too quickly. Our bus was at a red light at the front of the line when it happened, and we had to wait 10 minutes before we could move. Cops were only letting cyclists through due to the truck being stuck.

By flatrick-westrox on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 9:54am.

This nightmare is almost over

https://www.mbta.com/performance-metrics/speed-restrictions

It's a shame they don't clear a path through the financial district for these buses with temporary bus lanes or something. Better off hoping off at South station and walking the rest of the way

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By BostonDog on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 10:21am.

When Baker shut down the OL for a month, the city and state went into emergency mode and tried to make special corridors for the shuttle. It seemed to basically work or wasn't much worse than the OL at the time.

But for all the shutdowns since, it's just a shrug. Why haven't they done the same thing?

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By Zhu Hengpeng on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 10:24am.

Who are you questioning? Are you also a bot?

By Whit on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 10:38am.

.

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By Lane Straddler on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 11:32am.

Seems like your driver was winging it.
I'm not in charge, but I'd have driven Milk/Broad and then taken Broad to State+Court to trim the fat off that unnecessary loop...
Kilby to State is a lil bit of a sharp turn.

But why not take Summer to Devonshire/Winthrop sq to Franklin to Arch to Milk, to Washington to Court? It's a bunch of zig zagging... But much more direct and pretty easy turns.

By Lane Straddler on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 11:33am.

20yrs ago, I used to make deliveries to the transportation building (10 Park plaza)...
The offices started on a mezzanine, with a food court on the ground level.
Upon reaching the mezzanine level atop an escalator/stairs, you would have to sign in to proceed to the elevators.
Building security had their crowd herding ropes set up in such a way that people entering had to cross paths with people exiting...
This was the transportation building... With a bunch of transportation planning agencies within.
Tells ya something...

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By Frelmont on Thu, 11/21/2024 - 1:05pm.

There was one heck of a good burrito stand there then.

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By joecab on Sat, 11/23/2024 - 9:59am.

The paranoid idiot in me swears they consult the Farmer's Almanac or something to pick the days with the worst weather to dedicate to waiting outside for a bus to get on. Someone should tell the MBTA that if it's pouring outside it's okay if the next bus in line opens its doors early to let people on before the one in front of it is full.