Monday, May 26, 2008

A Day At The Races

So I went to catch the 111 this evening at Haymarket. Even though everything is on a Sunday schedule for the holiday, I figured the wait wouldn't be that long. The 111 has a pretty good frequency even on weekends. To my surprise (I wasn't really surprised) there were three buses at Haymarket. What luck! All New Flyers, but still, having a choice between bus #0634, #0660, and #0741 made me feel pretty special. Again the MBTA underestimated ridership. Today is Memorial Day, a day of remembrance and reflection. Surely most people would be at home. Yeah, on a warm and sunny day with no school or work, I'm sure. Turns out we had quite a mass of people waiting for the 111 (~50-75 people).

The man in the red hat is watching the first bus (laden with passengers of course) pull away. Bus 660 would soon follow. My bus (in the corner) got the leftovers. Now today there are four buses on the Route 111, operating every 12 minutes. Hmm...Three of the buses are in Downtown Boston, so that leaves only one bus in Chelsea. Heading inbound I'm sure. But wait! On our way up North Washington Street (still in Downtown Boston by the way), what's that I see? Why it's the fourth bus! Heading towards Haymarket! So we have three buses that have not yet reached the Tobin Bridge and another pulling into Haymarket. Thus at that very moment...there was not a single Route 111 bus in all of Chelsea! Yes, I did do my math correctly.

Now that's what I call service, folks!

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