Carrie Dubose, the longtime superintendent at Cabot Garage, has moved on to Charlestown. The new guy, to the best of my knowledge, is a fellow by the name of John Houghton. Hope he knows what he's gotten into. Cabot can be a difficult garage to manage. I'll have to stop by and introduce myself.So yesterday I decided to do my bit to help out the economy. Taking advantage of the tax holiday, I went to several booksellers (I picked up an 1869 translation of the odes of Horace...for only $9.50!), and spotted some interesting things in my travels. On the Blue Line I discovered that the new cars display "GOVERNMENT C" for Government Center. Why not program them to say "GOV'T CENTER". That's fewer letters and is easier for the riders to understand. Oh well, the electronic PA still insisted that trains were operating to Bowdoin even though it was the weekend. On the Wonderland side, I had the warm company of about 100 people waiting for the train. Soon a train pulled into the station, showing off the impressive horns the 700's have, then stopped. We eagerly went up to the doors to board...and the train left. You know, if you're heading back to the yard, displaying "out of service" (and maybe turning out your lights too) would've been nice. Oh yes, and on its way out, I spotted a poor woman and her baby on board. She must have boarded the train on its way to Bowdoin and had gotten stuck on board. Thankfully, I notified the motorman of the next train to call ahead and make sure the mother and child were taken care of.
Now get this, on weekends the Silver Line Washington Street supposedly only runs 40' buses (the 6000's). This helps with fuel economy and better meets ridership demand (correct me if I'm wrong). So what was 1013 (a 60' bus) doing out on the street yesterday?
1 comment:
I frequently see outbound 40' Silver Line buses packed all the way to the front door after leaving *Boylston* on the weekends. Realistically, 60' buses are a necessity every day of the week.
A 40' bus is like sending out a single Green Line car with a partition built at the halfway point of the train. Far too small, and damages the image of the line. The T wants to prove that BRT riders are going to be treated as well as heavy and light rail passengers. A 40' bus is the bare minimum we-don't-care option, and in practice, it just doesn't get the job done.
60' buses should be the rule the entire time a Boston BRT line is in operation.
Post a Comment