Route 751 (The "SL4")

Because we all know that the real SL4 would have been the "stillborn" Silver Line Waterfront branch from South Station to Andrew Station via D Street, I shall hereafter refer to the new SL4 service as either the Silver Line Connector or by its route number, Route 751 .

And speaking of the 751...

For the first time since the days of the Atlantic Avenue Elevated riders once again have a one-seat ride from Dudley Station to South Station. The bus stop is even located near where the old elevated station used to be. While it may take a little longer than it used to, at least there aren't any pesky hairpin turns to worry about. (Rounding the curve from Harrison Avenue to Beach Street, one often felt you would fall right off the elevated structure.) I was able to make it out to the ribbon cutting ceremony on the 13th. Special guests included Mayor Menino, Secretary Aloisi, and several state legislators. See below for some photos I snapped.

While most Silver Line riders are still getting used to the new service, it appears to have been received well. Trunk headways along Washington Street have seen a slight improvement, albeit with bunching during the rush hours, and the four extra buses along the corridor during the peak are surely welcomed. With the buzz still in the air, many riders are asking where does it go, how often does it operate, and what's the transfer policy for passengers going to/from the Connector and Waterfront services. All of your questions can be answered by talking to a Silver Line operator and/or picking up the new Silver Line schedule card (featuring all services).

But what about ridership? Namely, how much will develop? Most longtime Route 749 riders are content (so to speak) with their Dudley Square-Temple Place service. Will any of them be siphoned onto the 751? Some of my personal observations show midday ridership to be rather light, with only 3-10 people boarding at South Station with me during these hours. Perhaps in time a ridership base will grow. If off-peak ridership continues to be light, Southampton will hopefully switch over to the forty-footers during these times.

Well, the 751 certainly beats that $2,000,000,000+ tunnel that would have wormed its way through Chinatown. All that's left to do is lay the track, put up the catenary, and convert it all to light rail!

Comings & Goings

I find it ironic that at one time Boston's transit system won the A. N. Brady Safety Medal so often that it was asked to stop competing in order to give other cities a shot at winning. Now, hardly a week seems to go by without something going wrong.

The Brady Medal was awarded for "the best work done during the year by an electric street railway [subway trains counted too!] in America in accident prevention and industrial hygiene." The way things have been going lately, it looks like the T is out of the running.

The Commuter Rail fender bender was somewhat minor. Thank goodness there were no serious injuries. The Red and Orange Line meltdowns, on the other hand, nearly paralyzed downtown transit. The Red Line was shutdown between Harvard and JFK/UMass as fire crews tackled an electrical fire. I am a bit foggy on the electrical layout, but track-wise there are crossovers at Kendall and Broadway that could have made the isolated area much smaller. Overkill? Maybe. My thanks to anyone in the Power Department for any clarification. At least Orange Line service bounced back relatively quickly.

With all this transit mayhem, who knows what will happen next? Aliens stealing all the NABI's at Arborway? I could only imagine what the T Riders Union would have to say about that.

On a personal front, I've been getting a mixed bag. Monday morning found me on car #01746. There is nothing special about the car - it is just like the other 57 1700-series Red Line cars - except for one thing: it smelled of urine and death. Well, maybe not "death" per se, but the stench could have reasonably led to it. The floors of the car also looked suspiciously wet. #01746 is now on my "Do Not Ride" list.

I was also gleefully entertained by a senile old man on the 08. As he railed against the dangers of smoking and relived his days as a former boxer (he constantly reminded us of that fact), he would take a break and begin yelling at this one woman in the back of the bus. No clear reason, he just wanted to shout obscenities at her. The rest of us found it all to be pretty funny.

Later on I spotted the elusive 275 at JFK/UMass. Here's the picture I snapped:

Now I just need that shot of the 274 at Moon Island.

Well, enough of my ramblings. I'll have more notes from the underground later...

Back On Track

After a much needed vacation I'm back in town. Getting away for a few (very long) weekends has refreshed me. I was actually worried about taking a vacation in late August, as I would miss the MBTA fare increase workshops and hearing. Governor Patrick, however, helped to straighten out my schedule. Thanks, governor! I enjoyed being able to get up to Maine for a bit and need not worry about missing out on the fare increase public discussions. I owe you one.

Well, let's see what happens in November.

You may have read in the paper recently about the MBTA extending the hours that the Student Pass is valid. Young people who work late, have afterschool activities, etc., are now able to use their passes until 11:00pm. I want to congratulate the youth activists that worked hard to accomplish something that many naysayers said was impossible (or impractical, if not downright pointless). Great job! Keep up the fight!

Image Courtesy of Celebrate Boston

Yet not everyone is excited about the news. Many detractors have criticized the decision. Boston.com had some of the best feedback. Here was my favorite:

"Great, now there are three more hours in a day for me to get stabbed on the MBTA."

Ah, of course! Because every young person's mission is to rob, incite fear in, and terrorize their fellow commuters. Shame to see someone generalize (*cough*stereotype*cough*) like that. There are some young criminals out there, unfortunately, but not every kid wearing a hoodie is out to get you. I admit, some of those goth kids kinda creep me out. Still if you are going to criticize, let it be constructive.

Other than that, I visited the new Ashmont Station busway. Even spotted a New Flyer C40 (#6001) in regular colors. Supposedly, said the inspector, it is now doing Cabot work.

Ed Dana Would Be In Tears...

Pick your poison: 19.5% fare increase or draconian service cuts. As the MBTA booklet I received yesterday points out, it's "your service, your choice". The MBTA is proposing an overall fare increase to generate added revenue ($69,000,000) to "maintain the same level of service to its customers for the next two years." So what does a 19.5% fare increase look like exactly? Below is a sampling of some of the proposed new fares and pass prices:

Local Bus $1.50 (w/CharlieCard) - $2.00 (cash or CharlieTicket)
Monthly Local Bus Pass $47.00
Monthly Inner Express Bus Pass $102.00
Monthly Outer Express Bus Pass $150.00

Rapid Transit $2.00 (w/CharlieCard) - $2.50 (cash or CharlieTicket)

Monthly Link Pass $69.00

Commuter Rail Zone 1 - $5.00

Commuter Rail Zone 2 - $5.50

Commuter Rail Zone 3 - $6.00

Commuter Rail Zone 4 - $6.75

Commuter Rail Zone 5 - $7.25

Commuter Rail Zone 6 - $7.75

Commuter Rail Zone 7 - $8.25

Commuter Rail Zone 8 - $8.75

Monthly Commuter Rail passes would range from $69.00 (Zone 1A) to $280.00 (Zone 8)

For those of you who want fares to stay exactly as they are now, the MBTA would have to make drastic cutbacks in service to compensate. Even then, it would only save $55,000,000 and (in the eyes of the MBTA) be a bigger blow to commuters.

The following bus routes would be discontinued entirely:

Route 04 North Station - Boston Marine Industrial Park
Route 05 City Point - McCormack Housing Development
Route 08 Kenmore Station - Harbor Point
Route 17 Andrew Station - Fields Corner Station
Route 18 Andrew Station - Ashmont Station
Route 25 Ruggles Station - Franklin Park via Warren Street
Route 29 Mattapan Station - Jackson Square Station
Route 33 Mattapan Station - River & Milton Streets
Route 34E Forest Hills Station - Walpole
Route 48 Jamaica Plain Loop
Route 52 Watertown Yard - Charles River Loop OR Dedham Mall
Route 55 Park Street Station - Queensbury
Route 59 Watertown Square - Needham Junction
Route 60 Kenmore Station - Chestnut Hill
Route 62 Alewife Station - Bedford VA Hospital
Route 72 Harvard Subway - Huron Avenue
Route 76 Alewife Station - Hanscom Air Base/Lincoln Labs
Route 78 Harvard Station - Arlmont
Route 79 Alewife Station - Arlington Heights
Route 83 Central Square, Cambridge - Rindge Avenue
Route 85 Kendall Station - Spring Hill
Route 90 Wellington Station - Davis Station
Route 121 Maverick Station - Eagle Square OR Wood Island Station
Route 136 Malden Center Station - Reading
Route 137 Malden Center Station - Reading
Route 170 Dudley Station - Waltham Industrial Parks
Route 201 Fields Corner Station - Neponset Belt Line
Route 202 Fields Corner Station - Neponest Belt Line

Route 217 Ashmont Station - Quincy Center Station via Wollaston
Route 230 Quincy Center Station - Montello
Route 236 Quincy Center Station - South Shore Plaza
Route 238 Quincy Center Station - Crawford Square
Route 240 Ashmont Station - Crawford Square OR Avon Square
Route 245 Quincy Center Station - Mattapan Station
Route 274 Long Island - Moon Island
Route 275 Long Island - Downtown Boston OR Albany Street Garage
Route 276 Long Island - Boston Medical Center
Route 277 Shattuck Shelter - Park Street Station
Route 325 Haymarket Station - Elm Street via I-93
Route 350 Alewife Station - North Burlington
Route 351 Alewife Station - Oak Park
Route 352 Haymarket Station - Burlington via I-93
Route 354 Haymarket Station - Woburn via I-93
Route 355 Haymarket Station - Mishawum via I-93
Route 431 Central Square, Lynn - Neptune Towers
Route 434 Haymarket Station - Peabody Square
Route 435 Central Square, Lynn - Liberty Tree Mall OR Danvers Square
Route 436 Central Square, Lynn - Liberty Tree Mall
Route 439 Central Square, Lynn - Nahant
Route 448 Marblehead - Downtown Crossing via Paradise Road
Route 449 Marblehead - Downtown Crossing via Humphrey Street
Route 451 Salem Depot - North Beverly
Route 459 Salem Depot - Downtown Crossing
Route 465 Salem Depot - Danvers Square
Route 468 Salem Depot - Danvers Square via Margin Street
Route 500 Downtown Boston - Riverside Station via MassPike
Route 501 Downtown Boston - Brighton Center via MassPike
Route 502 Copley Square - Watertown Yard via MassPike
Route 503 Copley Square - Brighton Center via MassPike
Route 504 Downtown Boston - Watertown Yard via MassPike
Route 505 Downtown Boston - Waltham via MassPike
Route 555 Downtown Boston - Riverside Station via Copley Square
Route 558 Riverside Station - Newton Corner OR Downtown Boston
Route 701 Central Square, Cambridge - Boston Medical Center (Route CT1)

The following MBTA bus routes would lose all weekend service:

Route 132 Malden Center Station - Stoneham
Route 553 Newton Corner - Roberts
Route 554 Newton Corner - Waverly

The following MBTA bus routes would have their schedules "altered":

Route 07 Downtown - City Point via Summer Street
Route 09 City Point - Copley Square via Broadway
Route 14 Roslindale Square - Heath Street
Route 16 Andrew Station - Forest Hills Station
Route 31 Mattapan Station - Forest Hills Station via Morton Street
Route 64 Central Square, Cambridge - Oak Square
Route 68 Harvard Square - Kendall Station
Route 71 Harvard Subway - Watertown Square
Route 73 Harvard Subway - Waverly Square
Route 74 Harvard Station - Belmont Center
Route 92 Sullivan Station - Downtown via Main Street
Route 93 Sullivan Station - Downtown via Bunker Hill
Route 95 Sullivan Station - West Medford
Route 99 Wellington Station - Boston Regional Medical Center
Route 112 Wellington Station - Wood Island Station
Route 114 Maverick Station - Bellingham Square OR Mystic Mall
Route 120 Maverick Station - Orient Heights
Route 214 Quincy Center Station - Germantown
Route 215 Quincy Center Station - Ashmont Station via East Milton Square
Route 216 Quincy Center Station - Hough's Neck
Route 220 Quincy Center Station - Hingham
Route 326 Haymarket Station - West Medford via I-93
Route 441 Marblehead - Haymarket via Paradise Road
Route 442 Marblehead - Haymarket via Humphrey Street
Route 450 Salem Depot - Haymarket via Western Avenue
Route 455 Salem Depot - Haymarket via Loring Avenue

The MBTA supplemental bus service (i.e. the "Supplementals" and "school trips") would be scaled back; if not reduced entirely.

All remaining bus service would have service evenings and weekends cut in half.

Quincy & Lynn Garages would be closed nights and weekends.
All other routes at these garages would lose service at these times.

The following Green Line stations would close:

BU East (B Branch)
BU West (B Branch)
Pleasant Street (B Branch)
Brandon Hall (C Branch)
Saint Paul Street (C Branch)
Hawes Street (C Branch)

The E Branch of the Green Line would be cutback from Heath Street to Brigham Circle.

E Line service would also be eliminated on weekends.

Subway service overall would be reduced by 50% during the midday, nights, and on weekends.

The following Commuter Rail stations would close:

Hastings, Silver Hill, Waverly, Plimptonville, Readville (Franklin Line only), Wyoming Hill, Ballardvale, Greenwood, Plymouth, Mishawum, Rowley, West Gloucester,
Beverly Farms, and Prides Crossing

ALL Commuter Rail service would be eliminated after 7PM weeknights, and all day weekends

ALL Ferry service would be eliminated, along with the Suburban Transportation Program subsidies and the Private Carrier Program subsidies.

The RIDE service area would be extensively redefined.

Again, these things would only happen if there is NO FARE INCREASE.

Whew. So how many cities and towns would lose local MBTA service? I lost count at ten.

Pay more? Or lose service? After all, it's "your choice"!

Wake Me When It's Over

So the word is out: the Globe has published a list of proposed service cuts that the MBTA is mulling over to close its $160,000,000 budget gap. I had hoped that the cuts would not be as bad as the 1981 service reductions (which seem to have faded from our collective memory), but in fact, they would be much worse. The good thing is that nothing is official...yet. To add insult to injury, many riders feel that the MBTA is just bluffing. Some people said the same thing back in 1981, then they woke up one Sunday to find that the Blue Line did not go to Wonderland anymore.

Let us take a look at some of the 2009 proposals "under consideration" and compare them with the cutbacks made in 1981; just to get an idea what we're in for.


2009 Proposal: "Eliminate service at Quincy & Lynn bus garages after 9 p.m. weekdays and all day on weekends"

1981 Equivalent: Eagle Street Garage (nee Carhouse) was closed on April 4, 1981. Its routes (110-121) were divided up between Charlestown Garage (110-112) and Lynn Garage (116-117, 119-121). Having been active since the days of streetcars, the garage was closed to cut costs. The site is now a (somewhat rundown) parking lot near Eagle Square in East Boston.

This proposal is terribly vague. Will service on the routes based at these garages be eliminated nights and weekends, or will they (like Fellsway and Albany) be covered by other garages? Lynn Garage is home to Routes 116 and 117, and I have a feeling chaos would ensue if service did not operate weeknights or over the weekend. I'm sure South Shore residents would be equally unhappy not have any service during these periods as well. And if another garage does cover them, you would have to train and familiarize the drivers with routes from another division. I know a few seasoned veterans at Charlestown who started out at Lynn...but that was fifteen to twenty years ago. Some might think that the 433 or 458 are still running.


2009 Proposal: "Eliminate customer service agents [CSA's] in subway stations"

1981 Equivalent: Some unstaffed token booths, a few station closings.

Several friends and I joked about personally staffing major downtown stations during our lunch breaks to give tourists and other riders directions, and to help with any CharlieCard issues. A volunteer CSA corps, if you will. But, alas! We could only do some much in an hour. So if you need help adding money to your card, or purchasing a ticket, I suppose you'll just have to watch someone else do it. Or visit youtube. Commuters will also lose touch with the "human side" of the T. Sure, you can call the information line or visit the website, but to have someone you can actually talk to in person; that can brighten up someone's day.

This photo happens to be from the final Route 195 trip.
TransitMaster had changed the sign before
I could get a photo of the bus displaying "195 DOWNTOWN".

2009 Proposals: "Eliminate highest net-cost-per-passenger bus routes" and "Eliminate routes due to network redundancy"

1981 Equivalent: Over 20 routes were eliminated and several pairs of routes combined (i.e. Routes 25 and 26 were merged to become the current Route 26).

Highest net-cost-per-passenger bus routes? What is "net-cost-per-passenger"? Basically, you take the total amount of money needed to operate the service, then subtract the revenue from fares ("farebox recovery"), then divide that by the total number of riders. The final value is the per-passenger subsidy the MBTA pays to keep service running. I went to mbta.com and pulled up a copy of the Final 2008 Service Plan. At the very end of the document is a table summarizing ridership, total cost of service, net-cost-per-passenger, service hours, etc.; all sorted by bus route. Doing a bit of digging I found some possible "high net-cost" candidates:

Route 48 Jamaica Plain Loop
Route 78 Harvard Station - Arlmont Village
Route 170 Dudley Station - Waltham Industrial Parks
Route 355 Haymarket - Woburn Industrial Parks
Route 435 Lynn - Liberty Tree Mall/Danvers Square
Route 436 Lynn - Liberty Tree Mall via Happy Valley
Route 465 Salem Depot - Danvers Square

Just to name a few...

The system wide average for a bus subsidy is about $1.50. These routes average over three times that amount! The "exotic routes" (i.e. Route 170 and 355) we may be able to live without. But what about the others? As for "network redundancies" (jargon, anyone?), please do away with Route 25 (Ruggles - Franklin Park via Dudley)! This route operates only during the AM Peak, with a fifteen minute headway, and carries about 203 people per day. Often when extra equipment is needed, the 25 is first to "donate" its buses. We could press on without the 25; Cabot would love to have the extra three buses available during the AM rush hour. Perhaps, however, some of the other "redundancies" would be more greatly missed.


2009 Proposal: "Eliminate E Branch on weekends, extend C Line to Lechmere; eliminate E Line service beyond Brigham Circle; eliminate Mattapan trolley after 8PM weekdays and all day weekends"; cut several Green Line surface stops.

In 1981: On Sundays shuttle buses replaced train service to Ashmont, Shawmut, Fields Corner, Savin Hill, Malden Center, Oak Grove, Suffolk Downs, Beachmont, Revere Beach, and Wonderland. The span of subway service was also reduced on Sundays; last trains were scheduled around 10PM or 10:30. Two stations were also closed completely.

What did the Mattapan High Speed Line do to deserve such a fate? After carrying passengers (daily!) since 1929, must it now become no more than a rush hour and midday only shuttle? The night and weekend alternative is Route 24.3 (a.k.a "Route 24/27"). Service on this route operates every 60 minutes weeknights and Sundays, and every 40-60 minutes Saturdays. If this proposal becomes reality, I strongly encourage Arborway to borrow some 60-footers from Southampton, otherwise you are going to have some packed (Routes 28 and 111 packed) NABIs traveling along River Street. As for the Green Line cutbacks, no more E service on weekends? Do we really want all of those extra riders on the 39? And will cutting back service from Heath Street to Brigham Circle really save any money? The cantenary to Heath Street would still have electricity flowing through it (so no energy cost savings), the stops eliminated, save for Heath, are just segments of sidewalk with a "Green Line Stop" sign above them. Well, Fenwood Road does have a tall "T" sign, but you get the idea. Frankly, B Line stops are too close together, so cutting a few may not be the end of the world. The announcements sometimes stumble over each other, the stops are so close together: "Next stop Boston University West. Entering Boston University West." And doesn't BU have its own shuttle bus system? Well, enough of my ranting about Boston University.

More to come later...

Service Has Resumed With Residual Delays...

Wow, my last post was on February 21!? Jeez! Sorry for being offline for such a long time, I've been pretty busy lately. Anyway, I'll start off with some news updates.

Six 1700 series cars have been set aside at Cabot Shops (the Red Line yard) for repairs and may be the first of the 1700's to go into overhaul. The overhaul program, slated to begin later this year or early in 2009, includes cam and brake work, upgrades to the power systems, and possibly digital destination signs and automated stop announcements (like on the 1800's).

On the Orange Line, work continues on repainting and overhaul work for the 1200's. The refurbished cars are easy to spot with their bright and glossy orange, white, and gray paint jobs.

Speaking of keeping up appearances, there are now six cars in the new Green Line paint scheme: 3656, 3664, 3667, 3678, 3689, and 3694. Their bold hunter green and white color is a marked departure from the subdued teal and gray seen on the rest of the Green Line fleet.

Another train of the new Blue Line cars (700's) has entered service bringing the total to eight cars in revenue service. 86 cars are still left to be delivered. Now, commuters have a 1 out of 7 chance of getting on of the new trains during rush hour.

The next order of 155 New Flyer D40 buses, #0755-0909, are planned to be delivered to Cabot (55), Lynn (50), and Quincy (50). Once more shall diesel buses have a noticeable presence at Cabot (remember the of "Summer of the RTS" when the Riverside Shuttle was going on? RTS buses on 01's, 28's, 44's, and 45's!). 55 NABI buses from Arborway are set to enter a midlife overhaul program. Cabot will then give Arborway 55 of its NABI's and take 55 of the New Flyer D40s.

Sorry, nothing big going on with the Silver Lines lately.

As for the bus system, all pullouts from Cabot Garage on Routes 22, 23, and 28 are to be only camera buses beginning this rating (Spring 08). Several buses from Charlestown/Bennett (0610, 0612-0616, and 0620) have been transfered to Cabot to meet the peak requirements. More NABI buses are planned to be retrofitted with security cameras sometime down the road. Currently on buses 2201-2204 such systems are installed.

Odd bus sightings included an unusually (at least for me) large number of Lynn RTS buses at Haymarket (almost always Neoplan AN440's), New Flyer's in East Boston for the Blue Line shuttle, and a New Flyer on the 66 (normally not assigned to that route).

Coming up a little later: A look at service on the Route 111, top 25 things I hate and top 25 things I like about the MBTA, and some photos.

Stay tuned,

The Long Rider