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  • Longfellow Bridge Repairs: Red Line to be Disrupted

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1207305  by Disney Guy
 
The devil's advocate speaks.

If the shuttle buses go only from Kendall to Bowdoin then it's a bear to get back to the Red Line to Ashmont or Braintree having to make additional transfers via the Green Line or Orange Line.

The existing alternate announcements of trains to Ashmont and Braintree are actually quite fail-safe for the low information voters among us. They will wait at most one superfluous train headway interval if they blindly follow the announcements. If all the announcements were change to "train to Kendall" then those poor schlubs would be waiting forever for an Ashmont or Braintree announcement.

Anyone know how the station sign messages are programmed? Using a telephone dial where "1" is shared by the letters A, B, and C so you have to punch 11 for A, 12 for B, 13 for C, 21 for D, 22, for E, etc. as in old fashioned texting? Very cumbersome and you also have to remember (or look closely at the dial) to see that M, N, and O share the number 6.
 #1207424  by sery2831
 
Disney Guy wrote:The devil's advocate speaks.

If the shuttle buses go only from Kendall to Bowdoin then it's a bear to get back to the Red Line to Ashmont or Braintree having to make additional transfers via the Green Line or Orange Line.
I think it was suggested it would make a stop at Bowdoin for an additional connection(which I think is a great idea). Having an additional stop at Boylston I think a bit overkill.
 #1207447  by merrick1
 
Disney Guy wrote:Yes, at stations Alewife through Central they could put up a terse sign with something like:

Sat-Sun Take Any Train Take Shuttle Bus At Kendall For Boston
Are there a significant number of passengers who board at Alewife through Central and ride past JFK/U Mass?
 #1208853  by rethcir
 
Disney Guy wrote:Anyone know how the station sign messages are programmed? Using a telephone dial where "1" is shared by the letters A, B, and C so you have to punch 11 for A, 12 for B, 13 for C, 21 for D, 22, for E, etc. as in old fashioned texting? Very cumbersome and you also have to remember (or look closely at the dial) to see that M, N, and O share the number 6.
It wouldn't be that hard to write an app that would translate the letters into their dial code pretty quickly.
 #1208884  by CRail
 
boblothrope wrote: With an attitude like that, I hope you don't hold any leadership role with the T, nor any other passenger rail system.

The world will continue to spin if the T screws up in any number of ways. The T should still work to correct and prevent screw-ups.

Before there were PA systems and destination signs, there were paper signs. But now that we have the additional sources of information, we have to make sure they're correct. Would you be ok with major mistakes in schedules and maps on the T's website, because people used to get by just fine before there was an Internet? Why did we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the fancy electronic signs and announcements if they're wrong?

People who really know what they're doing don't need any signs at all. You could take away all the signs and maps in the entire T, and *I'd* still get where I was going. But the signs are important for the people who need them. When providing passenger information, the T should think like someone who is spending their first day in Boston, and wanders into a station with no advance planning.
Keep hoping buddy, I don't discuss things like employment here. My attitude is to get the service over the road, and not get caught up in minutia like what a pre-programmed announcement says. They do think about people who have no idea where they are or what they're doing, that's why there are temporary signs everywhere and an abundance of people in orange vests offering assistance. A LOT of effort is put in to getting people where they need to go. One stupid announcement is not a catastrophic 'screw up.' If you have all the answers, then why aren't you at the head of the Authority? Maybe it's because you really don't.

Frankly, I'm really tired of the constant T bashing that comes from some on here, and the attitude that the real-world experienced operations managers do a job so lousy that you could walk in off the street and do better. It's not constructive, it's just irritating.
 #1210086  by danib62
 
I don't think expecting a system to be capable of handling service diversions is a wildly crazy expectation. It was an oversight. Yea the train will still run and most people will carry on but I'm sure there will be people not expecting the diversion who will end up skipping a train that they could've taken. Again not the end of the world but definitely something that should have been accounted for.

I'm curious: Are they still signing the trains for Ashmont and Braintree too?
 #1210104  by sery2831
 
In the past they tried to keep the 018s on the Cambridge side of diversions so they can sign up the station they are busing from. On the side with the branches they ran a mix of equipment.
 #1210170  by CRail
 
Destination signs should be displayed accordingly. Especially when turning Heath St. cars at Brigham Circle, which they don't do (intentionally, motormen are told to leave up Heath St.). They've gotten even worse with shuttle buses signing up for the end of the line rather than the station they're stopping at. On the orange line, they've signed up "Forest Hills" instead of "Sullivan Sta." I don't know if this is still done or what they're doing on this particular shuttle, but I hope they sign up "Kendall Sta" and not "Alewife"!

During scheduled diversions, there are announcements everywhere both visual and audible, and uniformed and vested staff all over the place to offer assistance. If someone still can't figure it out then a modified "next train" announcement isn't going to solve their problem.

What should happen is an effort to break the complacent habit behavior. By catering to people always expecting the norm you're simply embracing the idea that it will never be any different. Encourage riders to pay attention to what they're doing, and there will be less problems.
 #1212516  by Amtrak7
 
They posted a new batch of diversions. Basically every weekend from Oct 12 through Dec 22 except Nov 9-10 and Thanksgiving involves some form of Red Line bustitution somewhere. (now until Oct 5-6 they're doing the Blue Line every weekend)
 #1214883  by Disney Guy
 
What use is a stop sign for buses at the north end of the Charles station platforms? That's partway up the bridge, on the one way inbound roadway.

The outbound shuttle buses take the turn towards Science Park long before that point.
 #1214913  by connartist88h
 
You're mistaken. During the planned weekend diversions, buses will operate in both directions on the downstream side of the Longfellow bridge. MBTA buses will be the only traffic allowed on the bridge during these diversions aside from pedestrians; the cones separating the buffered bike lane will be removed and cyclists are asked to walk.

There should be just enough space for two-way bus traffic on the downstream side of the bridge, but the Charles/MGH platform creates a pinch-point,hence the instruction to stop and yield.
 #1248007  by Disney Guy
 
Does anyone know what was done during the three weekends so far when Red Line service over the Longfellow Bridge was suspended? All I saw each time was erection of green cloth visual barriers on the west side of the track. Was the only purpose to hide arc welding activities from train passengers?

OT: Was the real reason why solar eclipses were considered ill omen to ancient peoples was people staring at the eclipse and burning their eyes?

They could make a subtle change to the announcements in the Cambridge stations that would make the announcements more compatible for both normal operation and diversions: "The next Red Line train for Ashmont is now ... " it could be refined a bit without losing compatibility: "The next Red Line train for downtown Boston and Ashmont is now ... "
 #1258478  by Diverging Route
 
There now appears to be a 10mph speed restriction inbound, from the Kendall portal up the bridge incline to mid-span. This is the area where a portion of the inbound traffic lanes have been removed. The 1800s handle this pretty well, but the <=1700s run with a neck-jerking motion as the ATO does frequent on-off-on-off commands to the propulsion system.

Diverging Route's office looks at the project. It's pretty neat! :wink:
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