Free Commuter Rail Back Bay to South Station

The biggest problem with the MBTA announcing free travel from Back Bay was the fact that they neglected to tell MBCR who supervises the Conductors. There was chaos on every morning train this past friday train. Crews argued and passengers waved their Metro Newspapers at them.

I used to ride the commuter rail from Ruggles to South Station, and they never checked fares. This was always around 8PM or so.

claytor wrote:The biggest problem with the MBTA announcing free travel from Back Bay was the fact that they neglected to tell MBCR who supervises the Conductors. There was chaos on every morning train this past friday train. Crews argued and passengers waved their Metro Newspapers at them.

Another example of the MBCR not telling their employees what's flying.

And as of last night I still haven't read any Bulletins or Notices regarding this.

CSX Conductor wrote:And as of last night I still haven't read any Bulletins or Notices regarding this.

I guess they assume you all read the metro.

I was in Boston a few days this week, and yesterday rather than walk to Copley I decided to head to Back Bay. Well every few mins it seemed, since this was 8:00AM "Inbound to South Station, Track 3, Inbound to South Station Track 1 etc etc. I ended up getting on a train on Track 3 and just took the short ride to S. Station. It was nice I tell you, and easy and convient.

I've done BOS-BBY myself before, 10 years ago to be exact when I was railfanning around the Red/Green/Orange Lines

The free rides seem to be a temporary thing. Take a look at this headline from the T website:

"MBTA Announces Free Commuter Rail Service From Back Bay To South Station
Start Date: 9/22/2006 End Date: 10/22/2006"
The accompanying article talks about a promotion. So there shouldn't be long-term confusion.

(This is short enough to be fair-use and therefore legal to copy.)

that's just the "end date" for how long the press release should be displayed

I live in West Medford and work right near South Station. Several times a week I catch a ride into town with someone who parks at the deck right next to Back Bay. Even before the promo I was surprised at how many people used the service to shuttle over to downtown. In the morning you can catch trains over very frequently. It really is the easiest way to get across town. I am not sure if tourist would know enough about the sytem to take advantage of it though. I love the service and now I don't have to fish around for my T pass.

Everyone: I seem to recall a predecent to this service-Back in the mid 80s during SW Corridor construction the MBTA ran a shuttle train between BOS and BBY for the convenience of commuters traveling the detour via the Dorchester Branch. This was done until the re-routing was complete in 1987 I believe. I recall no fares were collected on this shuttle service. MACTRAXX

That was until 5/4/87 when the CR SWC reopened along with the Orange. But passengers could also take trains to Framingham and get out at BBY to get there.

danib62 wrote:

claytor wrote:The biggest problem with the MBTA announcing free travel from Back Bay was the fact that they neglected to tell MBCR who supervises the Conductors. There was chaos on every morning train this past friday train. Crews argued and passengers waved their Metro Newspapers at them.

Another example of the MBCR not telling their employees what's flying.

Someone at the MBTA made the decision for the free rides and told the press. That person never told the MBTA's commuter rail liason people. who inturn would have told MBCR From what I was told they were pissed. It had nothing to do with MBCR not telling their people, it had to do with the T not telling MBCR.

According to an MBCR employee notice the free fares from BBy to S. Station are to continue until further notice.

Must be a South Side transportation notice, nothing in writing on the North Side.