Planned Service Suspensions (Was: Orange Line To Close...)

Is there a sight or a mark on the hood?

BandA wrote: ↑Thu Aug 25, 2022 4:43 pm Is there a sight or a mark on the hood?

Most of the time you have a second person directing you. If you are by yourself , you would have to constantly get in and out of the vehicle to line things up.

Sort of on/off topic for this subject. How many students take the Orange Line?

Medford (where I live), Malden and Somerville go back to school tomorrow, 8/31. I here the press touting all these students that will be taking the Orange Line to school! Living in Meffa and a product of the Medford Public School system there is NO school close to school, closest being Madeleine Dugger Andrews about a mile away and a inconvenient walk or RT 134 bus, from Wellington. Also Malden Center which is close to Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. As for the shuttle bus routes in I still don't see conflict. So I think the media has hyped this up a little much.

That said I work in Boston and definitely the students use the Orange Line as their transportation method and I do foresee issues next week.

The #39 bus is about to get busier when school starts. Lots of kids going to Boston Latin, for example, take a bus to Forest Hills and change to the 39. And I imagine that some regular OL riders are taking the 39 instead of the shuttlebuses, esp if they are headed to Northeastern or thereabouts.

At least in the afternoon, the T has bus trips that originate at Boston Latin (and presumably other schools as well) and spread out on several routes (there's one, for example, that's an extended Route 32 bus out to Wolcott Sq.)

Arborwayfan wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:13 pm The #39 bus is about to get busier when school starts. Lots of kids going to Boston Latin, for example, take a bus to Forest Hills and change to the 39.

A good many of them take the Needham Line and get off at Ruggles.

dieciduej wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:51 am Sort of on/off topic for this subject. How many students take the Orange Line?

Medford (where I live), Malden and Somerville go back to school tomorrow, 8/31. I here the press touting all these students that will be taking the Orange Line to school! Living in Meffa and a product of the Medford Public School system there is NO school close to school, closest being Madeleine Dugger Andrews about a mile away and a inconvenient walk or RT 134 bus, from Wellington. Also Malden Center which is close to Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. As for the shuttle bus routes in I still don't see conflict. So I think the media has hyped this up a little much.

That said I work in Boston and definitely the students use the Orange Line as their transportation method and I do foresee issues next week.

My wife teaches in Malden, and does fairly often take the Orange Line, so that's at least one school on the North side that is OL accessible. That said, it's an elementary school, so none of her students are riding the train. I also doubt very many people use the Orange Line for local transit within Malden. Riders who use those stations are likely going to and from Boston.

MBTA3247 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:12 pm At least in the afternoon, the T has bus trips that originate at Boston Latin (and presumably other schools as well) and spread out on several routes (there's one, for example, that's an extended Route 32 bus out to Wolcott Sq.)

They also have the special bus routes in the morning. I think the schools most affected by this would be English High, Madison, the O'Bryan, and Charlestown HS.

That's interesting about BLS students taking the Needham Line to Ruggles. Do you mean that is happening now, during the OL closure, or that it's common these days? When I was at Latin, student T passes weren't good on the CR and I didn't know of anyone who took the Needham Line to school.

I remember the special buses, kind of double-route buses. I used to take the BLS - Dedham Line one, which ran via Columbus Ave and Washington St without stopping and then ran as a 34, IIRC. But after a year or two, when I had friends in Hyde Park and West Roxbury, we would all ride the 39 together and change to our respective routes there. Those 39s were always packed, and since it doesn't take many people to pack a bus and there are something like 2,500 at Latin I suspect they still are. Been a while since I did that (class of 1992) but I don't see why now would be any different.

When I was at Latin (class of '09), student passes were good up to Zone 2 (which covers the entire Needham line) and I noticed that the BC High students who live in Braintree can take a faster ride between JFK/UMass and Braintree. The commuter rail is free up to Zone 2 during the OL shutdown anyway.

Now that's interesting, and progress, especially for people in Hyde Park, Mattapan, and along the Fairmount Line.

It's September 12. One week from today, the Orange Line is supposed to come back. Will it happen?

MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak told reporters Tuesday that 82% of the work scheduled on the Orange Line has been finished, adding that there are more partial shutdowns to come and it could be the new normal for the T.

“Just five days left to go, we are in a great position to finish strong and on time,” Poftak said. “We want to get on top of this. Part of the FTA special directive on track maintenance directs us to get on top of this and stay on top of this and we’re committed to doing that.”

What is the cost Mr. Poftak? We know the 30 day bus contract alone was $37M!

And in the time it takes to sigh in relief after the Orange Line reopens, the Riverside Line will shut down from the end of September through most of October.

rethcir wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 1:39 pm that 82% of the work scheduled on the Orange Line has been finished

Considering they never released a list of projects they were going to work on- we will never know if this number is accurate.