by Yellowspoon
Sign, Sign, everywhere a sign (as the song goes). Unfortunately, a significant number of them are incorrect, cryptic, missing, or ambiguous.
Yes, I know many of you think I'm a whiner just because I point out signs that are incorrect. After all, everybody who frequents this board knows there way around the subway system. However, the signs are not for us. The signs should be for those people who DON'T know there way around the MBTA. And the MBTA should not use cryptic sayings that have no context. (Do you REALLY believe that a tourist has any idea what "COPLEY & WEST" means). When I made a comment similar to this effect back in February, I received a curt retort that tourists should just ask someone. That assumes that the person standing next to you knows the answer. They usually don't.
So now, let's fast forward to Marathon Monday. Government Center has been open for four weeks. To assist newbies who don't know their way around, the MBTA has stationed an employee a Park Street between tracks 3 & 4. Then, I notice the below sign which is wrong in so many ways. Even when GovCen was closed, access to the Blue Line was faster via Downtown Crossing. However, even that would have been wrong. It was significantly faster to go to Logan via the Silver Line. Today, I believe that red/silver route with one transfer is still a bit faster than the Blue Line which involves two transfers. To add a trivial nit-pick, the sign incorrectly calls TD Garden by a name that was dropped twenty years ago.
To make a point, I called the MBTA employee over to the sign. While pointing at the sign, I asked, "To get to Logan airport, I take any car to Haymarket and transfer to the Blue Line???". The answer was an unqualified, "Yes". So I asked her again, this time pointing to Haymarket, "To get to Logan airport, I take the green line to HAYMARKET and transfer to the Blue Line". She again answered, "Yes". When I told her the correct routing, she did not know why the sign was wrong, but said that she would inform someone.
After doing some business near City Hall, I ate my lunch on the upper level of the Government Center station. It being Marathon Monday, a lot of people were going to view the Marathon near Heartbreak Hill. I saw many groups waiting, waiting, and more waiting. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks ... How the *&$%#@ are riders supposed to know that Boston College trains do not go through Government Center? Over the course of thirty to forty minutes, I found six different groups of people who were waiting at Government Center for a "B" train. If anyone from the MBTA is reading this, please put signs in Government Center. And while you're at it, do not abbreviate "Boston College" because a tourist usually has no idea what "B.C." means.
So, let's fast forward another three days to Thursday, April 21st. Nothing has changed at Park Street or GovCen. At GovCen, I notified an MBTA employee that there were no signs about "B" service. His response was that they were on order. That's fine, but an 8½" x 11" sheet of paper and a magic marker could create temporary signs until the printed ones are finished. Or, they could print this: http://www.zblist.com/bostoncollege.pdf.
And a final note. While waiting for a "C" train at Kenmore, the station announcement was, "Heath Street train arriving". Did I hear that correctly? The announcement board did indeed say that the train coming in was headed for Heath Street. This I had to see. The car had no passengers and did not stop.
And for those of you who think I only pick on the MBTA, let me mention my only afternoon in Atlanta. I was on a southbound red-line train to the airport. At each station, the announcement over the P.A. system was for a blue-line station. So it's not just Boston.
Yes, I know many of you think I'm a whiner just because I point out signs that are incorrect. After all, everybody who frequents this board knows there way around the subway system. However, the signs are not for us. The signs should be for those people who DON'T know there way around the MBTA. And the MBTA should not use cryptic sayings that have no context. (Do you REALLY believe that a tourist has any idea what "COPLEY & WEST" means). When I made a comment similar to this effect back in February, I received a curt retort that tourists should just ask someone. That assumes that the person standing next to you knows the answer. They usually don't.
So now, let's fast forward to Marathon Monday. Government Center has been open for four weeks. To assist newbies who don't know their way around, the MBTA has stationed an employee a Park Street between tracks 3 & 4. Then, I notice the below sign which is wrong in so many ways. Even when GovCen was closed, access to the Blue Line was faster via Downtown Crossing. However, even that would have been wrong. It was significantly faster to go to Logan via the Silver Line. Today, I believe that red/silver route with one transfer is still a bit faster than the Blue Line which involves two transfers. To add a trivial nit-pick, the sign incorrectly calls TD Garden by a name that was dropped twenty years ago.
To make a point, I called the MBTA employee over to the sign. While pointing at the sign, I asked, "To get to Logan airport, I take any car to Haymarket and transfer to the Blue Line???". The answer was an unqualified, "Yes". So I asked her again, this time pointing to Haymarket, "To get to Logan airport, I take the green line to HAYMARKET and transfer to the Blue Line". She again answered, "Yes". When I told her the correct routing, she did not know why the sign was wrong, but said that she would inform someone.
After doing some business near City Hall, I ate my lunch on the upper level of the Government Center station. It being Marathon Monday, a lot of people were going to view the Marathon near Heartbreak Hill. I saw many groups waiting, waiting, and more waiting. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks ... How the *&$%#@ are riders supposed to know that Boston College trains do not go through Government Center? Over the course of thirty to forty minutes, I found six different groups of people who were waiting at Government Center for a "B" train. If anyone from the MBTA is reading this, please put signs in Government Center. And while you're at it, do not abbreviate "Boston College" because a tourist usually has no idea what "B.C." means.
So, let's fast forward another three days to Thursday, April 21st. Nothing has changed at Park Street or GovCen. At GovCen, I notified an MBTA employee that there were no signs about "B" service. His response was that they were on order. That's fine, but an 8½" x 11" sheet of paper and a magic marker could create temporary signs until the printed ones are finished. Or, they could print this: http://www.zblist.com/bostoncollege.pdf.
And a final note. While waiting for a "C" train at Kenmore, the station announcement was, "Heath Street train arriving". Did I hear that correctly? The announcement board did indeed say that the train coming in was headed for Heath Street. This I had to see. The car had no passengers and did not stop.
And for those of you who think I only pick on the MBTA, let me mention my only afternoon in Atlanta. I was on a southbound red-line train to the airport. At each station, the announcement over the P.A. system was for a blue-line station. So it's not just Boston.
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