BostonUrbEx wrote:Which I still don't understand why they did it that way. The fare controlled area is feet away from the High Speed Line platform, and there is no need for access to the platform unless you're boarding a trolley. The fares are exactly the same. They could have made for a speedier and more efficient transfer/boarding process, plus include the platform inside the station building. They essentially nuked the old station and started from scratch, anyway.
I have to agree. The old station had fair controlled platform to platform transfers, vs the out of fare control of the new trolley platform. Its also now up in the air (and the greeaat screeching), so one needs to leave the trolley on its platform, go through any inclement weather (since they couldn't even put shelter all the way to the lobby), cross the lobby, go through fair control and down the stairs. I am a bit bitter, I guess, as I have had to do this dash out of the trolley and into the lobby, through the gate and down the stairs only to have a Red Line train's doors close in my face one too many times - and then of course depending on time of day having to wait another 8-20 minutes for the next Red Line train
. It just really seems like when they did the new design they wrapped everything up, and the day or two before it was due someone looked at it and casually mentioned that they remembered the old station having a trolley somewhere or something like that, kicking off a last minute add on because they had forgotten about it
. In all seriousness though - maybe they put it before the fair gate because collecting fairs on the trolley is so haphazard they decided they would try to ensure getting them at the transfer point. I would really hope in the next redesign they correct this, but, I doubt that is happening anytime soon. It does seem like it wouldn't be too hard to modify the existing station to keep things flowing better though, with the current platform put behind fair gates and a more direct stair way to the inbound platform. They could also really, really work on syncing up the timings of the trolley to the Red Line - especially during outbound rush hour (and beyond it).