D Line Shut Down(was:Riverside busing)

[Dispatcher35]

Went to Riverside today to take the Green Line into Boston only to find out they are busing to Fenway. No big deal! What I did notice is that they seem to leave 3 at a time and each one makes all the station stops.

Maybe I'm wrong but would it be worth the T's while to try and express one of the buses in each trip right into Fenway?

[obienick]

They did the same thing when they were busing the Orange Line north of Haymarket.

[ags]

They absolutely should run buses express. Especially yesterday, when there was no parking at Woodland, (a major park-n-ride location) the trip into Fenway took approximately an hour and a half. And why to Fenway? Why not Kenmore so that on the way out of town any train (except E) would get a passenger to the transfer point. It was so poorly handled yesterday I shudder to think about this summer.

[Dispatcher35]

Yesterdays busing did not seem like one of the T's brightest moves. Both inbound and outbound buses did not even go near Woodland. They stopped at the corner of Beacon and Washington streets and called that Woodland. The busway at Cleveland Circle was closed due to a tree service working there so the buses had to go down Chestnut Hill Ave, turn left into the parking lot of the Daily Field right on Beacon and a quick right back on Chestnut Hill Ave.

To make the outbound trip the buses have to go down Park Drive, left on Beacon St into Brookline reverse direction at Carlton Rd and then head back to Park Drive. Stupid!

As far as busing to Kenmore, can they reverse an outbound train there or do they have to bring it up to Fenway and then change ends?

[thegreenliner]

Yesterday's busing was one of the most poorly orchestrated bus replacements I've seen in quite some time, and I ride the D line daily. For starters, the Reservoir bus depot area was also closed. This was done to allow the removal of trees and other debris; however, this only added to the shuttle bus delays. Buses that normally terminate at Reservoir were forced to make u-turns on Chestnut Hill Avenue, and the shuttle buses for the D line were forced to turn around in a municipal parking lot at the corner of Chestnut Hill Ave and Beacon. If this isn't bad enough, the bus drivers are very inconsistent where they drop off passengers requesting to stop at Brookline Village. Sometimes they drop people off on Route 9 at the Wash Street intersection; however, it seems that this time the Brookline Village inbound stop is at the corner of Pearl and Brookline Ave. If you're looking to go outbound at Brookline Village, well, that's yet another location! Oh, and forget about Beaconsfield; the people who use that station are completely out of luck, as that is the only D line station that (I assume for logistical reasons) is never served with bus replacement service. I am dreading the summer.

[sery2831]

As far as busing to Kenmore, can they reverse an outbound train there or do they have to bring it up to Fenway and then change ends?

The only way they could do that is to change ends twice. They would have to go around the loop at Kenmore the wrong way, and change ends again. That would be a big pain, and would delay the C trains. It's just as easy to bring them out to the cross over at Fenway.

[Disney Guy]

From Beaconsfield it is a very short walk out to Beacon St. and the Cleveland Circle line.

I would have thought that refurbishing the track in shorter sections one at a time and running single track through the affected section (like they did back in 1975 or so) would have been better.

>>> the wrong way
From time to time there are "subway specials" to Kenmore and they always go out to Comm. Ave. and change ends at Blandford St (rather than go over to the wall track and around the Kenmore Loop).

Also, depending on what direction the buses come from (the Brookline Ave. bus probably won't benefit), avoiding Kenmore Square traffic is advantageous. There is also the tradeoff of depositing the entire busload of passengers at Blandford St. or St. Mary's or Fenway under normal conditions with just one rail line with mostly filled cars to pick them up.

[Dispatcher35]

Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of the reconstruction and the inspectors were at Riverside giving out handbills explaining phase 1 of the work. The handbills said Phase 1 involved busing from Riverside to Reservoir but the buses went all the way to Fenway.

And again 2 or 3 buses each trip and each bus made all the local stops. No express!

[sery2831]

Just curious here, but has anyone sent an email to the T about express busing?

[redline43]

I haven't, not sure if any one else has. I will if no one has already.

Question: The buses for the Riverside shuttle will be run from Cabot, and the NE Transit Roster lists 15 RTS transferred there. Will the Riverside shuttle be completely RTS, or are the RTS just there to fill the gap, and you could find an RTS on any Cabot route? I saw an RTS on route 1 (a Cabot route) on Friday, but that was before the busing started so it doesnt prove either scenario.

To sum it up, has anyone seen a NABI on the Riverside shuttle or an RTS on any Cabot route as of the bussing?

I apologize if this is "too much bus" and is not accepted at this forum, and the mod may delete my post. I figure it relates to Riverside bussing, a substitue for rail, so that's why I posted it.

[DLahey]

I use the D line Longwood Stop every day, and I remember reading that it was *not* going to get renovated as part of this project. Is this true? Because if any stop needs it bad, this is the one!

[MBTA3247]

Are they not bothering to raise the platforms at a lot of the surface stops? Or is the T not smart enough to schedule that for when the line is shut down?

[orange1234]

I saw a Neoplan on the shuttle route today, but I didn't get the number. Aren't the shuttle buses supposed to come out of Cabot?

[PraiseX6]

I saw a Neoplan on the shuttle route today, but I didn't get the number. Aren't the shuttle buses supposed to come out of Cabot?

What's a Neoplan?

[MassBayMC1131]

It's a bus , SSSSSSHHHHHHH!