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Sunday Happenings
Paul posted a detailed description of his experiences as one of the evacuees during last night's Longfellow Bridge Fire, which shut down the bridge, the MBTA Red Line, Charles-MGH station, and Storrow Drive. By the way, Red Line service is back up now. Here's what Paul had to say (paragraph breaks and boldface emphasis are ours):
I was one of the evacuees on the outbound red line train entering Charles/MGH on May 1st. It's difficult to recall the actual time that the train stopped (just short of entering the station) due to a "small" fire (that required several fire trucks and emergency vehicles), but we remained on the train for about 20-30 minutes before we were escorted off it and on to the T platform and out of the station.
Up to that point, the situation, including T updates, was as informative and continuous as they could have been, but that ended once we left the Charles Station. Other than being told that there would be buses bringing us to the remaining Red Line stops towards Alewife, we were never updated afterwards with information on when the trains would begin again or when the buses would be arriving.
We saw three completely full “Red Line Shuttle” buses pass us. The second bus driver actually decided to go back to Park St (without giving any reason to passengers) at which time, half of the bus passengers exited the bus. I had asked the only MBTA employee (guarding the entrance to the station) if he knew any updates of which he did not.
I later approached two Boston police officers voicing my and other passengers' frustrations with the packed buses and stating that there were absolutely no MBTA employees (or any of the several police officers and other emergency staff that seemed to be walking around) out there updating us on the shuttle bus status. One officer shook his head in disgust about the situation and walked away as if he were planning to find out updates. I later saw the two officers walking around the station together and never heard an update form either of them.
Also at that time, the "guarding" MBTA employee suggested a taxi, which I had informed him were already filled by the time they reached the T station. He suggested I walk up Cambridge street to grab an open one, which would only mean (assuming I found an empty taxi) paying more money by sitting in traffic, in the cab. I eventually asked a fireman if it was safe to walk across the Longfellow Bridge (we were told earlier that they were not allowing vehicle or pedestrian traffic), which he replied 'yes'. This was even more irksome because an emergency worker or a MBTA employee could have at least told us it was safe to walk across the bridge, thus saving us time and aggravation.
Once I reached Kendall, the MBTA employee was very orderly and constantly announcing that the INBOUND side was going to Alewife. Somehow, communication between the MBTA, its passengers and emergency workers was lost after we were evacuated from the Red Line.
That bit about the MBTA worker telling Paul to get a taxi in the midst of nightmarish traffic cracks us up. It seems like there were several different groups present last night - people actually fighting the fire, passengers left stranded by the fire, and a lot of transit and city workers standing around not sure what to do.
Image of Charlie from the MBTA. Note that Charlie isn't wearing fireman's attire and is not able to answer your questions.
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Nice to hear another side of the tale - I'm visiting Boston on business and got stuck at Park around 8:30pm to join hundreds of others waiting for buses on the sidewalk. I was on the second bus to mentioned and got off at Charles since I saw no point going back. Really, communication was the big issue. The buses were available but noone was getting advice or news. I too eventually got the tip to walk across the deserted bridge (once I found a single MBTA employee who had no interest in helping the others on the sidewalk) and made it to Kendall where the man on the station was excellent, announcing loudly about the Alewife service and making sure, for once, that everyone was clear about the situation. He was excellent, but otherwise, emergency arrangements that were probably prettty good were wasted by the total lack of communication to the passengers.
Best reporting I have seen anywhere on the Longfellow Bridge problems. Good work.