Results tagged “mbta”

   

If you haven't been on the Blue Line in a while, you might not have noticed the spiffy new improvements to Maverick Station, which used to be a boarded-up post-apocalyptic stinkhole, or that the only cars running on the line are brand new. Take a look at the pictures above to see the differences. Maverick Station is now a cheerful,riot of brushed metal, and the last of the rotting, vintage 1980 Hawker Siddeley cars has been retired. The Blue Line is now serviced by a fleet of 94 new cars, built by Siemens, which run in 6-car trains every 4-to-8 minutes, depending on the time of day.

The name of the heroic MBTA operator who stopped a train in time to save a woman's life on the Orange Line this weekend has been released. Charice Lewis, we thank you for your quick response in this scary situation, and wish all MBTA operators were so attentive. A word of appreciation also goes out to the bystanders at North Station who brought the fallen woman to Lewis's attention. In the future, we hope that all MBTA operators, staff, and passengers will remember these upstanding individuals as model citizens and follow their lead in looking out for others in all situations, not just the most dire.

     

The Orange Line operator and inspector who managed to stop an Orange Line train just inches away from killing a passenger who had fallen on the tracks were honored today at the MBTA board meeting. The operator, whose name was not released, had been hospitalized for stress following the incident, according to the Herald, but has reportedly returned to work.

Last night, leaving the Celtics game, we saw a woman come an inch away from death. It was on the inbound Orange Line platform at North Station. We had missed a train and had to wait an interminable 15 minutes before the next train arrived, so we were relieved when the Worflike voice of the T announced "The next Orange Line train to Forest Hills is now approaching." The lights of the oncoming train shined through the tunnel.

So, everyone was Max from The Wild Things this Halloween, but one kid took it to the next level. Check it out at Fresh To Death.

• Marine Capt. Kyle Van De Giesen's funeral was held today in North Attleboro. He was killed in Afghanistan on October 26. [WCVB]

• A Plainville man is stationed at Fort Hood, where an Army major allegedly killed 13 people on Thursday in a shooting spree. [Attleboro Sun Chronicle]

Okay, we might be exaggerating a little, but this sentence from the independent review of the MBTA that was released yesterday caught our attention:

-- T police arrested two men on unrelated counts of indecent assault and battery yesterday. William Carlyle, a 52-year-old Boston man, was nabbed at Copley Station after allegedly grabbing a woman's buttocks on the Green Line platform at Park Station. And William James was picked up for allegedly grabbing a woman's buttocks on a Red Line platform at Quincy Center Station last June. [MBTA Spokesman Joe Pesaturo]

Just after lamenting the dangers of (jay)walking, the Globe puts together an article that may encourage it: 10 Boston subway rides to skip. Some are obvious, like Park to Boylston or Park to Downtown Crossing, but a few are helpful—we've done the walk from Copley to Back Bay to save time on the Orange and Green lines a few times ourselves, and a commenter notes that many E line and Orange line stops are moments apart.

           

The Silver Line now runs from Dudley Station to South Station. The bus is called Silver Line 4, SL4 on the maps, and it went into operation today. Bostonist joined a throng of real reporters and state and local politicians on the first SL4 to South Station, which left Dudley a little after 1 p.m. and arrived a little after 1:30 p.m.

Bike riders in Boston got the short end of the stick with the MBTA opened its first bike cage in Alewife, the last stop on the Red Line, in the city of Cambridge. But now, thanks to a wad of cash from ARRA, a/k/a the stimulus bill, the T will be opening its first Boston bike cage, at Forest Hills station in Jamaica Plain.

We've always been somewhat leery of that gaping abyss between the subway platform and the subway itself. Most days we can step over it just fine, but when we have a rolling suitcase with us, we pull extra hard to make sure it doesn't get stuck, and we cringe a little when watching dogs or small children step over a crack that's bigger than their feet. "What if?" we always wonder. So we were horrified, if not 100% surprised, to read of a woman getting her foot stuck between the car and the platform at Park Street today. It may not be surprising that you could get your foot stuck in that area, but what is surprising is that the MBTA was able to resolve the incident in only 15 minutes—and the train didn't even try to take off while the woman was stuck. Is this the beginning of a new MBTA era in which bad situations are handled quickly and well? We don't want to speak too soon, but we hope so.

    

So, we're feeling a little sheepish about the fact that we made fun of the MBTA's decision to include the nonexistent Silver Line Connector on its new maps. It turns out that the T is about a month away from debuting the new service.

A new MBTA system map features "the new Silver Line Connection to South Station from Washington Street," which, of course, does not exist.

So, the T saw two fires last night, just as rush hour was winding down. Bad wiring at South Station closed the Red Line, and, minutes later, a commuter threw trash on the third rail at Chinatown, starting a fire that closed the Orange Line and filled both Chinatown and Downtown Crossing stations with smoke. (Don't do that again, commuter!) Sections of both lines were closed for hours as the T put out the fires and repaired the damage. Shuttle buses were hard to find or, in some cases, completely non-existent. It was a frustrating night.

According to the Boston Globe, the Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, and South Station MBTA stations have been evacuated due to an electrical fire. Red and Orange Line service has been stopped in the area. No injuries have been reported. Substitute shuttle bus service is being provided.

WBZ, Boston.com and Universal Hub report a commuter rail train crash in South Station. The train involved was a Worcester Line commuter rail train, and at least 12 have been injured.

Lots of people say that MBTA stations look old and dirty, but Brian Matiash has a way of really bringing that to life. This shot of the Davis Square station makes us feel gritty just looking at it (in a good way).

The Globe reports that the MBTA is developing real time bus tracking software that will allow internet users to see where every bus in the T's system is actually located at any given time. The program is modeled on Chicago's CTABustracker, which has been around since 2006. The T hopes to unveil its pilot program soon, featuring a few routes, which will presumably lead to a more comprehensive program. But the question remains: Will the maps have a fine enough pixel resolution so that you can distinguish between the three 39 buses clustered at the same Huntington Avenue intersection? [Globe]

First Google Transit, now an iPhone App? The MBTA might have taken to heart Adam Weiss' suggestion about joining the 21st century, made at the lone public workshop on fare hikes. But don't worry, the MBTA isn't developing its own iPhone app: it's letting the public do the work. By making transportation data feeds available, the Executive Office of Transportation is hoping that someone else steps up and fixes its problem. Sounds like government's general approach to everything! In the meantime, there's always BusRyda, which offers trip planning in mobile format. But the question remains: is there an app for concealing incriminating emails? Update: Perhaps developers could use the creation of the NPR News iPhone app as an example, combining news alerts and trip planning in one app.

Are you a fan of Google Maps? Are you a fan of the MBTA? Wait, that second one might be a bit too much to ask for. How about: do you have to use the MBTA and/or would you like to use it more often and more efficiently?

People proceed through life at a fast pace. We communicate in 140-letter blurbs and don't believe people once waited an entire day for new news delivered on a platform other than the Internets. The Globe, for an instant, got this concept and took a minimalist approach to reporting an important story. Their MetroDesk blog reported on the Deval Patrick—James A. Aloisi Jr.—Daniel A. Grabauskas death struggle over possible MBTA fare hikes by posting two quotes that could pass for any text message from a 12-year-old. The quotes link to actual news stories, which is so 2004. Even Bostonist used more words than the MetroDesk did. Is this how Rick Porcello feels?

The leading news story of the day is the death of Eunice Kennedy Shriver at the age of 88. Earlier today, Shriver's body was moved to the Kennedy's Hyannis Port compound where a family wake will take place. Funeral plans are not yet known. Reaction to her death and remembrances of her extraordinary life are continuing all day. Her brother, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, issued a touching statement in her honor, as did her son-in-law California Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggerand Cardinal O'Malley. The JFK Library posted two condolence books today.

Furthering our theory that nobody really cares about rider opinion and the T's administration is just a bunch of political play, Deval Patrick has canceled the rest of the MBTA public workshops that were scheduled to debate the fare increase. With supposed fare-hike-promoter Dan Grabauskas out of the picture, and any increases off the table until after a financial review of the T, there wasn't much point to the hearings, anyway. It might be a nice gesture if the MBTA at least pretended to listen to riders, but we suppose the agency is just being honest about its lack of concern for its users.