Monumentally Bad Transit Authority
Apr. 22nd, 2010 12:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidnDear The T,
I'd like to share the experience of my commute this morning.
I walked up to the Brandon Hall station of the C Green Line at about five to ten with the intent of catching a slightly earlier trolley than normal. After waiting for 25 minutes with no transport in sight, I called my wife to ask if she could look on the "Service Alerts" section of the MBTA site to tell me if there had been a crash, derailment or reservoir flood, but no alerts were listed for the C branch even though the D and E lines showed 10 or 15 minute delays. Shortly afterwards, an express train sailed past the waiting passengers, and five minutes later a trolley finally arrived.
I took the trolley as far as St Mary's Street, and had I stayed on it at this point I would probably only have been about twenty minutes late for work. However, I tend to avoid going underground on the T's services wherever possible, because three years of being fairly frequently caught in dark tunnels with no hope of escape or word of rescue from the drivers (on one occasion for nearly three quarters of an hour) were enough for me to catch claustrophobia. At this point on my commute I instead usually switch to the CT2 bus to get to Kendall Square, but I had already missed it by the time I arrived this morning. As the arrival time of the Green Line is a gamble at the best of times, though, I always have the backup route of taking the 47 from the same stop instead, going to Central Square and then taking the Red Line. I did this today, and was actually impressed at how promptly the bus arrived after I started waiting.
This particular 47 bus dumped all three of its passengers unceremoniously off at the roundabout just after the Boston University Bridge - the driver said that the road ahead was blocked and that we had to leave, but offered no advice on seeking a route to continue our journey. (This trifling mile-long shortening of the route also went happily unlisted on the MBTA's site this morning.) As it trundled off, I considered walking back across the bridge to wait for the next bus likely to transport me to work, but given the performance I'd seen so far, I decided to forget it and completed the last one and a half miles of my commute on foot. I arrived at the Kendall Square stop that the next CT2 would have taken me to about two minutes before it got there itself.
My normally reasonably short commute lasted a full hour longer than usual this morning, making me late for work on a truly unprecedented level. I would like to request a refund on my $56 LinkPass as it's unlikely that I'll attempt to use your services again this month - this morning has shown me that walking is rather more pleasant and indeed can be slightly faster.
---
Unsent as yet. It needs more stewing time.
I'd like to share the experience of my commute this morning.
I walked up to the Brandon Hall station of the C Green Line at about five to ten with the intent of catching a slightly earlier trolley than normal. After waiting for 25 minutes with no transport in sight, I called my wife to ask if she could look on the "Service Alerts" section of the MBTA site to tell me if there had been a crash, derailment or reservoir flood, but no alerts were listed for the C branch even though the D and E lines showed 10 or 15 minute delays. Shortly afterwards, an express train sailed past the waiting passengers, and five minutes later a trolley finally arrived.
I took the trolley as far as St Mary's Street, and had I stayed on it at this point I would probably only have been about twenty minutes late for work. However, I tend to avoid going underground on the T's services wherever possible, because three years of being fairly frequently caught in dark tunnels with no hope of escape or word of rescue from the drivers (on one occasion for nearly three quarters of an hour) were enough for me to catch claustrophobia. At this point on my commute I instead usually switch to the CT2 bus to get to Kendall Square, but I had already missed it by the time I arrived this morning. As the arrival time of the Green Line is a gamble at the best of times, though, I always have the backup route of taking the 47 from the same stop instead, going to Central Square and then taking the Red Line. I did this today, and was actually impressed at how promptly the bus arrived after I started waiting.
This particular 47 bus dumped all three of its passengers unceremoniously off at the roundabout just after the Boston University Bridge - the driver said that the road ahead was blocked and that we had to leave, but offered no advice on seeking a route to continue our journey. (This trifling mile-long shortening of the route also went happily unlisted on the MBTA's site this morning.) As it trundled off, I considered walking back across the bridge to wait for the next bus likely to transport me to work, but given the performance I'd seen so far, I decided to forget it and completed the last one and a half miles of my commute on foot. I arrived at the Kendall Square stop that the next CT2 would have taken me to about two minutes before it got there itself.
My normally reasonably short commute lasted a full hour longer than usual this morning, making me late for work on a truly unprecedented level. I would like to request a refund on my $56 LinkPass as it's unlikely that I'll attempt to use your services again this month - this morning has shown me that walking is rather more pleasant and indeed can be slightly faster.
---
Unsent as yet. It needs more stewing time.
