Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Will he ever return?

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In which I earn my online handle …

This afternoon I needed to get from Medford to the South End. If I time it right, it takes about 45 minutes, which is really not that bad. So I take a 101 bus from Medford Square to Sullivan Station … Sullivan Station is closed — of course, you have to get inside the station to realize that, and there are no signs for shuttle buses either on the barriers to the platform or outside the station itself. (There was one on the inside door.)

So I get a shuttle bus for Haymarket, which you might imagine is where the Orange Line picks up again. Wrong. I follow the signs for “Forest Hills”, which leads me to … the Green Line platform. There, I’m told by a nice MBTA woman that I need to get on a Green Line train and change at Park. (For the Orange Line? Whah?)

At Park, I check a sign, which says that they’re fixing signals this weekend, and that I should get the Orange Line by “taking the Winter Street walkway” — or somesuch — to Downtown Crossing. At this point my mind is spinning: “Can I walk to Downtown Crossing without actually getting out of the station? Would I want to?” I ask a nice MBTA gentleman, who says “Red Line, downstairs.” Well, that’s what I would have done without the idiotic sign.

Downtown Crossing, when I finally get to it, is such a mess that the ad-hoc signs saying “Forest Hills” (i.e. southbound) are actually pointing to the “Oak Grove” platform. Huh? So I ask a very nice MBTA gentleman where the Forest Hills platform is, and he points to the Oak Grove platform. Riiiight — the train actually reverses direction at that very platform. Nobody actually said that, of course.

So yeah, Mr. Grabauskas — this communication thing still leaves a lot to be desired.

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Comments

  2. their ad hoc communication sucks.  Develop a protocol, and teach the station managers what it is, and then give them the tools (signage, etc.) to make it work.

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    As to your question…
    At this point my mind is spinning: “Can I walk to Downtown Crossing [from Park Street] without actually getting out of the station? Would I want to?”

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    The answers are yes, and yes.  This map of the Green Line makes it clear; this map does too, albeit requiring squinty eyes.  Do you see the black thin line connecting Park to Downtown Crossings?  Check out the Legend: that’s a free transfer.  Usually it works like Haymarket, North Station, or even South Station (second map): two different lines at the same station.  But, Park Street and Downtown Crossings are indeed connected underground.

  3. I have most of that map of the subway system in my head – Even so, I am never sure which Green Line train to take;  Park St. and Downtown Crossing  have been confusing since 1960 (and yes, the Winter St. walkway is safe); and  have you ever tried to change from one MBTA train to another at North Station? It feels like an Escher drawing.
    Finally, yes, the staff is always polite and helpful.

  4. was to get a “system-wide” map.  This includes all the trains and busses, full routes in color on the streets they traverse.  Seriously, it is a great thing to have.

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    But they are really hard to get.  My best bet was always Park Street, where they could usually hunt one up after a few minutes.

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    However, when I was at Park last week and tried to get some more of these (because I tell everyone about them I’m always giving them away….) and there’s no one in the booth anymore.

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    They have switched over to the new entry thing, and no more attendant.

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    So, I begged the T guy who was there for some–he said, “Yeah, I have about 10,000 of them….Wait here.”  10 minutes later, he came back with a whole stack of them. 

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    We discussed that this was probably not going to be an effective way for me to get these in the future, and he said that he has told management that they need to have some kind of info booth. 

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    But right now–you are on your own to hunt for a helpful guy who knows where these maps are.

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    This won’t solve all of those other problems.  But it is a really cool map and I tell people every chance I get…

  6. I swear, the T had the opportunity to get tens of thousands of people to switch to public transportation or at least use it more often after the Ted Williams tunnel fiasco. However, I’d rather risk my life than use it now LOL.

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    The only reason I use the T in Boston is because it’s unfeasible to drive in town, for parking and such, but otherwise this environmentally conscious person would rather pay at the pump than at the Charley Card machine.

  7. is what the guy in the window at the chinatown station said when i asked if i could get to sullivan station today.
    he said go to park street (green line, ????) and ask directions there.
    so the solution on a sunny, early autumn new england day;
    screw it !, i’m walking to haymarket.
    so if the mbta agenda is to encourage pedestrianism, you know – walk boston! – then you’re doin’ a helluva job, grabby!

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