Red Line passengers caught for more than an hour on the Longfellow Bridge, decided to dis-imprison themselves. via UHub, Spatch wonders who’s in charge here:
But where was the T? Were any announcements made? Was there any attempt made to reassure the passengers in the stuck trains? Did the drivers go from train to train telling folks it’d be all right, letting them know what happened, reassuring them that things were going to be fixed in due time? Did they even attempt to explain what was wrong, and when they might expect to be going?
Amazing how lethargic that response was — simply on a public safety level. Uh … doesn’t the MBTA have its very own police force?
Now, how long has Dan Grabauskas been the savior of the MBTA? How long ago were really fundamental matters like this supposed to be improved upon? I mean, the whole communication thing has nothing to do with the debt load, or other wonky externalities. I just can’t think of any excuse.
If Gov. Patrick uses his new MassTransit plan to bust balls at the MBTA, I’m all aboard. That is looooong overdue.
down on the South Shore polishing up the shiny new Greenbush line!
($525 million for 17 miles)!!!
You overstate the governor’s power to effect change at any of the Commonwealth’s alphabet soup authorities (MBTA, MTA, MassPort, etc.) This powerlessness extends to Dan Grabauskas (and Mitt Romney.)
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Red Line suffers a meltdown, and you expect Grabauskas to grab the PA microphone and make the announcement himself? The people whose direct responsibility it should be to make those announcements — like station supervisors, and the drivers — probably work under union rules which prohibit emergency announcement-making (a function likely reserved for the special duty MBTA announcement makers.) Even if they should have made announcements, these guys couldn’t be fired even if they committed mass murder.
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The genesis of this immovable institutional inertia is obvious. It’s their ability to self fund. Couple that with protection from the legislature and you have a recipe for an unaccountable, irresponsible, spendthrift, featherbedding organization with billions of dollars of assets under their control and the legal authority to set their own fess, fares and tolls. Yikes.
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I have zero expectations that Deval can succeed reforming these authorities, even slightly.
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Not that I’m not rooting for him 110%, and I’m a conservative!
It’s sad to see the usual babble when management fails to act.
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“The people whose direct responsibility it should be to make those announcements — like station supervisors, and the drivers — probably work under union rules which prohibit emergency announcement-making (a function likely reserved for the special duty MBTA announcement makers.)”
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MBTA management has direct control over all situations on trains and buses. The Red Line train has direct radio contact with the operations center at the MBTA (that would be management sitting there in the AC with their feet up). MBTA train operators are, by rule, not allowed to leave the driver’s compartment. T management continues to eliminate positions like a second operator or guard on trains. If T management radios to the operator to make an announcement, the operator will inform passengers. But if that operator takes it upon him/herself, T management takes action against them.
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So cut the bull about “union rules” abount announcements. Or better yet apply for a job as a bus driver or train operator – there may be an opening on the 111 Bus where a female driver was robbed and shot at.
Or roast lamb as the subway case may be. The thought of people solving their own problems and actually taking their lives into their own hands must have the politicians worried. Imagine the nerve of these passengers that just aren’t gonna take it anymore. So, what’s the next step? Maybe the MBTA cops open fire on the refugee passengers? It might be easier to restore the status quo than improving service.
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Why, if the anarchy of freedom spreads, maybe people won’t respect “free speech zones”, warrant-less searches, police misconduct, the government’s right to torture. Who know where it will end.
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We might even get pro freedom candidates for government instead of the cookie cutter output we have now. To think, the match of freedom re-kindled in Boston…
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generally I agree with you that people need to use their own initiative. but there are real safety concerns surrounding an electric train on a heavily trafficked bridge. the T really did need to be the responsible party and communicate before the passengers acted. we’re just lucky that no one was killed.
These conversations make my head hurt. How hard is it to let people know what’s going on? There really are no excuses. Yes, heads should roll.
But let’s roll the heads that are in charge not the working women and men stuck in the same train.
Wait, correct me if I’m wrong, but the conductor can’t get on the horn and let people know what’s going on? How difficult is that? And if management isn’t instilling a little “customer care” philosphy (SORELY lacking in the Boston area in general, IMHO) in their employees, then yes, they should be canned too.
Maybe not conciously or with intent. But I’ve been told that “we’ll be moving shortly” or “there’s another train right behind this one” or we are stopped for a “medical emergency” or when i complain about buses consistantly not showing up in Dorchester I get “I didn’t know, I’ll look into that” replies. I’ve also been stuck for two hours in between Brodway and Andrew. Guess what, the said that the train “should be moving shortly” for over an hour before the guy just gave up and said “I don’t know what’s wrong”.
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The conductor could get on the intercom and say “we’re experiencing delays and we’ll be moving when the fire is all clear”, but A.) I won’t believe it B.) It doesn’t help people swealtering with out air conditioning C.) It doesn’t help the people that need to go the bathroom and most importanly, again D.) What about medical emergencies like heart attacks etc.
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The worst move Dan Grabauskus made was putting posters of himself all over the system. Now people know what he looks like. I would love to get trapped in a sweltering subway car with that man and have the entire car give him a piece of the ridership’s mind.
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I think the T as inflicted far more psychological torture on me than al-Qaeda, lol.
There is nothing like standing on the platform waiting for a delayed train and hearing Dan Grabuaskus’s recorded message stating that security is the T’s #1 priority. Security is good, but I kind of wish that making riders happy was their #1 priority instead.
“I see the train is late again?”
Wait, correct me if I’m wrong, but the conductor can’t get on the horn and let people know what’s going on? How difficult is that?
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…it might not be difficult to do, but it also might not be permitted by MBTA rules.
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BTW, are there even conductors on the subway lines? There are on commuter rail (at least there were the last time I used them in the late 1980s.
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As an aside, are there even public address systems on the subway lines?
yes there are conductors. in fact, more than one per train.
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yes, there are speakers in the trains. some cars have those automated things that announce the next stop. others have the old fashioned PAs where a conductor announces the next stop. the latter aren’t always so easy to hear, if and when the conductor actually makes the announcememnts.
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Green line cars on weekends are often only one car, with a single conductor, on B, C, and D [I rarely ride the E].
i guess that would make sense, since the green line trains are sometimes only a few cars long and they often limit how many doors through which you can enter. thx for the reminder. my experience is mostly with red and orange lines.
You can complain all you want about the new fare system, the wisdom of various extensions of service, etc. but to me the biggest problem with the T is their abysmal response when something goes wrong. The problem is spread throughout the organization but ultimately is management’s fault. No one seems to be able to figure out that it would be useful to tell the riders what they know about what is going wrong. The sheer laziness is astounding.
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This is especially irritating for riders that can take alternate routes. For instance, I take the Needham line to South Station and switch to the Red Line to go to Cambridge. There have been a couple of times when the train has broken down in and Orange Line station but the conductors did not bother to say anything about it so that those of us who could take the Orange Line could just switch. Why can’t the conductor just get on the intercom and say “we are having problems with the engine — I don’t know how long it will take to fix”. Red line conductors often don’t bother to say anything when the train is told to stay in the station for several minutes as more and more people pack into the few cars nearest to the doors. I could go on (and on and on…).
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All of this could be fixed without spending much money. It just takes a commitment by management and T employees to be much more proactive about telling the customer what is going on.
Check out this piece from today’s Globe:
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http://www.boston.co…
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Never mind that urging people to take the T became a cruel joke that night, what about the public safety implications of getting people away from Kenmore Square post-game. People seemed well-behaved, with lots of police presence, but what if something did go wrong …
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I stringly support public transportation but someone needs to meet the public halfway, thanks for raising this issue.