Save the Bongers!!

I'm not the only one who has noticed the decline of the Kendall Band, the interactive musical sculpture by Paul Matisse at Kendall/MIT. So has the artist--and he's put in a lot of very late nights to fix it, according to a story by Mac Daniel in today's Globe.

Trouble is, Matisse is getting along in years. Understandbaly, he's worried about the future of the band. Understandably, the T says it has no money to kep it up:

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo acknowledges that the artwork is not a high priority for the cash-strapped agency.

He said the T does not have the expertise to repair the art work, which officially became the MBTA's property after it was installed as part of the first program in the nation to put works of art in public transportation systems.

The T found $10,000 for recent repairs to the sculpture, but told Matisse it cannot pay to fix anything else.

Matisse wonders if a little charitable foundation might be established to endow the Band's maintenance. I'm in... Maybe the Cambridge Arts Council could accept donations and administer it?

Photo by Evan Richman, Globe staff

Well, That was Disturbing!

I'm a little thunderstruck at what I saw on the Red Line this morning: the doors closing before everyone had gotten off, and even closing on several people!

It happened at Charles/MGH, at about 7:30 or so. I was on car 01625, at the back of the train. There are usually a lot of people who get off this subway at Charles; many look like they're on their way to work at MGH. There's usually no problem.

This morning, though, was very different. As people went out the doors, even before anyone tried getting on, the doors closed. People inside and outside put their arms in the way, and even tried to force the doors open, which should have sent some kind of signal to the conductor so she (I looked later, it was a she) would reopen the doors, right. Nope. Not even one of those "please don't block the doors" announcements. People finally gave up, the doors closed,and off we went. At least 10 people on my car had to get off at Kendall so they could ride back to Charles.

Judging from the shocked expressions on everyone around me, I'm not the only one who never saw anything like it before. And coming a couple of weeks after a very similar incident on the Orange Line, it makes me wonder.

From the Field: 4/22/07

I went for a nice tour of the city this morning, enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather that we have all earned! I must say first and foremost that Boston shines like the jewel it is in this kind of weather -- warming sunlight with a slight ocean breeze refreshing the city air. Quite a day, indeed!

As far as transit goes, I did some riding around as well (I walked more than usual today), and here's a few notes:

PORTER - I arrived at Porter around 8AM on the Commuter Rail, and those of us heading for the subway were greeted with locked doors all around! Only once someone inside heard us banging on the doors were we let in. I've never encountered this before personally, but I imagine it happens every so often, especially on Sunday mornings.

CHARLES/MGH - I really do like the new headhouse (station house, more accurately). I would, however, like to know when they're going to tie in the information boards to the "Next Train..." system, so they don't just repeatedly welcome you to the station.

COPLEY - Work progresses, though honestly I can't visibly tell what's different now than several weeks ago when I was last there. I got a few shots of the outbound headhouses, as they'll be meeting the wrecking ball at some point in this process (one met a wayward taxi last year, so there's not much left to dismantle there).

LECHMERE - I finally rode a Type 8 out to Lechmere. I had never done this yet, but with their return to the E line I was given the chance and took it. Lechmere yard consisted mostly of Type 8s today, and I imagine this is now the norm. Now I've just got to ride one out to Arbor- I mean Heath Street...

ARLINGTON - Work is much more visible here, at least from street level, as they have torn open the old entrance stairwell. Unfortunately I didn't make it here in time to capture it on film, but I did record what's left of it (photos coming soon).

WORLD TRADE CENTER - I had never noticed the security panels in the roadway until the recent incident, and I really like that whole system. They have installed new information screens here, which today were only displaying the T logo, date, and time. The new advertisement panels added at WTC brighten up the station quite a bit, and I actually somewhat like them! They also added some at Courthouse, but I didn't get off to explore further.

ROUTE 1 BUS - The Mass Ave Bridge detour and a Greek parade detour really fouled up the 1 today, but I eventually made it to my destination. On the bright side, I suppose, is that I got to ride a 1 down Comm Ave and through Kenmore Square!


Mike

I would also like to welcome Ron Newman to the CharlieBlog! He will be contributing with posts on various transit topics. Welcome aboard!

New Charles/MGH Station "Official" Opening Tuesday

The "official" grand opening ceremony for the newly renovated Charles/MGH station will occur Tuesday at 11AM, according to the Globe's Starts & Stops column.

When I stopped at the station a week ago, it did seem a bit unfinished, so this is good to hear that it wasn't "officially" open yet!

Whoops! New Charles/MGH Opened 2/17

I apparently completely missed the opening of the new Charles/MGH station on February 17th... Sorry about that one!

In recent days, the new fare equipment in the new lobby was apparently not accepting people's passes, forcing the T to send out inspectors to manually allow people though if their valid passes didn't work.

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