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!
Showing posts with label Silver Line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Silver Line. Show all posts
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Silver Line Driver Flips at Passenger
Quite the interesting story in this week's Starts & Stops. In short, a late night run from the Airport was apparently going to use surface roads from the TWT to South Station, bypassing Silver Line Way (and therefore a passenger's home stop). Said passenger questioned the driver, and the driver told the passenger to get off the (explitive) bus, after stopping it in the middle of Summer Street. The driver has since been disciplined and warned, according to T mouthpiece Joe Pesaturo. Quite the outburst if this is all true!
Mike
Mike
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Weather-related Transit Problems
Today has proven to be a tricky one for local transit agencies...
Among the issues:
-- Blue Line is being bused from Maverick to Airport.
-- Green Line B Branch busing between Boston College and Washington Street.
-- Logan Airport has closed as of about 1:00PM while they clear runways.
-- A Fung Wah bus has crashed off the Mass Pike in Allston, no injuries reported.
-- Peter Pan & Bonanza have cancelled all bus service north of New York City.
-- Worcester's Transit Authority has placed all buses on snow routes.
-- Silver Line Waterfront is running on snow route in Boston, as are several other routes.
More later...
Stay warm & stay safe! And check out my previous post below if you haven't already.
Among the issues:
-- Blue Line is being bused from Maverick to Airport.
-- Green Line B Branch busing between Boston College and Washington Street.
-- Logan Airport has closed as of about 1:00PM while they clear runways.
-- A Fung Wah bus has crashed off the Mass Pike in Allston, no injuries reported.
-- Peter Pan & Bonanza have cancelled all bus service north of New York City.
-- Worcester's Transit Authority has placed all buses on snow routes.
-- Silver Line Waterfront is running on snow route in Boston, as are several other routes.
More later...
Stay warm & stay safe! And check out my previous post below if you haven't already.
Double Feature: "Excuses, Excuses" and "Menino, Menino"
(Originally Posted December 14, 2006)
Welcome to the long-awaited (and greatly belated) first entry in the CharlieBlog. I'll take a moment to thank our mention in the Bedford Minuteman for forcing me to take a few moments away from writing a paper and being sick to make this site look somewhat presentable. For those who read the Minuteman article and have bravely clicked on from the home page, I'd like to welcome you, and apologize for the mess! I'm planning on rolling out the Podcast and some other big features over the next month or so, after finals. Please drop me a line with any comments or suggestions, as well, or you can post in the forums. For those interested in the artistic portion of my mention, I also have a "fetus" of an artists' website up at www.mikeprescott.com. There's not much there now, but go ahead and bookmark it so you'll be pleasantly surprised a year from now when you stumble across the link. Now on to the topic at hand...
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced this week his plans to sell the current urban tundra known as City Hall Plaza and create a new, stylish, and undoubtedly expensive City Hall on the current site of the Bank of America Pavilion. This is all nice and good, but one aspect I have yet to see addressed is the proposed move's effect on public transit in both areas, specifically the soon-to-be-renovated Government Center station, and the just-completed Silver Line Waterfront.
For Government Center, the changes could be as simple as a name change to whatever the new complex is named (The Mayor Thomas M. Menino Center?), but it could affect the entire design of the upcoming renovations. Interestingly, the renovations have been delayed, perhaps in response to a possible change in design of City Hall Plaza. As of right now, the official plans call for a new glass headhouse, completing a "ship" themed light, glass, and metal structure that currently exists as "masts", benches, and an overhang on the Northwest side of the plaza. Were the new development to encompass the entire brick-covered area of the property, this design could be altered or alltogether scrapped, and I would hope the resulting changes and redesigns would be paid for by Menino and/or the developer, rather than the taxpayers.
As for the Silver Line, the current station nearest the proposed City Hall site, Silver Line Way, would almost certainly have to be expanded, as right now the site is hardly handicap accessible via public transit. A more possible alternative is a new "branch" of the Silver Line to serve the new City Hall complex (The Mayor Thomas M. Menino City Hall Building?), or an alteration of the existing Boston Marine Industrial Park routing, but because the line is essentially a bus route, these changes should be relatively easy to initiate, save for constructing a new station at the City Hall complex and updating the system maps to reflect the change.
We'll be tracking the developments in this interesting project, and maybe even dig for some answers on our own. Given past government-initiated construction projects, I expect we'll have plenty of time to scrounge together all the details.
Welcome to the long-awaited (and greatly belated) first entry in the CharlieBlog. I'll take a moment to thank our mention in the Bedford Minuteman for forcing me to take a few moments away from writing a paper and being sick to make this site look somewhat presentable. For those who read the Minuteman article and have bravely clicked on from the home page, I'd like to welcome you, and apologize for the mess! I'm planning on rolling out the Podcast and some other big features over the next month or so, after finals. Please drop me a line with any comments or suggestions, as well, or you can post in the forums. For those interested in the artistic portion of my mention, I also have a "fetus" of an artists' website up at www.mikeprescott.com. There's not much there now, but go ahead and bookmark it so you'll be pleasantly surprised a year from now when you stumble across the link. Now on to the topic at hand...
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced this week his plans to sell the current urban tundra known as City Hall Plaza and create a new, stylish, and undoubtedly expensive City Hall on the current site of the Bank of America Pavilion. This is all nice and good, but one aspect I have yet to see addressed is the proposed move's effect on public transit in both areas, specifically the soon-to-be-renovated Government Center station, and the just-completed Silver Line Waterfront.
For Government Center, the changes could be as simple as a name change to whatever the new complex is named (The Mayor Thomas M. Menino Center?), but it could affect the entire design of the upcoming renovations. Interestingly, the renovations have been delayed, perhaps in response to a possible change in design of City Hall Plaza. As of right now, the official plans call for a new glass headhouse, completing a "ship" themed light, glass, and metal structure that currently exists as "masts", benches, and an overhang on the Northwest side of the plaza. Were the new development to encompass the entire brick-covered area of the property, this design could be altered or alltogether scrapped, and I would hope the resulting changes and redesigns would be paid for by Menino and/or the developer, rather than the taxpayers.
As for the Silver Line, the current station nearest the proposed City Hall site, Silver Line Way, would almost certainly have to be expanded, as right now the site is hardly handicap accessible via public transit. A more possible alternative is a new "branch" of the Silver Line to serve the new City Hall complex (The Mayor Thomas M. Menino City Hall Building?), or an alteration of the existing Boston Marine Industrial Park routing, but because the line is essentially a bus route, these changes should be relatively easy to initiate, save for constructing a new station at the City Hall complex and updating the system maps to reflect the change.
We'll be tracking the developments in this interesting project, and maybe even dig for some answers on our own. Given past government-initiated construction projects, I expect we'll have plenty of time to scrounge together all the details.
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