MBTA resolves to coordinate trains
Renee of Acton missed her connection.
She caught a Red Line train at Kendall Square around 4:35 p.m., hoping to make a 4:50 express commuter train from Porter Square northbound in time to pick up her toddler at day care by 6.
But it was not to be.
She caught the Red Line train, but it got stuck at Harvard Square because of a disabled train ahead. The train finally pulled away and got into Porter at about 5. As she sprinted away, she heard the subway conductor say he had called ahead to hold the commuter train. But as she climbed the stairs, the train pulled away.
It was half an hour until the next train. She was 20 minutes past the deadline for picking up her son.
''How can the MBTA try to run a first-class transit system when it can't get one mode to talk to another?" she wrote. ''Why is this so difficult? Communication and coordination do not equal rocket science. We're not talking about the shuttle linking up to the space station here!"
Dan Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, received Renee's letter as well and directed staff at the T's Operations and Control Center and Railroad Operations to develop a formal procedure to hold commuter rail trains if a subway train is delayed.
''One individual made an arbitrary decision to hold it for five minutes," T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said of Renee's situation. ''Obviously that was not long enough and it was the wrong thing to do."
Grabauskas's order will create ''a more coordinated approach to such delays" and spell out the steps that the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, which operates commuter rail trains, and MBTA staff must take to coordinate services, Pesaturo said.
No fare
Pat of Plymouth says that after rushing home from caring for her 93 year-old mother in Pennsylvania to tend to her hospitalized husband, she got the boot from a Plymouth & Brockton bus.
She wasn't loud or drunk or throwing food. She was $2.13 short on her $16 one-way fare.
This happened in February at Logan International Airport. The bus line doesn't take credit cards, and despite assuring the collector that her daughter was picking her up and would have the money, the attendant ''would have none of it," she wrote.
''I am not naive enough to expect a transportation line to routinely offer rides to people who do not have the fare," wrote Pat. ''But given the fact that I was only $2.13 short, that I promised payment at the other end, that the bus was completely empty (so I was not taking up someone else's space), and that I was obviously distressed (in tears), it left me with a very bad impression."
Chris Anzuoni, chief operating officer for the Plymouth & Brockton Street Railway, which operates the bus line, talked to Pat after our inquiry and said the company regretted the incident. Employees on the bus should have called a supervisor. ''Unfortunately, this didn't happen," he wrote.
T line to Logan
Although there have been sporadic runs on the MBTA's Silver Line to Logan, the official inaugural trip linking South Station to the airport is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday. The T pledges dedicated bus service directly to the airport terminals. It's an easy transfer from commuter rail and the Red Line, an 18-minute trip for $1.25. Give us reports at starts@globe.com.
Can't get there. . .
The Massachusetts Turnpike east between Exit 22 (Prudential/Copley) and South Boston will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday through next Sunday morning. Direct access to the Ted Williams Tunnel from Frontage Road and South Boston will remain open.
The ramps at Exit 20 from Interstate 93 north to the Mass. Pike will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday morning and 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday through next Sunday morning. The left-hand ramp from Exit 20 to Frontage Road Northbound and South Station will remain open.
The Mass. Pike west in South Boston will be closed from 12:01 to 5 a.m. Wednesday through Friday and 12:01 to 7 a.m. Saturday and next Sunday. The onramp to the westbound Pike from D Street will also close.
The Haymarket onramp to I-93 south and the Callahan Tunnel will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
I-93 north at Exit 20 (Pike/Logan) will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning and 1 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday. The ramps at Exit 20 to the Pike, and the onramps to I-93 north from the Mass. Ave. Connector and Broadway will also close.
I-93 south around Government Center will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning.
The Essex Street onramp to I-93 south will be closed from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning.
The Haymarket onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning, and 11 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday.
The Atlantic Avenue onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and from 1 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Sumner Tunnel onramp to I-93 north will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning, and 11 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday.
The Congress Street onramp to I-93 south and the westbound Pike will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning.
The Storrow Drive onramp to I-93 south will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 11 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday.
The underpass from Storrow Drive east to I-93 north and the Tobin will be closed from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning and from 1 to 6 a.m. Saturday.
The Frontage Road Northbound onramp to the westbound Pike at the Broadway Bridge will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning and from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday through next Sunday morning.
The onramp from Congress Street to I-93 in South Boston, and the westbound Pike's Exit 24 to I-93 will be closed from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday morning and from 12:01 to 7 a.m. Saturday and next Sunday.
I-93 north Exit 26 to Storrow Drive will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday through Friday morning and from 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6.
Nashua Street near the Fleet Center/North Station garage will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday through Friday morning and 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6. Access to parking at the FleetCenter, Spaulding, and Suffolk County jail will be available.
The Sumner Tunnel onramp to Storrow Drive will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday through Friday and 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6.
The underpass to Storrow Drive west from I-93 south and the Tobin Bridge will be closed from 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, June 6. Access to Nashua Street and Monsignor O'Brien Highway will remain open.
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