Cool new visualization, brought through a chain of blogs. Â My long-time fave Universal Hub noted the launch of this new blog about mapping Boston. Â Said new blog has a link to this visualization of travel times on the MBTA; make sure you click-and-drag your starting location to see the awesome.
Rarely on the interwebs will you find so many cool things linked in only 3 sentences.
I got to the Alewife platform this morning at about 11:10, as a train was pulling out. There was a second train there, empty, doors closed. It looked like it was going out if service. I waited on the platform with a few dozen others.
Another train came in. Everyone unloaded. Immediately, the loud departure warning bell started ringing. We all piled on to the new train – the bell was ringing, and it was the only train with open doors.
I was dubious. Generally, the driver has to walk from one end of the train to the other (it’s Alewife, so the trains reverse direction). If that driver hasnt taken the walk, no one is going anywhere. I stayed alert.
The train that had been there the whole time, the empty one, started up. It rolled a few feet and stopped. The doors opened. I jumped out of the full train and hustled over.
“Are you headed out?” I shouted to the driver, who was leaning his head out the window.
He nodded.
“They’re all on the other train,” I shouted. “The other train is full of passengers.”
He gave a sort of embarassed shrug.
I got on his train. The door closed. We rolled out of Alewife.
I had a train all to myself.
(I think it was train #1636 if any MBTA people are reading)
Alewife station is such a dump. Â Every time it rains the lobby is littered with bowls, small trash barrels, and giant, rolling trash barrels, each centered under a leak. Â Most of them are overflowing.
I confess that I drove to Alewife today, rather than bike – the heavy rain turned me into a wuss. Â At 9AM, the only parking spots are on the roof, and I parked there.
Returning this evening, I found that not only was the escalator to the roof out of order, but so was the the escalator the fourth floor. Â Flooding, I presume. Â So, I took the stairs. Â And had to slosh my way up the stairs, stepping through running water sluicing down each step.
What a dump.
UPDATE: A video of Alewife leaking.
With much fanfare, the MBTA announced the availablility of secure bike racks at Alewife station two weeks ago. Â At the time I was guardedly optimistic, but worried about maintenance. Â I should have know better; the MBTA can’t keep anything in working order. Â How secure is a bike cage with a door that won’t close?
I first noticed the problem last week, on the 26th.  As I approached the cage I noticed that it had far more bikes than any other day so far.  As I got closer, I realized the door was open! It wasn’t wedged open or anything; it just hung there loose, swinging in the breeze.  I looked to see if there was any obvious vandalism but didn’t see anything.  I parked my bike and went down to the station.  I found an MBTA employee and told her about the door.  She said she’d have someone look at it.  When I returned to the cage (not the same day), it was fixed.  I didn’t blog about it because I figured it was a minor snag.
Today when I parked my bike, the door was open again. Â It wasn’t swinging loose, but the door would only close part way. Â You had to push it closed. Â I again looked for vandalism and didn’t see any.
Again, i went down to the station and found an MBTA employee. Â I told him the problem. Â He replied that he’d called the problem in, but no one would fix anything. Â He went on a long rant about mangement, two years without an employment contract, bad faith negotiating, $300,000 bike racks, four-foot door hinges on five-foot doors, and repeatedly told me that I shouldn’t hold my breath for a fix. Â At 7:30 tonight I got back to Alewife. Â I can’t say I was surpised to see the door to the bike cage hanging open.
So, what do you think? Â My bet is that it gets fixed again later this month, breaks again later this month, and is left to swing loose until it is permanently damaged by vandals. Â Any takers? 
The T blew up a few bike racks at Alewife over the summer. There has been construction activity at the old locations. There have been a lot of bikes locked to railings with the remaining bike racks overflowing.
Today I rolled up to the remaining bike racks and a couple security guards were passing out pamphlets that advised me not to get my bike stolen. More interesting, they handed me a “Bike CharlieCard” that I can use to open the gates at the two new bike cages. The MBTA also had a promo on the new bike cages today.
I have a few questions:
At the moment I’m guardedly optimistic. Perhaps the T got this one right?
The Universal Hub has another story about photographers being harassed by the MBTA police. I’ve had it happen to me; I never got around to blogging about it. Suffice it to say there is a police report somewhere in MBTA land where it’s documented that I own a camera and I take pictures with it. Of Alewife, even!
The most amusing part of the story is the link to the MBTA Police website. You’ve got to be kidding me.
It’s hard for me to characterize the MBTA’s most recent insanity: Are they in denial about their security problems? Or are they so disconnected from reality that they think they can hide their security problems? Let’s explore the question.
First, a review of recent events: Three MIT students study the MBTA’s security and prepare a presentation to DEFCON 16. (Their advisor is Professor Ron Rivest, the “R” in RSA.) Dr. Rivest contacts the MBTA about the research. The students, the professor, and the MBTA have a meeting. Later that week the MBTA seeks an injunction in federal court to prevent them from delivering the presentation. The injunction is granted and the presentation is canceled. The presentation is filed as a part of the request for injunction, making it a public record. The presentation had also already been distributed on a disc to all of the DEFCON attendees. The article is readily available on MIT’s student newspaper website, The Tech.
Did you click the article? You should. It’s a big file, almost 5 megs, but it’s chock full of great pictures and clear explanations.
So, let’s review option 1, that the MBTA is in denial that there are security problems:
And option two, that the MBTA thought they could simply hide the problems?
I guess there is always option three, which is just incompetence. There’s an argument to be made here.
It doesn’t really matter which explanation is the right one. The presentation speaks for itself. The MBTA is a security disaster.
A final note: As a former editor of The Tech, I’m proud of their role in this. Good for them for publishing the research.
Yesterday morning I woke up, rolled out of bed, and checked the news. Boston.com was reporting a disabled train on the Longfellow Bridge, and lots of busing.
Today the Globe has a story about the summer of discontent on the Red Line. Key quote from Lydia Rivera, a T spokeswoman: “People that choose to take the system do realize that with public transportation, you are going to encounter delays.”
What?! She thinks I should expect delays? She thinks it’s normal that public transportation is unpredictable? What a load of crap!
There are plenty of public transportation systems out there that run consistently on time. Munich and Tokyo come to mind, and I wager there are other examples closer to home.
I think that quote speaks volumes about the attitude of MBTA management and employees. They expect to suck. When they do suck, they’re just meeting expectations.
I don’t know what it takes to turn that around, but until the MBTA expects better of itself, we’re stuck with “expecting delays.”
