Worst commute yet

[magid]

I got to the Harvard T stop about 8:50. I got to work just over an hour later.

The platform was crowded, and there were frequent announcements that mentioned delays, but there were trains coming. We waited, listening to intermittent banjo music. More announcements of trains coming. Soon, soon. The platform got more crowded. The train arrived, and not surprisingly, it was full. There's always a couple of people who get off at Harvard, though. Not that I was sure I could get on, but at least the next train would likely be ok.

Except that they took the train out of service, so everyone had to get off. The platform was almost impassable, and I wished I'd walked (in the end, it would've been quicker). I ducked upstairs and caught an outbound train one stop to Porter (checking to see that the inbound platform wasn't mobbed), figuring that even if I missed one train, at least I'd not be on a sardine train.

Waited at Porter a bit, and a train came along. We went, then sat in the tunnel for a while, waiting for "traffic ahead". The silver lining: being able to give Farwing birthday felicitations in person. (And I got lots of crocheting done.). We got to Harvard, and there weren't many people. I guess the "traffic ahead" was the time it took for everyone to jam on a train.

Then the train I was on went out of service. I got out, back at Harvard, having made it nowhere.

A couple of minutes after the train emptied, it was declared back in service, and I got on, and the rest of the trip was mostly smooth.

A Monday, indeed.

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Seems like we had a good run for a month or two over the summer, and now...

I've been lucky, if you can call leaving my house at 6:30 lucky ;)

[magid.livejournal.com]

It's been slower on the red line a fair bit, more than when I started last summer.

Lucky to avoid all the traffic, yes. (If only I'd managed to cook last night, so I didn't have to this morning...)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I got to work on time...

One of these days, we should meet for lunch.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Lunch, definitely.

Might not be until after the chagim, though...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

How about in forty minutes? :-)

(I have to run an errand on Bromfield Street anyway, so I'm probably going to pick up lunch at Milk Street, assuming I can get away.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, no, today doesn't work...

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

How about tomorrow? :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm out for lunch, but you could come by for dinner :-)

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

You were in the station with one of my labmates, apparently- she mentioned how the platform was full, and the next train went out of service at Harvard... And the other day someone jumped in front of the train at Park Street. What's with the Red line? I'm dreading starting to have to take it when I transfer...

red line

[magid.livejournal.com]

It used to be a bit more reliable/quick. I'm not sure why service is slower, but it seems to be. Still, most of the time it's a reasonable commute.

Transfer to where?

Re: red line

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

From a job which is easily accessible from the Green Line, Orange Line and commuter rail, to a job that is only accessible by Red Line.

Re: red line

[magid.livejournal.com]

Ah. Transfer to a lack of options is never fun. Depending on where you're going to/from, there may be work-arounds (Are there bus options?).

I know if the train's been slow (or I'm running early), I can get off the Red Line at Charles and walk to work instead of waiting to transfer to Green. And if I'm really running early, I can walk; it's only 3 miles (though not good in the summer, because I sweat too much to walk to work).

[fairdice.livejournal.com]

I was on the train that had the medical emergency at south station. We got to wait until the EMTs came down to carry off the woman having whatever sort of trouble it was. Things were crowded but functional from there to Kendall. It was strange to see no one getting off at Downtown Crossing -- usually a major exodus, but presumably everyone who would have gotten off there had already walked.

But I think that was only one of the several emergencies this morning...

[magid.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize that there were problems in the other direction, too.

It would be a lot easier waiting if they said that someone was ill at X station, or whatever. Just saying there are delays (when that's obvious) it annoying. Similarly, I'd rather hear that there's a train 3 minutes behind, or at X station, rather than "there's a train right behind this" when that's almost always not true.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I stopped believing the "there is a train directly behind this one" the day I didn't pack myself onto a full train at Sullivan and waited in sub-zero (C) weather 20 more minutes for an even more full train. I don't like being lied to.