Getting around

[dmaze]

You'd think that three or four days after the snow stopped, it'd be possible to get around, right? On principle I took the T to Wellington last night and walked home, only to discover that, in true form, the %!@$ing MDC has done nothing to clear the sidewalks along 28 between Wellington Circle and 93. So walking home from the T involved lots of trudging through the snow. Separately, while the 95 is running more-or-less on schedule, the CT2 has been 15-20 minutes late both yesterday and today. With GPS-enabled busses, shouldn't the T be able to tell you at least where the next bus is, even if they can't guess how long you have to wait?

Comments

[calling-to-deep.livejournal.com]

as far as i can tell, the only sidewalks anywhere that have been cleared are the ones in front of civic-minded home- and shop-owners. I wonder if this is just The Powers That Be being lame, or if it's standing policy not to clear sidewalks. . .

[dmaze]

There was a recent post in davis_square about this; some law or another requires property owners to shovel their sidewalks. So it seems like everybody does, except for things along town- or state-owned property. But, in this case, most of the walk in question is along a state road, so I lose.

If I'm doing the bus commute, all of the sidewalks are shovelled, though crossing streets is a little exciting. On Monday the bus stop wasn't shovelled at all but on Tuesday it was fine.

[bookwyrm]

Yeah, you'd think. 15-20 minutes late I can deal with; it's the buses randomly not showing up at all that really irks me. I'll be there on time for one CT2 bus which will never appear, and then I'll end up waiting 40 minutes for the next CT2 bus which is, of course, late. Not looking forward to that this morning; I have no umbrella.

This has happened consistently the past three days, btw. Maybe I'll just start taking the 85 instead. I kind of wish there were a number you could call that would tell you "the 12:14 CT2 will not be running. The next bus on this route is the 12:44. Thank you. For riding. The T."

[dmaze]

People on my bus (the "9:15") that got on at Union were complaining that the "8:50" bus had never shown up. I'm a little dubious; if it had, in fact, punted, it seems like there would have been more than one other person waiting for the bus at Sullivan. But the CT2 has always had a terrible reliability record, even in good weather, ever since it was extended to Sullivan; it's quite sad.

[dmaze]

...and Union Square is terrible for making optional bus connections. I could take the 86 or 91 from Sullivan to Union and then either take the 85 or CT2 to Kendall, but those stop in different places. Coming back I could take the 85 to Union, but the 91/CT2 and 91/86 stops are separate. So if I have faith that the CT2 will show up eventually, it's easier to just wait for it than try to guess which bus stop at Union will result in the best connection.

[76trombones.livejournal.com]

I think there is somewhere you can complain if it's more than 30 minutes late, and get a free ride or something. (This is, of course, not terribly useful to people with monthly passes.) If a bus doesn't show up until it's time for the next one, and that next one is scheduled >=30 minutes later, then, well, the bus was more than 30 minutes late.

I haven't done this thing, though.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Alewife = %(*()* nightmare.

One third of my SEVEN MILE commute last night was getting from Concord Ave at double-donuts to the Minuteman. My choices were (a) bike double-donuts followed by rush-hour Alewife Brook Parkway overpass; (b) carry bike over unplowed sidewalks (or plowed sidewalks obscured on four sides by 2-to-8-foot snowdrifts) and walk over ice-covered bridge. Finding (a) not to my liking, I was stuck with (b) and DOOMED...