Monday, March 3, 2008

My First MBTA/MBCR Commuter Rail Commute for March 2008

Wow. Who says "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb?" On a beautiful March morning, I had a totally normal inbound commute on the P508 train.

The train arrived at Grafton at 7:08 a.m., one minute ahead of schedule. We maintain the fast pace and arrived one minute ahead of schedule to Back Bay Station at 8:16 a.m.. Out train then got into South Station at either 8:23 a.m. or 8:24 a.m. So, right on schedule (or 1 minute behind).

The train was packed again this morning.

"Grafton Train Rider" sent me another update over the weekend.
I stayed in Cambridge Friday night and took P557 outbound home on Saturday afternoon. The train departed 13 minutes late since no conductors were available due to the tardiness of an arriving train. Of course, no announcements were made on the train since no conductors were on board. I didn't bother to submit a complaint, though.

Fortunately, the Grafton lot was actually cleared of snow by the afternoon and my car wasn't plowed in like the poor woman two months ago.
Thanks for the update "Grafton Train Rider." Sorry to hear the trains run late even on the weekend. At least the parking lot was clear of snow. It was snowing until mid-afternoon in most of Central Massachusetts. Thanks for sharing the article from WBZ-TV's website. Commute-a-holic and I somehow missed that story.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have the terrible fortunate of going to Boston on the weekends. Even without delays, the first train doesn't arrive until 11:00; options for the return are 4:30, 6:00 and 11:00 PM, or, pathetic. All trains are local; service is infrequent and often late; announcements are spotty; conductors often miss fares; conductors cram riders into a few cars because dog forbig they have to walk a little bit (only 3 conductors off-peak as opposed to 5 in peak, but train sets are the same length); and guess when they do track work.

I took the train to work in Boston for a year in 2006-07 and can say that it's much better to commute than deal with it on the weekends.

Train Rider said...

Anonymous,

Sorry to hear you have had horrible experiences using the commuter rail on the weekends.

I've never had to take the train on the weekend, but just from the schedule itself, it seems like it would be a huge hassle.

There are only certain cars open on the non-express trains at night (the 8:20 p.m. and beyond). I think this is to force all passengers closer to the front of the train so that the conductors don't have to walk through half empty cars.

Thanks.

Train Rider