Dump the Pump Today

Another day in Boston, another rolling victory parade. Will these parades ever get old? I doubt it. I hope people decided to use public transportation to head into Boston for today's Celtics' parade. I heard that the city is going to start closing downtown streets around 9:30 a.m. this morning.

Beyond the Celtics' parade to celebrate their 17th NBA Championship, today is Third Annual Dump the Pump Day. Dump the Pump is designed to raise awareness about the benefits of using public transportation - both from a personal economic standpoint and an environmental standpoint. With gas over $4.00 a gallon here in Massachusetts and in other parts of the country, I think there could be a captive audience listening to ways to "dump the pump."

Even the MBTA is getting in on the action. Did you notice the fancy graphic they created to "dump the pump"?

The MBTA is using "Dump the Pump" to kickoff a promotional campaign designed to encourage more residents to ride the rails (or use the buses and commuter boats). According to Progessive Railroading.com, the MBTA's campaign components include interactive elements along with radio ads and commuter-rail train wraps. Oh, seeing a commuter rail train wrapped with a message could be cool. I wonder if the wraps make it even harder to look out a window?

I heard on Channel 5 this morning that the MBTA will begin modernizing Blue Line stations starting this Saturday, June 21st.

• Phase I will run from June 21st through July 3rd. The Wonderland station will be closed.
  
• Phase II will be from July 5th to August 1st. The Wood Island station will be closed.
  
• Phase III will be from August 2nd to August 15th, closing Revere Beach station.
• Phase IV will be from August 16th to August 29th, shutting down the Beachmont station.

The MBTA will be using buses to transport riders between stations. In some cases, riders may have to take a Blue Line train to a different station. It seems a bit confusing, but I'm sure people will figure it out.

Amtrak has rescheduled the Connecticut Bridge Replacement project. The project will now start on June 24th and end on June 27th. You can read about it in this article posted yesterday afternoon to Boston.com.

Finally, here is an interesting editorial that was published last Friday (June 13th) in The Milford Daily News. The editorial is about different mass transit options for the Metro West area.