Great Re-entry to the Office Thanks to a Speedy Commute

Hello! Is it already the Friday of Labor Day weekend? How did this happen?

I'm back in the office today, after two days of training and an out-of-town business meeting yesterday. At least my commute in this morning on the P508 was a lot better than my flight home from LaGuardia yesterday. I think I could have driven back home faster than my flight. We got delayed and then sat on the runway for over an hour. Shuttle flights are the worse, too, when it comes to sitting on the runway. Everyone gets so bent out of shape, especially since it is usually all business travelers who have places to go, people to see.

The train was good today and it seemed like a speedy commute, possibly because there weren't a lot of people on board. I'm guess a lot of folks must be getting a head start on the long weekend. We arrived to South Station at 8:19 a.m.

Both The Boston Herald and WCVB-TV Channel 5 reported that the MBTA is developing a real-time "by-the-minute" countdown for when buses, trains and trolleys will be arriving at each stop. Boy, I can't wait to see how this work. Way to come into the 21st century, MBTA. The DC Metro already does this . . . superbly I might add.

“Now you can hear that a train is ‘approaching’ or is ‘arriving,’ ” MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas said, referring to public address system announcements. “But we’ll be able to give a more precise countdown so you know that the next train is coming and it’s going to Braintree, but it’s also four minutes away.”

The MBTA hopes the systems will take the uncertainty out of traveling by public transportation and help increase ridership. It’s a service that’s been requested by customers for years, Grabauskas said.

The multimillion-dollar project, now out for bid, mirrors a $5 million “Next Train” project under way for the MBTA commuter rail that’s expected to be completed by next June. Countdowns, accurate to the minute, will be displayed on signs at each station, using data from global positioning systems on each train.

In other news, ComputerWorld weighs in with an assessment of the MIT student hacker issue.

Here's hoping everyone, especially westbound drivers on the Pike and everyone heading to the Cape or up North, have easy travels. Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.