I know it is a little early, but a man once said early to bed, early to rise....
"MBTA to start late-night weekend service in 2014; Many routes to run until 3 a.m. during 1-year pilot program" by Shirley Leung | Globe Staff, December 03, 2013
.... Yes, the T is still cash-strapped, and the state budget remains tight, but Governor Deval Patrick has found about $20 million, along with pledges from corporate sponsors, to launch a one-year pilot program to begin in March or April.
Can there be any more doubt this is a true fa$ci$t state?
They can always find money when they want to; now give back those health and pension benefits we promised you or we will have to slash services.
College students and, more recently, techies in the growing innovation economy have complained about how Boston shuts down too early. T service ends at 1 a.m., and bars and restaurants close at 2 a.m. Those early hours also became an issue in the Boston mayoral race, as workers in the technology sector told the candidates the T’s schedule did not match their late-night work ethic.
It’s something Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh promised to work on when he got into office. Well, he can cross it off his to-do list because the governor got to it first.
“Is this cool or what?” said Patrick in a phone interview. “This is about how we make the system modern for the kind of economic growth we have been experiencing and will be experiencing. The folks who work in the innovation sector — they live differently.”
After the battle he waged this summer over new taxes to finance transportation projects, the governor figured there has to be a better way to raise money for the T. Leaning on the private sector became a theme.
In recent months, his administration seized upon making late-night T service a reality. A nudge came from young tech types and blue-collar restaurant workers who live north of the city and were worried about their commute once the Callahan tunnel closes for repairs this winter.
The new late service, which will include the Silver Line, will be a one-year experiment. If it proves popular, it could become permanent.
The T’s last dabble with late-night service didn’t go so well....
Was it the rowdy drunks in the street? The safety of citizens? The loss of money?
Transportation Secretary Richard Davey said things are different now, and that train service will likely spur more people to use public transit after midnight....
A friend once told me nothing good ever happens after midnight, and he was right.
Davey said the T hasn’t yet projected how many people will ride the system in the wee hours, but the weekends appear to be busy....
If the service becomes permanent, the T may consider charging a premium, say about $3 or $3.50 per ride.
Currently, the state is footing the $20 million bill for the pilot and negotiating with a handful of corporate sponsors to defray the cost.
Maybe.
The state is looking to raise $2 million to $5 million from the private sector; actually it will take any amount it can get.
Davey said he’s in talks with up to a half dozen “well- known” companies.
“Nobody has said, ‘no,’ ” he added....
They haven't said yes, either.
One of the potential sponsors is The Boston Globe, which has an agreement in principle with the T.
Oh, no, another $elf-$erving front-page piece!
“We’ve editorialized about the need for late-night options for transportation, dining, and entertainment for workers who do not have conventional schedules,” Globe publisher Christopher Mayer said in a statement. “The availability of late-night MBTA service aligns well with the interests of our audience.”
I knew they were not writing it for me or you.
Greg Selkoe, founder of online fashion retailer Karmaloop and a leader in Boston’s innovation community, pledged to help raise money for late-night service. Like other startups, his is a global operation, and at any given time 15 to 20 percent of his 250 employees are working overnight.
“It is not a 9-to-5 world anymore, and Boston needs to reflect that,” said Selkoe....
If this service takes off, then maybe bars and restaurants are next.
In an interview with me last month, Walsh envisioned a late-night Boston with downtown bars serving until 2:30 a.m. and dancing until 3:30 a.m.
Imagine that. Boston could really start to have some fun.
Forget about Molly, the other drugs, and the violence and crime that comes with alcohol and late night hours. It's all good in the bu$ine$$ section.
--more--"
Yeah, I'm sure residents in those neighborhoods are going to love that.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: My Baby Takes the Morning Train
I do. That is why I'm wrapping up the day now. I'll be back before sun up to work on some more posts.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"T’s late-night service plan could be arriving right on time; Boosts Boston’s appeal among young workers, some say" by Martine Powers | Globe Staff, December 04, 2013
Some say, huh?
What do others say, you agenda-pushing piece of $hit??
MBTA riders and some local businesses hailed news that the T plans to try late-night service next spring on trains and buses until 3 a.m. on weekends.
But even amid exclamations of enthusiasm — “Finally!” “Yessssss!!” and “PRAISE THE LORD!” cropped up on Twitter — some people raised concerns about whether the program could be a success and questioned how the T will overcome the logistical challenges posed by keeping the trains running into times now scheduled for maintenance.
And it already was a s***ty older system. Now there is going to be less time for maintenance?
And no safety concerns about drunk people roaming the streets later at night, huh? The cost to the city in terms of security?
Sean M. McCarthy, chief operating officer of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said the one-year pilot program, which will cost the state $20 million and millions more in private funding, will require the T to hire 80 to 100 additional employees and bolster transit police presence.
I was told that $20 million was going to be defrayed by corporate, but apparently not. Leung the liar!
In the past, calls for later service on the subway — the T currently makes its last run at 12:30 a.m. — were rejected largely because the agency said it needs to repair an overtaxed infrastructure each day from 12:30 to 5 a.m. The MBTA has softened its objections, amid intense political pressure....
Yeah, to HELL with the SAFETY of the TRAINS and TRACKS! Just wait until the FIRST OVERNIGHT CRASH that KILLS PEOPLE! Then the pressure-applying politicians will be singing a different tune.
Internally, there were concerns among some T staff that extending service on weekend nights could put too much pressure on maintenance workers.
“There’s always something unexpected that comes up, because it’s an old system,” said a staff member who works for the track maintenance department and did not want to be named because the person was not authorized to speak to the media. The employee said that performing maintenance between 3 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., when work must be wrapped up to get the service on track for the next day, would hardly be enough time.
“If you’re behind the first thing in the morning, the whole day is going to be behind,” the employee said.
I feel that way every time I sit down to blog after reading a Globe.
But McCarthy countered that not much maintenance is needed Friday and Saturday night. He also said he is aware that the extension of hours might have an effect on an overtaxed system but added he is hopeful the T will be able to operate without pushing the trains beyond their limit. Trains used for late-night service will be inspected more frequently, he said....
Cross your fingers on that T train whenever you ride.
Boston is one of the few major cities in the United States where service barely inches past midnight: transit systems in New York, Chicago, and parts of Philadelphia run 24 hours, while Washington, D.C., has weekend service until 3.
The addition of the later service in Boston will put employers on better footing when it comes to recruiting, especially in the technology sector....
You are seeing who government $erves, right?
McCarthy said that T officials are hiring 80 to 100 additional employees to help . Hiring more employees instead of paying overtime is not necessarily cheaper, McCarthy said, but will make the service more reliable.
Most of $20 million in state funding will go toward labor costs, though $230,000 is earmarked for marketing, including materials to be distributed at nightlife spots to inform people about their new option.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the service would not be possible without the transportation finance legislation that passed last summer, which added a $1 tax to tobacco products and raised the gas tax by 3 cents and pegged it to inflation.
This f***ing greedy, money-grubbing government told us that money was to be used to fix up the roads and bridges, not provide late night T service to the party animals of Boston!
Good f***ing Christ! Sun ain't even up yet and I am already boiling mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stephanie Pollack, of Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, was glad to hear that the T is trying something new, but warned that extended hours may not be a slam dunk.
Because of the significant cost, she said, it will take a lot of ridership to ensure that extended service is cost-effective. If ridership is not robust, she said, transit officials should be prepared to switch from running trains to instead using buses for the one-year pilot.
“The T needs to be open to the possibility that even though a lot of people say they want the service, that doesn’t mean they will use it in numbers that are large enough to justify the cost,” Pollack said. “They will have to keep trying different things until they get it right.”
Kirstie Pecci, staff attorney at MassPIRG, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the service will not just be important for tech workers and late-night partiers — shift workers in the restaurant and hospitality industries will be able to take advantage as well, she said.
Is this late night service really in the public interest?
"A nonprofit provides new ways for corporations and individuals to influence"
No wonder they are so prolific in my agenda-pu$hing paper.
Paul D. Craney, executive director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, an organization that seeks to curb state taxation, thinks the service is important but wishes government leaders had found a way to pay for it without demanding more money from taxpayers.
“Constantly asking taxpayers to pay more for programs that routinely run in the red is unsustainable,” Craney said.
And all at a time of a tight state budget and looming federal cuts that will be catastrophic, or so my paper tells me.
--more--"
As for now, just sit back and enjoy the ride home:
Smooth sailing for local holiday travelers
Not for everyone:
"4 dead, 63 hurt as train derails in the Bronx; Deadliest NYC accident since 1991; official says brake failure reported" by Matt Flegenheimer and J. David Goodman | New York Times, December 02, 2013
NEW YORK — At least four people were killed after a Metro-North Railroad train derailed Sunday morning in the Bronx, officials said, in what is believed to be the deadliest train crash in New York City in more than two decades....
It had been a difficult year for Metro-North, which has had a reputation as one of the country’s most reliable railroads.
In September, a power failure in Mount Vernon, N.Y., upended service on the New Haven line, leading the authority to take the rare step of offering credits to affected riders. On May 17, two trains on the New Haven line collided during the Friday evening rush after one derailed near Fairfield, Conn. At least 70 people were injured.
Less than two weeks later, a track foreman was struck and killed in West Haven, Conn. Investigators said a trainee rail traffic controller had opened a section of track without proper clearance.
The railroad was brought under the auspices of the transportation authority in 1983, and has endured a spate of departures that have left several positions vacant or filled by less-experienced employees. Retirements of high-level employees have been common because retirees can receive maximum pension payments after 30 years of service.
Sunday’s derailment was believed to be the deadliest train accident in New York City since 1991, when five people were killed and more than 150 were injured after a subway train derailed in Lower Manhattan.
In 1882, a deadly collision between two passenger trains occurred on the tracks outside Spuyten Duyvil. Train cars burst into flames and as many as nine people died, according to reports at the time....
That is going back a ways.
--more--"
Related: N.Y. train’s speed was more than twice the limit
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Engineer fatigue cited in New York train crash
Who knows what really happened? I'm certainly not believing the NTSB in any case.
"Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday reached the scene of a plane crash in remote southwest Alaska that killed four people and injured six on Friday night. Bad weather kept investigators from reaching the site where a single-engine aircraft went down near the village of Saint Marys."
Something about freezing rain.
Also see: Parade of NTSB Articles
