BusTalk

[N4 Jamaica]

On Saturday morning, 2.13.2010, I had been riding the Boston subway and decided to transfer for free to the Silver Line at South Station. The new "dual mode" station is sandwiched in between the street and the deeper Red Line subway. I found that the trolleybuses had a platform with several stopping positions. Signs directed airport patrons to board towards the rear of the platform. A crowd got on, some with luggage. The bus moved forward, picked up more passengers from the forward end of the same platform, then headed into the new Silver Line tunnel, supposedly just over a mile in length. Two stations later, at World Trade Center Station, more than half the passengers got off, so the group going to the airport was rather thin. We crawled uphill to a gate (like those at a parking lot exit), and it lifted. Soon, we stopped at Silver Line Way, where the operator got out and walked back. I don't know whether he lowered the poles by hand or just watched the operation.
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Looping around the deserted neighborhood at street level, we stopped at two or three traffic signals. Then we entered the Ted Williams tunnel. The bus was both noisy and bouncy. Like the "Big Dig," this vehicular tunnel has exit ramps inside the tunnel. I got off at Terminal A, Continental, and easily found the lavatory.
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I was running short of time, so I abandoned my plan to ride a shuttle bus to the Blue Line. Instead, I joined a few people waiting for the Silver Line back to South Station. Inside Terminal A, close to the baggage claim, were two or three T ticket machines, for adding value to a Charlie Card (Card unavailable there) or to a Charlie Ticket (available, but without the Card discount). Boarding the bus, I used my Charlie Card, a proximity card. No sweat. The next people used two $1 bills. A family then boarded with a Charlie Ticket that had money on it. There was a misunderstanding. The rider thought he was told to feed money into the machine, then did so, then also used his ticket, no refund of the overspending, of course. (The fareboxes have several ways to accept fares, unlike New York, where paper money cannot be accepted.)
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My impression of the vehicles: Rough riding on pavement that looked smooth. The wired tunnel is slow, with a speed limit of 6 mph entering stations, 20 in the straighter sections, as it looked to me. As is true with the Type 8 Green Line streetcars, low floor does not mean that the floor is level with the station platform. (Boston's Red Line, with high level loading, matches the floor to the platform. Jersey City's HBLR, with low level loading, matches the floor to the platform.) Some of the people had trouble handling their own luggage, especially when entering the front door at the airport.
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A woman from Spain was going to Harvard. Because of the free transfer at South Station, her total fare was $2. If a person can handle the luggage, that's a good deal. For someone already in possession of a loaded Charlie Card, the fare is $1.70, which brought me from Logan to Braintree in 70 minutes. Comparing to New York's JFK: One would have to know how to find the Q10 to get a one-fare ride. If one arrives at LaGuardia, one needs nine quarters or a Metrocard to board a Q60 to Manhattan.
Corrections are welcome.
Joe McMahon