Boston & Maine Locomotive at Lowell
Faced
with backbreaking debt, the
Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has proposed to raise fares and
eliminate service.
Here in
Rockport, the MBTA plans to take all weekend train service away, which means
that not only will weekend workers be unable to use the “T”, but visitors to
Rockport will be turned away.
Our local
economy depends upon visitors coming here to shop, eat, attend events at our Shalin Liu
Performance Center
First,
about the debt. Newspaper stories in the
past year have told how some MBTA contractors, tasked with printing the passes
that are sold to commuters for travel, helped themselves to the point of
printing and selling millions of dollars of fake tickets!
Perhaps a
bigger hole in the revenue bags, however, is the report many, many commuters
have made that conductors on the Rockport-Boston line often don’t check tickets,
and don’t bother to collect fares from people without tickets. Many people
frankly say they have made many trips without paying a dime!
Not only is
the “T” unable to take in the money it needs, but if receipts are the only way
to determine ridership, obviously, they have no clue as to how many people are
actually riding.
If so many
people are riding for free, it’s no wonder the “T” wants to cut service on
weekends. Of course, the next logical
thing would be to cut all service,
and let the trains sit at the terminal.
Rockport Station under water
Aug. 25, 2010 (By Dee
McManus)
Here
in Rockport, for eight years we have been working with the “T”
on a design for a new station. Since we
are the end of the line, usually four or five trains lay over on tracks at our
station on weekends. The “station” is
not nearly the fine structure we had here in 1929.
In 1929, as
a matter of fact, trains made the same trip from Rockport to Gloucester ,
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Beverly Farms, Montserrat, Beverly ,
Salem , Lynn and on
to Boston
The “T” has
indulged us mightily in Rockport. They
have spent many thousands of dollars on reams of plans for the grand new
station here, with new layover tracks, a longer raised platform with roofs and
lights, and even a paved parking lot!
In response
to local calls to reduce the noise of trains in the station, the “T” designed a
massive “Hush Hut”.
We have had
the finest designs money could buy. But
not anything has proceeded beyond design.
B&M Train at North Station 1966
In a more
logical world, with a transportation authority that existed to provide
transportation for commuters, instead of perhaps just soft jobs for people, you
would think that more and better service would lead to more riders, and more
revenue. Commuters would leave their
cars at home, and in increasing numbers, hop on the “T”.
It’s the same old
business --- tired, bored “public servants” going through the motions of
providing sloppy commuter service.
It’s time for citizens to speak out!
We don’t buy the “Massachusetts
WE should demand it!
Why can’t we travel in a car like this?
(Mercury train by Priestmangoode)
The Personal Navigator offers these items
that will take you back to the days of the wonderful Boston & Maine
Railway:
Boston:
Everywhere in Boston and How to Get there; Street Guide of every street in
Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden,
Medford, Milton, Newton, Revere, Somerville and Watertown. ©1943. Boston ,
MA Scollay Square
Boston & Maine Railroad Map and Connections, Boston
and Worcester to Portland
and North Conway ca. 1890 Boston Boston and Worcester
to North Conway , NH
Contact me at scoulbourn1@verizon.net
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