Of all things that could get me started using blogger, this was
the subject that got me to actually start a blog. Then again, it is a service I
use on a weekly basis. Due to this, I think it is worthy of being my starting
post.
Before we talk about what is happening
now, let's go back to the original "Night Owl" service of Boston’s
MBTA. I was one of the few to remember the service and it was a service I
appreciated. I will be honest, I really didn’t use it much due to the fact I
was a freshman at college at the time. However, I did use it at the end of it’s
life, including after the 2004 ALCS win of the Boston Red Sox over the New York
Yankees and after several work days where I left at 1am. I will admit, the
service was certainly a convenience but I didn’t really need it too much.
Jumping ahead several year, I really didn’t see a need for late
night service. Lucky for me, I take Bus 111, one of Boston’s busiest bus routes,
which leaves after 1am from Haymarket as it needs to wait for the last train
with many times a full bus (50+ passengers). Many of my work shifts would end
between 11:30pm-12:30pm because I was still a college student. It wasn’t until years
later until I realized how important a late night service is to people who work
late nights.
Since I was no longer a college student, my responsibilities increased
at my work. So much so that some nights, I will not leave until 2am, sometimes
even later. One question that I seem to see on many comments regarding the end
of late night is “how did they get home before?” I cannot speak for everyone but
I can speak for myself. During the nights where I will be working late, I had 4
options, car pool with another employee, take a taxi, driving in, or in the
worst case scenario, walk. All three options had their own issues.
My Personal Experiences
Car Pooling
This may be the most explanatory solution of the 4. It is
extremely convenient to have a co-worker who lives in your area and who drives
in. Most of the time, they will give a ride since it is on the way anyway. The
down side though is if the co-worker is not working that day, then you are
basically out of luck.
Driving In
This is most likely the most convenient of the 4 options, or what
it appears to be. Boston has, what I believe, a major parking issue. First and
foremost is that there is not enough street parking in the city but the biggest
issue is that parking in Boston is not economically feasible on a daily basis.
Most garages are roughly $30 or more. If you were to look at it mathematically
for someone who works 5 days a week, that will be $150+ per week or $600+ per
month. Let’s say that the person is only getting a pay of $11/hr and works 40
hours per week and the cost of parking will be roughly 30% of their income
before taxes are taken out. I will also like to mention that this does not include
any tolls the person may have to go through to get to and from work.
Taxi
The taxi should be an easy solution but in actuality, it isn’t. If
you ever tried to get a taxi after 1am, you will know that it is extremely
difficult to get one. I remember a time I got out of work around 2am and not
getting a taxi until around 3am.
Not only is it difficult but there is no guarantee you will get a
taxi or that the driver will cooperate. I know now that this is against the
guidelines/law (not sure what it is exactly) for taxis but there have been
times where I will be asked to get out of a taxi after saying my destination. In essence, the taxi driver did not want to go
over the Tobin or through the Callahan/Sumner Tunnel due to the fact they have
to pay tolls. This means that if you live in Everett, Revere, Chelsea, East
Boston, Winthrop, and so on, you may not be able to get a taxi at all.
Last negative with taxis is also that it isn’t economically
feasible either. Although it is not as expensive as driving in, it still takes
a good chunk out of your income. I will like to mention that some of the charges
is also due to the tolls the taxi has to go over. Let’s take an example of
Haymarket in Boston to Bellingham Sq in Chelsea. The ride will come out to be
around $20 with toll fees included. If I were to use the same example as I did
for driving in (someone working 5 days at $11/hr), weekly expenses will be $100
and monthly expenses will be $400, which comes to roughly 20% of one’s income.
Now before I end this section, I will admit the pricing is based
on the distance and tolls. For example, going from Downtown Boston to Back Bay
would be cheaper than going from the same place to Brighton. Same goes for
Downtown Boston being cheaper for those going to East Boston than it is to
Revere, although I believe Downtown Boston to Brighton is cheaper than Downtown
Boston to East Boston due to the toll.
Walking
Now this is something no one wants to do but to me, it has
partially happened. One night, I was not able to take the taxi as I had no
money (this was before taxis were required to have card readers). My last
resort was to call someone but when that failed. I decided to just walk. If you
want to know how dangerous that was, since I was going to Chelsea, I had to
follow Rt 99 from Boston through Charlestown through Everett to get to Chelsea
(looking at it now, it would have been a little more than a 5 mile walk). Lucky
for me, though, I was able to get someone while I was at the Bunker Hill
Community College area but if I wasn’t able to, I would have continued walking.
I will be completely honest, I have shown my disapproval of the
MBTA’s decision to late night service. It appears I wasn’t the only one as the Federal
Transit Committee also came out with disapproval. From my perspective, they
could have done things much differently to save money than cutting the whole
program entirely. After all, they did have the data to do see what can be done.
My opinion on what could have been done
Bring Back the Night Owl System
I mentioned the Night Owl earlier in my post but did not go into
much detail regarding it. The service when it was running replaced all subway
lines with busses and only major routes will have a bus operating. In all
honesty, I do not know why they could not bring this back in a modern form. My
suggestion would be running Subways until 1am (giving an additional 30 minutes
to normal service rather than an hour) with busses replacing the Subway from
1am to 1:30am. That way, there would be a savings on the cost for keeping the
subway running while people are able to use the system.
Make the System Seasonal
The biggest issue I have seen firsthand is that there would be low
ridership in the winter months while high ridership in the summer months. In my
opinion, the MBTA making the late night service from Q1-Q4 (March-December) or
even Q2-Q4 (June to December) would have definitely be a solution. Notice I
ended both in December. That is because Q1 (January – March) is typically cold
where people do not want to walk to the nearest station and would rather find
other means of transportation.
Increase Fares for Late Night Riders
This may not be popular but it could be understandable. Making the
late night, say $5 for subway and $3 for busses (even maybe as high as $7 for subway,
$5 for busses) stating at 12:30am would have been more reasonable than cutting
the whole service. It definitely would have been cheaper than the other options
(I will talk about Uber and Lyft later, and maybe Bridj).
What I think will happen now
Oh boy, this is only speculation but I can definitely see this happening.
I must remind the readers that this is my opinion on what I believe will
happen.
At Subway/Bus Stops
People are creatures of habits and since this program nearly lasted
for 2 years, I believe people have made a habit of their schedule by now. I
would not be surprised to see people go to a subway station to be surprised
that it is closed at 2am. Same can be said about bus riders waiting at bus stops
for the next bus that will not come.
Taxis
I can see an increase of taxis being used but at the same time, I
can see the actions of my experience with taxis become more common. The fact
that they all have card readers is a plus but I can see some taxis refusing to
provide service to passengers. For those who will be using taxis, remember
these two things. Taxis cannot refuse a passenger due to where they are going
and for Boston Taxis (not sure if it is everywhere else as well), they cannot
and are not suppose to operate without a functioning card reader. Notice I said
functioning because some drivers may say the card reader is not working.
Uber/Lyft/etc.
Services like this have come out saying they will help those who
need it. Unfortunately, the help they will provide will be temporary. Between
1am and 2am is when clubs and bars let their patrons out and they will be
demanding these services as well as workers. With that said, do not be
surprised to see a normal $5 dollar rider turn into a $50 ride.
Bridj
Last but not least is a company I really don’t know much about,
Bridj. This company is definitely something that should be watched at in the
near future, especially since they do look like they are going to be the best
option. The only concern of mine is the same with taxis, tolls. Will Bridj
charge a fee for going over tolls or will Bridj work side-by-side with the
MBTA/MassDot so they won’t have to deal with tolls? Time will certainly tell.
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