Dear Silver Line
Silver Line, I know I’ve said some nasty things about you in the past. I suggested that you were premised on the assumption that black people—who had the Washington Street Orange Line taken from them decades ago—couldn’t tell the difference between a bus and a train. I joked that for all our bragging about being the Hub of the Universe, we couldn’t create a bus-rapid-transit line that was even a third as good as the one presently running in Bogata. I pointed and laughed and spat and grabbed my crotch when you hummed past. Well, I’m here to say, I take it all back. Well, not all of it. Some of it. A little of it.
For last night, I took the Silver Line to Logan (SL1). I walked from Boston mag HQ by Symphony Hall, up to the Hynes Green Line station, took that to Park, then to South Station, then boarded the Silver line to Logan. The whole trip (including the walk and numerous delays on the Green Line in which passengers stared dumbly at one another as the train sat there for five minutes at a time and the conductor made no effort to explain why) took an hour.
On the way back, we took the Silver to South Station, and South Station to Davis. 40 minutes. If we had taken the old way, it would have been a shuttle bus, to the Blue Line, to the Green Line, to the Red Line, and would have taken 16 hours and might have featured a mild outbreak of either violence or Legionaire’s Disease. If we had taken a cab home, it would have cost $40 and taken just as long.
This is a breakthrough for me, as the only thing I loathe more than the T is Boston’s extortionate cabbie cabal—the fifth most expensive in the country. (Example: Late for a movie the other week, I took one from the corner of Comm. Ave. and Mass. Ave., to Kendall Square. The cabbie didn’t know how to get to Kendall. And the trip cost me $9. That’s like five blocks).
So thank you, SL1. Job well done. Now maybe you can have a word with the Washington Street line?
UPDATE: I’ve just had an argument with Senior Writer / Deputy Assistant Janitor John Gonzalez, who feels I’ve been duped (one suspects he may have had something to do with the comment below). We have resolved to take a public transit race from the office to the airport sometime this week. We will post the results on this blog. Stay tuned.
September 11th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Joe,
Thanks so much for the kind words. And for giving me another chance and for buying what you saw yesterday.
Sucker.
Just between us, I run on-time, oh, every autumnal equinox in order to fool unquestioning rubes like yourself. Today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter I will return to my maddening, never-on-time, underground-and-above identity crisis ways.
By the way, if you could give my brother, The Big Dig, a shout out and a little credit, that would be cool, too. He hasn’t dropped a tile in months now.
September 11th, 2007 at 11:06 am
I knew there was something familiar and loveable about the lilt of this piece’s writing style… and then the byline hit me. My favorite editor ever! I didn’t realize you actually got another job. Hooray for you. -A Dig Reader
September 13th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Those who whine about the Silver Line on Washington Street have no idea how good they have it. I don’t know of another bus route that is more frequent or has more capacity.
I wish every bus route was like the Silver Line!