Green Line Driver Asleep at the Wheel
While the MBTA struggles to recover from the media uproar and rider backlash surrounding the recent Green Line train crash, one would suppose the MBTA’s drivers would be scared straight. One would suppose the crash would serve as a, uh, wake-up call to the men and women behind the controls. But this was not the case on an outbound Green Line trolley last week.
Several people, including a Boston magazine staffer, witnessed a T driver repeatedly drifting off to sleep between Hynes and Coolidge Corner shortly after 6 p.m on June 17.
“He kept closing his eyes and dropping his head to his chest before jerking his whole body as if coming out of a light sleep,” says Jessica Lief, a special projects coordinator in Boston’s sales department. A woman near Lief actually tapped the driver on the arm to make sure he was awake after his eyes stayed closed and the trolley car remained motionless at a green light. At one point during the ride, Lief says the driver, “opened a window and stuck his head into the wind to keep himself awake.”
But the apparent lapse of acceptable service extends beyond the T driver.
When Lief lodged a complaint minutes after getting off the T in Brookline, the MBTA’s customer service rep pretty much dismissed her claim, telling her he’d look into it, but he failed to get the train’s number until Lief asked if he wanted it. The rep then failed to pass the report on to his superiors. How do we know that?
Because when we called MBTA Police Chief Paul McMillian last week, it was the first the agency had heard of the complaint. The MBTA has since found the complaint, and McMillian says the customer service rep will be dealt with in some capacity.
Back to the guy driving the Green Line trolley. Deborah Geis, Chief of the Green Line, says the driver “won’t be seated.” Which means, basically, that he won’t drive until a fitness of duty examination is completed, says Joe Pesaturo, the MBTA spokesman.
Maybe he shouldn’t be driving even if he passes it. Just thinking out loud here.
—David Mashburn
June 27th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Having nearly been killed on one of the Riverside trains that crashed a few weeks back, I did not think it could get any worse. Boy was I wrong. Every day it’s something new, from a flooded car (huge puddles on all the seats and water dripping on everyone’s heads) during the rain last week, to branches across the tracks, to doors that won’t shut. The # of times the drivers have to shut off the whole system and then restart has increased significantly lately. Rides between Riverside and Park Street that used to take 42 minutes now routinely take 50. All last summer when we were stuck on those stupid buses, they promised that the inconvenience we endured would improve service. More B/S from Dan GrabButtKiss (whose “safety is our #1 priority” messages continue to be blared through the Park Street station, interspersed with “we are experiencing delays on the Green line due to a broken down train” message - um DUH, which line? Answer: ALL OF THEM) The MBTA is an absolute disgrace. Often, I sit at Park Street and watch 3 B’s, 2 C’s and 2 E’s go by while waiting for a “D” then am packed in like a sardine while it takes far too much time at every stop due to the long delay between trains. Then due to a “train right behind us” we end up expressing through stations. The 2 trains that crashed never would have been that close together if they had someone competent scheduling them. In addition, I think the T has not replaced the crashed cars, as there seem to be fewer trains running since the crash. Recently, there seem to be to lots more stops for no reason or “scheduling adjustments”. The drivers are rude, and usually fail to explain why we sit for minutes for no apparent reason. Three days in a row last week, we sat just outside Riverside, until the driver realized that the signal was stuck and got up and reached out to manually adjust it. Dan GrabButtKiss has had 3 years to fix this. I think it’s time for a change.
-Matt Stone Extremely pissed off Green Line rider
June 29th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Take it from me, I high lever MBTA executive…This happens every day. The part time employees are used to cover both rush hours. We push them to their limits. The wake up at 4am and we work them until 9 or 10. Then, we make them go home for 4 or 5 hours and they come back in the afternoon. By the time they get home for the evening its about 9PM. How’s that for 6 hours pay? How would you like that poor guy/gal driving your trolley? Why doesn’t the union stop this you ask? Because we make deals with the union. They sign off on marathon schedules for part time employess that they know are afraid to complain….and we take care of them on other matters.