T riders seeing Red and double
Say line can’t handle twice the capacity
Commuters on the Red Line say the T needs to make drastic improvements before it can handle double its current capacity.
As the Herald reported Thursday, Red Line boardings at the Kendall Square MBTA Station on weekdays are expected to double to about 30,000 by 2040, according to a new report by the Kendall Square Association.
“Today’s Red Line travelers in Kendall Square often find themselves on full trains and crowded platforms, sometimes getting left behind,” the 28-page report states.
The report outlines the current state of transportation in the Cambridge neighborhood, with suggestions to improve the beleaguered MBTA system over the next several decades as the city sees rapid expansion in high-tech businesses and the adjacent MIT campus.
Kendall Square has recently attracted high-profile companies, including Facebook, which moved in earlier this year, and Google, which announced expansion plans in February.
Commuters that rely on the T’s Red Line for work and school in the Cambridge area say trains are often packed and would need sweeping transit improvements to handle double the capacity.
“I plan on being out of here by 2040,” joked Deborah Smith of Quincy. “It’s really growing up in the Quincy area also, so it’s like we don’t have the infrastructure to get these people into Boston and Cambridge. And then the new trains won’t even go on these tracks, so with all these big mix-ups and mess-ups, it’s quite ridiculous.”
“You’d think that if you’re going to increase the fare, it’s going to increase the quality of service too,” Brian Gentile of Revere told the Herald, adding that “in this state, (the T) will absolutely not” be able to handle the influx of riders.
“It takes me an hour to two hours on the Red Line to get to Downtown Crossing,” said Claire McKeown of Quincy. “The trains are either out of service, you can’t get on because it’s full or they’re stopping at every station for five to 10 minutes. … The T can’t even handle it now, so I don’t think they can handle more. It’s a consistent problem, and there’s nothing being done about it.”
“It took more than 30 minutes for a train to get from Harvard to Kendall,” said Elizabeth Tirrell of Boston. “By the time it got to the station, the trains were completely full and barely anyone (on the platform) could get on. … There’s no way (the T) could carry that capacity.”