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There are 30 comments on MBTA Service Limited Tuesday: Slow Commute Expected

    1. People are already talking about long-wait times at the Packard’s Corner bus stop (an hour or more) as 5+ buses fly by without even stopping due to overcrowding. And MBTA estimates are saying that this is meant to continue throughout the week.

    2. I never made it to school today. My 10:45 commuter rail was cancelled and 12:00 was also cancelled, this modified commuter rail is awful. I concluded that I have spent approx. 15.4 hours freezing on a train platform, not counting the hour ride that gets slowed down to 1.5 hours. The cancelled trains, the trains that stop but are packed and you can’t get on. the modified schedule, the snow that they don’t remove, the ice. Thats the MBTA and my classes. I have to make up classes, I am losing information to fit more important info in time because of the snow days, I am making up classes & labs at such a non-fluid schedule that I feel like a chicken running around with its head cutoff, i feel like I don’t even have a schedule.
      The entire Massachusetts Transportation System is messed up. And this 30 day modified schedule is if we don’t get anymore major snow storms!

      I am going to try to stay at the New England Veteran Shelter near Gov’t Center. then in the fall I am getting my own on campus single apartment.

      All of you saying that this is not BU’s fault is correct, but the state is in shambles right now, this is making it hard on every single commuter, from bus to car. I had to cross over a 4’ snow banks on the Beacon Street Overpass heading to Yawkey when I slipped rolled down the front into traffic and almost got hit by a car.

      We haven’t seen this much snow and cold in this short of time maybe once or twice since they started to kept records. Saying its not BU’s fault (which is correct) or find your way to class, walk or you should have lived on campus or leave earlier is just not a valid argument, this is monumental catastrophic weather event(s). It took my VA Counselor 4.5 hours to get to work instead of <45 mins. And this is every one of the 250,000 college students in the city and everyone else. BU is trying their hardest but they are so very limited.

  1. If the MBTA service is going to be this limited for another 30 days, BU absolutely needs to arrange for additional BU Bus services for those living past West Campus. Absolutely unreasonable to expect students to walk to and from their homes to Packard’s Corner each morning and late at night to simply wait for buses that will be too crowded to stop more than every 30 minutes. Totally impractical.

    1. No, you chose to live off campus, knowing you’d rely on the MBTA. There’s no obligation for the university to extend an on-campus service off campus, at their cost, because you decided not to pay BU housing.

      1. What is it with you people not understanding that BU doesn’t have enough housing for all of its students? Upperclassmen are *supposed* to move off campus (which is why the StuVi buildings are the most idiotic thing; luxury dorms for upperclassmen? Please). And anyway, that’s beside the point. It’s completely unacceptable for this MAJOR U.S. CITY’s MAIN PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM, upon which tens of thousands of people depend every day, to take 30+ days to get back up to its *normal* level of unreliability. BU knows that many of its students and professors have been quite literally left out in the cold on this one (I waited an hour for a bus this morning before I decided to walk back home and call the day a bust) and they should try to do something about that.

    2. I agree that BU should extend shuttle service. Not only is the 57 not running far enough west, temperatures are cold enough that walking may not be an option for everyone

      1. The phrasing in the article is a bit funny because it’s only talking about the B line service, but the 57 should be continuing all the way west to Oak Square and Watertown as usual; there’s no alert for it on the T’s site.

        1. From the MBTA site:

          “Along the B branch, Route 57 buses will make stops between Packards Corner and Kenmore Stations. There will be no bus service between Packards Corner and Boston College.”

          1. That says nothing about the 57 stopping at Packard’s Corner, and there’s been no alert for the 57 on the T’s site all day. Nextbus currently shows 4 57’s in Brighton west of Packard’s Corner.

      2. No tuition dollars should go towards shuttling off campus students.

        Where you decide to live is a personal decision that comes with many benefits, risks, etc. With the independence of living off campus comes more personal responsibility.

  2. This is inaccurate. http://Www.mbta.com/winter for further updates and information. These time estimations are not on the website, from what I can find. I live in the Rosi/Hyde Park area and am expecting minimal to zero transportation tomorrow.

    A large portion of students live past packards corner and closer to BC. How are they suppose to get to class? Cabs? Uber? Will they be able to get some sort of tuition or loan reimbursement for this? Can we have class during finals instead of having a finals week like some other local schools? Weekend makeups are impossible and inconsiderate.

    Best,
    Daniel

    1. No, why should you get a reimbursement? The university is holding class, by living off campus, it becomes your responsibility to find a way in.

      The university should not give you money back. You’re still getting the assignments and you’re free to find a way in to class, money back isn’t going to fix a thing, you could always contact your professor for makeup materials.

      1. You’re aware there is not enough housing on BU’s campus for every undergraduate student, and that nearly all graduate students are forced to live off campus, right? No, he shouldn’t get a reimbursement, but BU should absolutely extend the BU Bus route down Comm Ave, at least to Harvard Ave.

  3. Given all these alterations, wouldn’t a delayed start make sense? I could see the administration’s hesitation but many students live past Packard’s and I can only imagine the trouble commuting from Washington st on without any replacement service.

  4. For those who live along the B line, the walk to either the C line or the 57 is under a mile (some places substantially under). It ain’t fun, and both the T and BU should be stepping up more, but for most folks it’s a long ways from impossible.

    1. That’s fair, but the 57 is already overcrowded and the C is only running limited shuttles. If it was 10 degrees warmer I would say quit complaining, but it’s freezing out and having the 57 pass to wait another 10 minutes or more really sucks.
      That said, I usually walk in from Allston because public transportation here sucks during the academic year.

      The BU Shuttle won’t do anyone any good by going farther, it already can’t handle the student body that takes it.

      The fault lies with the MBTA for not offering shuttle service between Packards and BC.

  5. I would also love to hear how students from Brighton are supposed to get to school. I am not going to class today because I would have to leave my apartment at 7am to walk to Packards Corner and wait for a bus that will be impossible to get on. It’s 9 degrees out. This is completely unreasonable.

  6. BU has a large concentration of students in the Brighton area, towards Boston College on the B line and out into Allston, Brighton Center, and Oak Square on the 57 bus. All of us stranded in these parts of town are paying substantial tuition to attend this university, and the university is choosing to run ‘business as usual’ without us. Completely unacceptable.

    I would like to see refunds made for classes missed (to no fault of the student), or a reimbursement for third-party transportation required to make it on campus.

    1. If you are grown up enough to live off campus then you are grown up enough to figure out how to get to school.

      Think about all of the working professionals who live in these areas who typically commute into the downtown area via the B line. Do you think they are asking their employers to stop running ‘business as usual’ until the T returns to full service?

      1. No, but I imagine those employers don’t respond with an argument that amounts to ‘you should’e lived right next door to the office,’ the way so many people here are criticizing those of us who live off-campus.

        Again. The MBTA bus service is unreliable at the BEST of times. For Tuesday & Thursday classes I have at 9:30 am I have to go wait for the bus at 8am simply because so many buses come by that can’t even stop because of overcrowding. And then traffic is so bad that it takes me 45 minutes on the bus to go TWO MILES. Making all of those who live within a reasonable distance of the Packard’s Corner bus stop use buses from that stop only is ridiculous, as the 57 clearly cannot accommodate that many people. With the actual T shut at that location, it’s only worse. It’s often single digit temperatures outside at the time in the morning, so standing around waiting for buses that come every 20 minutes is far from pleasant. The people who live off-campus don’t pay any less tuition than those who live in Warren and can walk to class in 2 minutes. It’s clear, though, that BU doesn’t really care how we get to class or whether we do it safely.

      2. Yes, actually. Last night when today’s MBTA situation was announced, my work email exploded with messages from co-workers letting us all know that they would be more productive working from home, not spending god knows how many hours waiting for the bus or the train; and, for the record, the first of those emails was from the office director herself, advising us that we should stay home if we need to. It’s been like this since Juno–honestly, I think we’ve all spent more time at home than the office over the past few weeks.

  7. This may sound crazy, but how about walking? I know it is cold out there, there is snow everywhere and some people live way too far from BU, but for those living 3 or 4 miles away, walking is right now the only reliable way to get on time to class.

  8. I live near BC and I tried to take BC shuttle to reservoir then go to Kenmore by D, it took me only 25 minutes from reservoir to BU east, while it usually take me 45 minutes from BC to BU east by B line.

    Maybe people live near BC should try D line, it’s much faster than B line.

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