Hazardous driving conditions

Beware of holiday driving hazards, like this one on Route 20 yesterday:

So long, and thanks for all the...

... Thanksgiving exodus traffic! In the lead-up to yesterday's (Thursday) Thanksgiving holiday, Google predicted that the historically best time to leave town was... the Sunday before! So, which was the worst day to travel before the holiday? Google had it pegged at the traditional Wednesday evening. But many local experts gave this honor to the evening of Tuesday, November 21. And right they were!

Here are some vistas of the congestion patterns across the country at around 5:00 PM EST Tuesday. The hot-spots all highlights the major metro centers in the eastern half of the US. I assume the western half has been saved only by the time difference:

A closer look shows just how bad it can get while driving between Boston and New York City:

At least, there's one place worse than ours! But in reality, nothing beats Beantown traffic. Try getting home after a hard day's work on Tuesday. Pick a direction, any direction!

Google predicted "just" 56 minutes to drive the 20 miles back home at 5:00 PM, which seemed ridiculously optimistic given the profusion of red in the picture above. A decision to leave later seemed apt, and was justified when a 6:20 PM departure resulted in a breezy 43-minute trip. Oh the joy, that 43 minutes to cover 20 miles is considered heavenly! Welcome to Boston!

And the Japanese Way

While Keolis works on fine-tuning their excuse generator for the approaching winter months, here come the Japanese with their own definition of "customer service":

"Passengers on a morning train on the Tokyo region's Tsukuba Express line might not have noticed anything was amiss Tuesday. But when their train left Minami-Nagareyama station, it did so 20 seconds ahead of schedule — and when the company noticed, it issued an apology to customers."

To top it all, the next train was only about 4 minutes away!

The full NPR article can be found here. Some reading material, and food for thought, during your next T ride!

The Keolis Way

Keolis runs the commuter rail lines in the Boston area. Their executive chairman recently stated that they are working hard to meet their customers' demands, and that they even have a new logo:

"The new blue represents technology and innovation and the grey, our strong presence in local communities. Our new signature, ‘more ways, more life’, means that we want to provide more mobility and give people more freedom in their lives to engage in their communities."

They've also apparently invested $101 million in their Boston operations, both on the infrastructure side and with communications. Failing switches have been a recurring commuter rail theme, and they're going with high tech: propane heaters and covers!

"The MBTA is committed to keeping its customers better informed by providing the most updated service information quickly, accurately, and when they need it."

Which brings us to the T's commuter rail app. The following comments are self-explanatory:

I guess the customers fall in that "grey area" in their logo... yes, bring on the winter!