I take the commuter rail at least four days a week from the Dedham Corporate station. This is one of the MBTA stations that is equipped with the “Next Train” technology—LED signs that provide “real-time” information—or as I have dubbed it, “T-time” information—about a train’s status.
As a commuter, I greatly appreciate the fact that the MBTA is trying to eliminate the guessing game on when the next train will arrive. However, I’ve learned that “T-time” doesn’t exactly mean “real-time,” as demonstrated by my commute last Monday morning:
My usual train is scheduled to arrive at Dedham Corp. at 7:35, but when I arrived at the station last Monday, the LED sign said that the next train to Boston was in 24 minutes. I looked at the time on my Blackberry, and calculated that given the 24 minute delay, the train would arrive at 7:59. And so the countdown began...
At 7:46, next train: 14 minutes.
At 7:51, next train: 11 minutes.
At 7:56, next train: 6 minutes.
At 7:58, next train: 5 minutes.
At 8:02, next train: approaching.
At 8:05, next train: actually approaching.
Instead of arriving at 7:59—which would’ve been exactly 24 minutes—the train arrived at 8:05. The countdown is nice and does give me some piece of mind, but it’s still not quite as precise as I’d like it to be. Although it’s annoying when 24 minutes “T-time” is actually more like 30 minutes “real-time,” there’s not much any of us commuters can do about it; so it’s best to just stay calm…I say this, but ask me again how calm I stay when this happens and it’s freezing cold outside this winter!
As a commuter, I greatly appreciate the fact that the MBTA is trying to eliminate the guessing game on when the next train will arrive. However, I’ve learned that “T-time” doesn’t exactly mean “real-time,” as demonstrated by my commute last Monday morning:
My usual train is scheduled to arrive at Dedham Corp. at 7:35, but when I arrived at the station last Monday, the LED sign said that the next train to Boston was in 24 minutes. I looked at the time on my Blackberry, and calculated that given the 24 minute delay, the train would arrive at 7:59. And so the countdown began...
At 7:46, next train: 14 minutes.
At 7:51, next train: 11 minutes.
At 7:56, next train: 6 minutes.
At 7:58, next train: 5 minutes.
At 8:02, next train: approaching.
At 8:05, next train: actually approaching.
Instead of arriving at 7:59—which would’ve been exactly 24 minutes—the train arrived at 8:05. The countdown is nice and does give me some piece of mind, but it’s still not quite as precise as I’d like it to be. Although it’s annoying when 24 minutes “T-time” is actually more like 30 minutes “real-time,” there’s not much any of us commuters can do about it; so it’s best to just stay calm…I say this, but ask me again how calm I stay when this happens and it’s freezing cold outside this winter!
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