Did the MBTA’s late-night service experiment really work?

[miu]

Originally Posted by Cantabridgienne

Late night T service has been really helpful for many in the restaurant/bar industry and many others who work in non 9-5 industries. It's not just a drunk shuttle.

Eh. Waitstaff and bartenders make great tips working at night, so they can well afford paying for a taxi ride home. As to other restaurant staff, from what I've seen, they have family members or friends giving them rides home at night.

[Cantabridgienne]

Right. Except that's like saying people in other industries make decent salaries so it should be no problem to shut down the T at 4pm and everyone can take a cab home from the office every night of the week. Tips aren't a bonus or extra--they make up a server's/bartender's earnings.

As for "what you've seen" I am guessing it's not from actual experience in the industry.

[miu]

Originally Posted by Cantabridgienne

Right. Except that's like saying people in other industries make decent salaries so it should be no problem to shut down the T at 4pm and everyone can take a cab home from the office every night of the week. Tips aren't a bonus or extra--they make up a server's/bartender's earnings.

As for "what you've seen" I am guessing it's not from actual experience in the industry.

Then you would be guessing wrong. I've worked at several Boston area major hotels and two Boston area restaurants. I've also worked several New Years Eve bashes as a server. In recent history, I've worked for two major universities with last night and overnight crews and I see and here how everyone arrives and leaves.

Public transportation runs at a loss and always will, and there is no need to go further into the red or tax the wealthy just because you think that these workers need a cheap ride home. Late night T service is a luxury, not a necessity. If you want 24/7 service, go move to NYC.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by miu

Public transportation runs at a loss and always will, and there is no need to go further into the red or tax the wealthy just because you think that these workers need a cheap ride home. Late night T service is a luxury, not a necessity. If you want 24/7 service, go move to NYC.

Depends on how you do the accounting or cost-benefit analysis.

[goyguy]

Originally Posted by miu

Eh. Waitstaff and bartenders make great tips working at night, so they can well afford paying for a taxi ride home. As to other restaurant staff, from what I've seen, they have family members or friends giving them rides home at night.

Says someone who has obviously NEVER toiled in a food service industry. What issue do you have with working-class people keeping a larger share of their hard-earned money? I'm waiting.

As for me, I caught myself catching the Green Line in to Park Street ahead of midnight last Saturday because I had to get to Central Square "before the last train." Old habits die hard!

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by miu

Eh. Waitstaff and bartenders make great tips working at night, so they can well afford paying for a taxi ride home. As to other restaurant staff, from what I've seen, they have family members or friends giving them rides home at night.

There's also medical staff, nurses and doctors doing residency, who often make modest salaries starting out and have student loans. They often work crazy rotating shifts or double shifts. I'm certain extended train service is valuable to them.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

There's also medical staff, nurses and doctors doing residency, who often make modest salaries starting out and have student loans. They often work crazy rotating shifts or double shifts. I'm certain extended train service is valuable to them.

Yes, such folks would need extended train service on all nights, not just Friday and Saturday nights. Again, if the elected officials in Beacon Hill worked together to come up with adequate funding, we would have some sort of extended service or night owl bus service every night. Unfortunately, so far everyone up there has no other idea other than to take money away from other potentially important programs just to prop up the T. Their financial model is financially unsustainable right now and the Boston Globe and Herald have caught hold of it. This is not to mention that it's hard to fix the tunnel lighting and equipment when active trains are running - the night bus option may be better. Then again they'd need reliable buses and to be careful not to run their current workhorses like the NABIs into the ground.

[miu]

You all are grasping for reasons to extend the hours of a very poorly run MBTA system. Until the MBTA is fixed, it would be dangerous to the rest of the ridership to have the service run 24/7 just to make a small percentage of the population happy. It'd be much cheaper to give tax credits to those working late night shifts to offset a few taxi rides than to increase the hours of T service.

And I've also had co-workers car-pool or share an Uber ride in order to get where they need to go cheaper.

Life costs money. And life in a city costs more.

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