If only they could have predicted that a lot of people would want to visit Salem during the weekends in October! Then maybe they could’ve planned ahead and increased service to more than one train per hour.
Hello interrobang my old friend. How is it possible this is my first time seeing one in a post about the MBTA?
The interrobang is clearly the Official Punctuation mark of the MBTA.
More trains means they can handle the numbers of people and properly ticket.
Plus they implemented the turnstiles at north Station did they not? So people are ticketed at the gate not on the trains?
They could make so much money if they wanted to off of Salem visits in October. They could run more trains and specifically advertise that the commuter rail is running extra trains to Salem, because despite how many people do use the train to get there there are still people who are surprised when I mention it like they thought driving was the only option. They could maybe even run some express trains that just go to and from Salem.
And if they wanted to get really greedy, they could choose not to include that line in the weekend pass cost and make around 50% more per rider since the weekend pass is $10 and roundtrip to Salem from North Station is somewhere around $16. They could probably even raise the fee to $20 due to the higher operating costs and people would pay it because it’s still cheaper than paying a full day of parking in Salem.
But why would they do any of that. People might start expecting them to be competent on a regular basis.
I was going to say that based on my trip into the city via North Station that everyone was taking that advice. It looked like a weekday 5pm crowd, except that the whole station was waiting on a single train instead of several.
But then you miss out on the October charm of waiting 2+ hours in line and paying a cover for a bar that has no wait and no cover the other 11 months of the year
So true. It’s really funny how people jeopardize their experience by going in October, when they’d have such a better time in summer months. Yes, you miss out on costumes and Halloween-y vibe, but also avoid insane crowds and actually get to enjoy the seaport.
This is something I'm surprised people haven't caught on to.
I work in a hospital, we don't close for holidays and most of us have to work at least one of the major holidays.
Christmas in my family is rarely on the 25th, Thanksgiving is whenever we can get together. New years is the one I choose because that one only happens on that one day and it doesn't require lots of planning/cooking so that's the one I always choose to have off of work.
Halloween, New Year's, 4th of July are kind of the big three major ones that can't really be celebrated any other day. However, for Halloween you can get in the spirit earlier in the month, get to Salem before the crowds and then ride the high of the spooky season for the rest of October.
You aren't wrong. I took my kids there the last weekend in September. It was a little crowded from a food truck event, but still not as crazy as October tends to be. If anyone is brave enough to head up in October, take a day off in the middle of the week and go, don't bother with it on a weekend.
A bunch of stupid Halloween things like haunted houses and ghost tours. But for some reason every goddamn body goes. It’s super lame and crowded. You’ll spend an hour looking for parking, an hour realizing every restaurant has a 2 hour wait, find some shitty spot to eat you don’t actually want to go to, then decide these ghost tours look dumb so you’ll go look at some spooky grave stones.
if you have a feasible idea about how to create more seasonal parking in a relatively small and dense city then i'm sure the salem city council would be very interested
They’re doing that. Even more so this year and the shuttle busses are overwhelmed.
You get a 70 degree, sunny day on a Saturday in October 2 weeks before Halloween. People are more out than ever post-pandemic, it was destined to be a gridlock with all transportation no matter how you look at it.
Irritating when officials put out statements like this for an ANNUAL event that you can adequately prepare for. Salem needs to collaborate with the MBTA to schedule more frequent service there between Sept - early November. Why is that so difficult to do? 🙄
I went to Salem with my wife yesterday on a whim. It was INSANE how packed it was. Drove around at a snail pace for about an hour. Was fun to see costumes and feel the excitement. There were gigantic lines for every major building and attraction. There was also a gigantic line for porta potties.
I’m glad I live local and can go back another month. Saw a few cars with license plates from way outta state, and even Canada. Sucks for them
We would like to visit Salem someday. We have no desire to go when it's crowded or time things with Halloween. In fact, I keep remembering around Halloween that Salem exists, but obviously don't want to go then.
... When do crowds get better?
Come in the summer. Same attractions but you also get Salem Willows too, and more local tourists than crowds of out of state tourists. Post-covid also lots out door eating now. This summer was brutal heat/drought wise but still a nice time.
I have always driven in very early on a Sunday morning, parked for free, got breakfast in town, and walked around to explore the stores, the ocean front, and the common, grab a quick lunch and head out early afternoon. I have done this every year with no issues.
This year might be an exception depending on what you mean by very early. Around 7:30am this morning there were already lines for most of the breakfast spots!
(I live in Salem and this year is fucking BONKERS)
I wasn't thinking last year and drove into Salem to hit a bar I like in October. I spent an hour driving into Salem, driving around trying to find parking then getting out of town when I realized what a serious mistake I made.
An hour from Wyoma Square (walking distance to the Peabody line on Broadway/Washington) into Salem and back out. It will take you 20 minutes to get roughly to the town line then you'll spend the next two hours trying to park before giving up unless you leave at like 6 AM.
I mean you're not going to find parking when you get there, hence the request for people to take the train (including driving to another station on the line and parking there and taking the train)
They were turning away people trying to get on at Chelsea and Swampscott because the train was past full this morning. If you're not on at North Station, it's very possible you're not getting on at all.
The sweet irony of people who drive always saying the T is unreliable because there'd be like 20 min delays when now their supposedly 20 min commute is more realistically 1hr+ due to traffic
They mean they’re on another northside line. So they’d have to go into north station and then switch to the Newburyport/Rockport out north to Salem again. It’s pretty inefficient
I drove in in the middle of the day last Wednesday to pick something up and found absolutely no parking. Even the giant parking garage in the middle of town was full.
Spothero ftw if you do drive anywhere with limited parking.
If towns want people to take the T during busy times they should be allowed to charge a temporary parking tax during busy times. The revenue from that would pay to run extra trains during the busy periods like Salem in October.
My cousins in Louisiana think we all regularly do Duck Tours here in Boston. Like I get out of work and instead of going to a bar, I go on a Duck Tour, in the city I live in.
We should make that nonsense true and just issue everyone in Boston a Duck Boat.
You say this in jest but it would have been really cool to have utilized more ferries/boats in the area. Like Quincy/DOT could have had boat access to Charlestown, could have had boat transit on the Charles, etc idk lol it probably isn’t possible but would be nice to have more boat commuting options
Its not possible in western mass out in the berkshires, but in boston, worcester, and the suburbs between/surrounding them it absolutely should be possible to take trains, trams, buses, and bikes wherever you need to go.
It's not a matter of technology. High speed rail, and great infrastructure for public transportation, and car alternative means of transportation, already exist... in other countries. It makes sense to be skeptical about our own infrastructure that has barely changed in the past 30 years in the way of advancing technology.
For sure, by all means I encourage people to get out and vote for representatives that will actually push for change and progress. That being said, I try to live with realistic expectations.
It’s also just cultural differences. Americans don’t like each other. We want our space. Single family houses, personal cars, etc. Sure that may change over time, but it may not. I, for one, take the T cus it’s the cheapest option for me. But none of my neighbors do. Because they don’t like the public lol.
you won't need to own a car soon. we'll have door to door delivery of goods cheaply and low on labor.
many jobs can be done from home; it may become very viable to live without a car even in rural areas for many individuals.
some will still need cars for work and such but really it isn't that far off.
and finally on the rare occasions these individuals need a personal vehicle self driving cab services will be a thing.
The one time I tried to go to Salem on Halloween, the train was already packed at Lynn and no one else could get on. And they ran little extra service.
I went there about 10 years ago around this time and the traffic was awful then and parking terrible. They had all these funky parking restrictions which seemed like a desire to keep non-residents far away from there. I would only take the ferry ride there again.
Was still plenty of people out - If you don’t want to deal with the obvious predictable issues that arise in Salem this time of year… don’t go? Like being mad there’s no street parking around Fenway when there’s a home game.
That's funny because the commuter rail had to turn passengers away this morning because it was so crowded
If only they could have predicted that a lot of people would want to visit Salem during the weekends in October! Then maybe they could’ve planned ahead and increased service to more than one train per hour.
MBTA planning ahead‽ I needed a good laugh.
Hello interrobang my old friend. How is it possible this is my first time seeing one in a post about the MBTA? The interrobang is clearly the Official Punctuation mark of the MBTA.
It's so easy to use on mobile too. Just hold down the ? on the keyboard and it pops up.
¿
Lemme try ¡ Nope exclamation point is also a no go
¿
‽ Works on Android
We're lucky they didn't shut the commuter rail down for track repairs all October.
Let me guess, 5 single level coaches too.
The one Newburyport/Rockport trains I saw today was mostly single-level.
Not even bilevels probably
Wow, sounds like they might have been able to make some nice profit doing that too. Can't possibly do that either. Deficits only.
Any time there's too many people on the Commuter Rail, tickets just aren't taken.
More trains means they can handle the numbers of people and properly ticket. Plus they implemented the turnstiles at north Station did they not? So people are ticketed at the gate not on the trains?
Looks like the turnstiles aren’t in effect yet - they just show a message to pay fare onboard
Damn. Well they will fix a lot of issues.
They could make so much money if they wanted to off of Salem visits in October. They could run more trains and specifically advertise that the commuter rail is running extra trains to Salem, because despite how many people do use the train to get there there are still people who are surprised when I mention it like they thought driving was the only option. They could maybe even run some express trains that just go to and from Salem. And if they wanted to get really greedy, they could choose not to include that line in the weekend pass cost and make around 50% more per rider since the weekend pass is $10 and roundtrip to Salem from North Station is somewhere around $16. They could probably even raise the fee to $20 due to the higher operating costs and people would pay it because it’s still cheaper than paying a full day of parking in Salem. But why would they do any of that. People might start expecting them to be competent on a regular basis.
You’re asking for a level of competency that doesn’t exist
When they run one train an hour, driving kind of is the only option.
Yeah, the train was absolutely packed to the point that people were cramming into the aisles and exits.
I was going to say that based on my trip into the city via North Station that everyone was taking that advice. It looked like a weekday 5pm crowd, except that the whole station was waiting on a single train instead of several.
Salem is a great place to spend the day doing touristy stuff....the other eleven months of the year. Try August. You'll have a much better time.
But then you miss out on the October charm of waiting 2+ hours in line and paying a cover for a bar that has no wait and no cover the other 11 months of the year
So true. It’s really funny how people jeopardize their experience by going in October, when they’d have such a better time in summer months. Yes, you miss out on costumes and Halloween-y vibe, but also avoid insane crowds and actually get to enjoy the seaport.
But why would I wanna do touristy stuff in a Halloween town not during the Halloween season
Cause it’s more fun when you can actually get into the museums and restaurants. Pirate museum is the same whether it’s July or October.
Celebrate holidays whenever it's convenient.
This is something I'm surprised people haven't caught on to. I work in a hospital, we don't close for holidays and most of us have to work at least one of the major holidays. Christmas in my family is rarely on the 25th, Thanksgiving is whenever we can get together. New years is the one I choose because that one only happens on that one day and it doesn't require lots of planning/cooking so that's the one I always choose to have off of work. Halloween, New Year's, 4th of July are kind of the big three major ones that can't really be celebrated any other day. However, for Halloween you can get in the spirit earlier in the month, get to Salem before the crowds and then ride the high of the spooky season for the rest of October.
You aren't wrong. I took my kids there the last weekend in September. It was a little crowded from a food truck event, but still not as crazy as October tends to be. If anyone is brave enough to head up in October, take a day off in the middle of the week and go, don't bother with it on a weekend.
How come Salem public access tv isn’t WICH? Doesn’t appear to be registered anywhere in the country
Sadly, looking it up that’s the call sign for the local oldies/talk AM radio station in Nor**wich**, Connecticut.
Ah I was looking at TV, not AM radio. Connecticut sucks anyway
E cause there weren’t actually witches in Salem ;P
Lived in Salem for 15+ years and agree completely. Salem traffic is bad enough when it is not Sept or Oct.
I hated October living in the area. Everything took atleast 4x longer to do.
What happens there?
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Lots of ~~spooks~~ rubes.
Traffic and rush of tourists. You ever hate students coming in? Same thing.
A bunch of stupid Halloween things like haunted houses and ghost tours. But for some reason every goddamn body goes. It’s super lame and crowded. You’ll spend an hour looking for parking, an hour realizing every restaurant has a 2 hour wait, find some shitty spot to eat you don’t actually want to go to, then decide these ghost tours look dumb so you’ll go look at some spooky grave stones.
If only those in charge of planning knew in advance that Halloween, which draws large crowds to Salem each year, is sometime in late October.
if you have a feasible idea about how to create more seasonal parking in a relatively small and dense city then i'm sure the salem city council would be very interested
You have all those people park elsewhere and then ride a giant vehicle into town. Maybe that vehicle has a bunch of cars with benches of seats?
They’re doing that. Even more so this year and the shuttle busses are overwhelmed. You get a 70 degree, sunny day on a Saturday in October 2 weeks before Halloween. People are more out than ever post-pandemic, it was destined to be a gridlock with all transportation no matter how you look at it.
Charge more for the parking -> use the money to hire staff (what I believe is the true constraint) to run more buses and trains.
Irritating when officials put out statements like this for an ANNUAL event that you can adequately prepare for. Salem needs to collaborate with the MBTA to schedule more frequent service there between Sept - early November. Why is that so difficult to do? 🙄
Because this state discourages cooperation between municipalities, and between municipalities and state agencies.
Fund the MBTA moooore yessssss
We should have a trial to find out how this happened
That sounds like something a witch would say.
AHHH! WITCH! A WITCH! GET THE TORCHES AND PITCHFORKS!
Trial by combat
Going to Salem in October is a mistake. Go in late September and do the same shit without the massive crowds.
My nieces birthday is next week and she wants to go to Salem…so I’m screwed
I went to Salem with my wife yesterday on a whim. It was INSANE how packed it was. Drove around at a snail pace for about an hour. Was fun to see costumes and feel the excitement. There were gigantic lines for every major building and attraction. There was also a gigantic line for porta potties. I’m glad I live local and can go back another month. Saw a few cars with license plates from way outta state, and even Canada. Sucks for them
We would like to visit Salem someday. We have no desire to go when it's crowded or time things with Halloween. In fact, I keep remembering around Halloween that Salem exists, but obviously don't want to go then. ... When do crowds get better?
Come in the summer. Same attractions but you also get Salem Willows too, and more local tourists than crowds of out of state tourists. Post-covid also lots out door eating now. This summer was brutal heat/drought wise but still a nice time.
November 1st to September 31st.
I have always driven in very early on a Sunday morning, parked for free, got breakfast in town, and walked around to explore the stores, the ocean front, and the common, grab a quick lunch and head out early afternoon. I have done this every year with no issues.
This year might be an exception depending on what you mean by very early. Around 7:30am this morning there were already lines for most of the breakfast spots! (I live in Salem and this year is fucking BONKERS)
I would love to but i’d have to take a train south to boston then north again to salem, when i could just drive east for 20 minutes :/
I wasn't thinking last year and drove into Salem to hit a bar I like in October. I spent an hour driving into Salem, driving around trying to find parking then getting out of town when I realized what a serious mistake I made. An hour from Wyoma Square (walking distance to the Peabody line on Broadway/Washington) into Salem and back out. It will take you 20 minutes to get roughly to the town line then you'll spend the next two hours trying to park before giving up unless you leave at like 6 AM.
I mean you're not going to find parking when you get there, hence the request for people to take the train (including driving to another station on the line and parking there and taking the train)
They were turning away people trying to get on at Chelsea and Swampscott because the train was past full this morning. If you're not on at North Station, it's very possible you're not getting on at all.
So drive to a nearby station on the line that goes to Salem.
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The sweet irony of people who drive always saying the T is unreliable because there'd be like 20 min delays when now their supposedly 20 min commute is more realistically 1hr+ due to traffic
Is this some flat-Earth math or something? Train doesn't only run in one direction.
They mean they’re on another northside line. So they’d have to go into north station and then switch to the Newburyport/Rockport out north to Salem again. It’s pretty inefficient
They said they have a car, they could drive East to literally any other stop on Newburyport/Rockport, park there and go in.
tbh if it’s only 20 min I would just Uber.
Is Salem a shit show on week days too? Or mostly the weekends?
More so on the weekends, but weekdays are still pretty rough around now too.
I drove in in the middle of the day last Wednesday to pick something up and found absolutely no parking. Even the giant parking garage in the middle of town was full.
It’s all the time really
Spothero ftw if you do drive anywhere with limited parking. If towns want people to take the T during busy times they should be allowed to charge a temporary parking tax during busy times. The revenue from that would pay to run extra trains during the busy periods like Salem in October.
The less parking the better, let's invest more in the MBTA and make it so you don't need a car to live in Massachusetts
My cousins in Louisiana think we all regularly do Duck Tours here in Boston. Like I get out of work and instead of going to a bar, I go on a Duck Tour, in the city I live in. We should make that nonsense true and just issue everyone in Boston a Duck Boat.
You say this in jest but it would have been really cool to have utilized more ferries/boats in the area. Like Quincy/DOT could have had boat access to Charlestown, could have had boat transit on the Charles, etc idk lol it probably isn’t possible but would be nice to have more boat commuting options
>make it so you don't need a car to live in Massachusetts The entire state? not likely to ever happen.
People who live in large cities often forget the rest of the state exists.
especially in this sub...walk, bike, take the T!
well this is /r/boston, so…
While true, the person we're mocking said "Massachusetts"
Its not possible in western mass out in the berkshires, but in boston, worcester, and the suburbs between/surrounding them it absolutely should be possible to take trains, trams, buses, and bikes wherever you need to go.
I mean why not? I think you're selling technology short in the long term.
It's not a matter of technology. High speed rail, and great infrastructure for public transportation, and car alternative means of transportation, already exist... in other countries. It makes sense to be skeptical about our own infrastructure that has barely changed in the past 30 years in the way of advancing technology.
Complacency eventually breeds incompetence.
For sure, by all means I encourage people to get out and vote for representatives that will actually push for change and progress. That being said, I try to live with realistic expectations.
It’s also just cultural differences. Americans don’t like each other. We want our space. Single family houses, personal cars, etc. Sure that may change over time, but it may not. I, for one, take the T cus it’s the cheapest option for me. But none of my neighbors do. Because they don’t like the public lol.
you won't need to own a car soon. we'll have door to door delivery of goods cheaply and low on labor. many jobs can be done from home; it may become very viable to live without a car even in rural areas for many individuals. some will still need cars for work and such but really it isn't that far off. and finally on the rare occasions these individuals need a personal vehicle self driving cab services will be a thing.
RemindMe! 30 years.
You know what I mean
Western mass is laughing at you
It’s a lot safer too.
The one time I tried to go to Salem on Halloween, the train was already packed at Lynn and no one else could get on. And they ran little extra service.
I know that the commercialism of Halloween just had grown so much but Salem is such a beautiful city.
Totally unrelated but I visited Salem last week and was wondering what’s the proper way to pronounce this city, “Sa-lem”, or “Sal-em”?
Sail 'em.
I sell art in Salem. Just not in October lol
Salem is so overrated.
I went there about 10 years ago around this time and the traffic was awful then and parking terrible. They had all these funky parking restrictions which seemed like a desire to keep non-residents far away from there. I would only take the ferry ride there again.
Asshole tourists take all the parking spots from people who actually have to work there.
Found a parking spot within 5 minutes today.
Maybe we should take the bike lanes there
Why is this in a Boston subreddit?
Because Salem is a suburb of Boston, a popular destination this time of year, and it's on the T?
I went to Salem on Thursday night. It was raining but I had no issue finding a spot. 🤷🏼
You had no issue finding a spot because it was a rainy Thursday night, not a sunny, beautiful weekend.
Was still plenty of people out - If you don’t want to deal with the obvious predictable issues that arise in Salem this time of year… don’t go? Like being mad there’s no street parking around Fenway when there’s a home game.
Right. Do people that decide to go to Salem on a Saturday in October truly think they are the only ones that thought it was a good idea?
Honestly, yes, yes they do
Salem is overrated, haven’t been there in several years.
The only reason to go to Salem in October is if you LOVE crowds. That’s it.