I am not really sure why your experience is different. I know the majority of experiences that have been relayed to me have been bad. It has also been close to a year and a half since I wrote this.

The experience on the Fitchburg line started getting better towards the end of my time on the train but I was also taking the Lowell train. The Lowell train is GREAT! always on time and the conductors are never rude. I moved to CT in June so I haven’t taken any trains for some time.

My experience on the Fitchburg line was comparing three different trains. The Worcester line, the Lowell line, and the Fitchburg line. I took the Worcester line for two years and mixed in the Lowell line during my four years on the Fitchburg line.

Fitchburg by far was the worst line….with complaints heard daily from many different passengers, not just me.

I am glad your having a better experience in the Franklin line.

cheers, Ken

I have had a much different experience with the Commuter Rail than you. I am currently a student at Dean College, in Franklin, and frequently ride on the Franklin Commuter Rail line. The trains are almost always on time, (in fact some have even been a few minutes early) most of the conductors are very
friendly, and the flashing sign at the Franklin station always says when trains are running late. And none of the trains I’ve been on have had broken heaters or air conditioners. I wonder why my experience with the Commuter Rail has been so much different than yours?

I totally agree with you on getting conductors replaced with Self-service machines. In Japan they don’t have people walking around the trains collecting tickets. As a person gets on the train their pass is scanned and their identification is logged from that. They know who is on every train regardless if the person bought a trip or a monthly pass. This is a great terrorist measure.

I really don’t know what they spend their budget on. They hiked up passes two years ago and made a ton of promises. I haven’t seen much change at all. There are too many people that are satisfied because they don’t know anything different. If people lived in Montreal they would see how a real transit system works and that ON TIME means within a minute of the scheduled time.

And you also don’t get those bent out of shape “Southie” attitudes for asking questions.

-Ken

Last week the 7:20am S. Attleboro train was sitting on the track in S. Attleboro for about a 1/2 hour. I asked the conductor if the train was broken down he looked at me as if I just called him a dickhead and replied “We’ll get there when we get there”. I hate the conductors they need to be replaced with self-service ticket machines.

With the jobless rate at a record low the ticket punchers should be happy to have a job.

-Ken