MBTA discussion

[Fenway]

The T today finally released a list of all slow zones in the system and it is not pretty.

MAPS: Here's Where the T Has to Slow Down, in 1st Look by MBTA

The MBTA has released its list of slow zones on the T, revealing for the first time exactly where its trains have to slow down and by how much. The Orange Line has the highest percentage of track with speed restrictions — there are slow zones on 2.9 miles of its run from Forest Hills in Boston...

www.nbcboston.com

MBTA SLOW ZONES REPORT FOR JANUARY 2023 (PDF)

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

MBTA won’t roll out $935M automated fare payment system in 2024

The MBTA does not expect to fully implement its nearly $1 billion automated fare collection system in 2024, as previously planned, effectively pushing back a project that was already three years be…

www.bostonherald.com

The MBTA does not expect to fully implement its nearly $1 billion automated fare collection system in 2024, as previously planned, effectively pushing back a project that was already three years behind schedule.

This project, when completed, will replace the 2006 CharlieCard system with a modernized contactless payment approach, allowing riders to tap or board at any door with a fare card, smartphone or credit card, with an additional aim of cutting down on fare evasion.

To that end, electronic fare gates were introduced at North Station in October, and will eventually be installed at South and Back Bay stations.

 

[Fenway]

MBTA won’t roll out $935M automated fare payment system in 2024

The MBTA does not expect to fully implement its nearly $1 billion automated fare collection system in 2024, as previously planned, effectively pushing back a project that was already three years be…

www.bostonherald.com

The MBTA does not expect to fully implement its nearly $1 billion automated fare collection system in 2024, as previously planned, effectively pushing back a project that was already three years behind schedule.

This project, when completed, will replace the 2006 CharlieCard system with a modernized contactless payment approach, allowing riders to tap or board at any door with a fare card, smartphone or credit card, with an additional aim of cutting down on fare evasion.

To that end, electronic fare gates were introduced at North Station in October, and will eventually be installed at South and Back Bay stations.

Cubic has said the Boston contract is the most complicated they have ever had to deal with because the MBTA demands in-house auditing. When you consider Cubic has designed systems for London, New York, Chicago, and many other larger markets that boggles the mind.

Scheidt & Bachmann was the low bidder for the Charlie Card system back in 2006 and it was a disaster.

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

Cubic has said the Boston contract is the most complicated they have ever had to deal with because the MBTA demands in-house auditing. When you consider Cubic has designed systems for London, New York, Chicago, and many other larger markets that boggles the mind.

Scheidt & Bachmann was the low bidder for the Charlie Card system back in 2006 and it was a disaster.

"However, an observer of the T’s project pointed out that in New York City, the much-larger Metropolitan Transportation Authority was able to get its contactless payment system up and running faster and at a lower cost than the MBTA.

“They’re up and running and going and the T’s system is nowhere to be found,” the source said. “So it’s not exactly a situation where the T can blame the vendor … because the vendor successfully rolled out a similar procurement at a much bigger agency in the same time frame.”"

 

[Fenway]

WCVB ran this story 21 months ago and it fell on deaf ears.




Cubic was able to upgrade Chicago and New York easily as the existing hardware was designed by them. However, trying to upgrade the Scheidt & Bachmann hardware has been a major challenge. Apparently converting the fare gates can be done easily but the collection boxes on streetcars and buses is another kettle of fish.

 

[Fenway]

 

[Trogdor]

WCVB ran this story 21 months ago and it fell on deaf ears.




Cubic was able to upgrade Chicago and New York easily as the existing hardware was designed by them. However, trying to upgrade the Scheidt & Bachmann hardware has been a major challenge. Apparently converting the fare gates can be done easily but the collection boxes on streetcars and buses is another kettle of fish.

Granted, I’m a bit late to the party and don’t want to dig into the details, but why are they trying to “upgrade” any hardware for a new fare system? The CTA Ventra card does not interact with their bus fareboxes (which are a GFI design from the 1980s). They completely ripped out the old Cubic card readers and replaced them.

Unless their intent was to have a single interface for the driver to work with vs. having to interact with both a Cubic terminal and a S&B terminal. If that’s the case, then I could definitely see challenges with integration (which is probably why a lot of other agencies didn’t even bother).

 

[Fenway]

The security video from Harvard Station is chilling

 

[MARC Rider]

The security video from Harvard Station is chilling

..and when I was growing up in Philly, all you had to worry about when riding the subway was getting mugged.

That is pretty amazing. Thank goodness no one was hurt!

 

[Fenway]

..and when I was growing up in Philly, all you had to worry about when riding the subway was getting mugged.

That is pretty amazing. Thank goodness no one was hurt!

The new Governor lives only a 5 minute walk from Porter Station and has been taking the T occasionally to the State House unannounced. Indications are she is seething at the mess she inherited.

Massachusetts' new auditor launches review of MBTA

"It’s frustrating that the T has become synonymous with unreliability," she said in a statement.

www.wcvb.com

There is no magic wand to fix things and the T is looking at more major headaches in the coming years. The Red Line extension that was built 40 years has aged badly and that will have to be addressed, upgrading rolling stock has become a nightmare and they have been unable to attract new workers.

 

[MARC Rider]

There is a magic wand to fix things

Did you mean to say "there is no magic wand to fix things?"

 

[Barb Stout]

The new Governor lives only a 5 minute walk from Porter Station and has been taking the T occasionally to the State House unannounced. Indications are she is seething at the mess she inherited.

Massachusetts' new auditor launches review of MBTA

"It’s frustrating that the T has become synonymous with unreliability," she said in a statement.

www.wcvb.com

There is a magic wand to fix things and the T is looking at more major headaches in the coming years. The Red Line extension that was built 40 years has aged badly and that will have to be addressed, upgrading rolling stock has become a nightmare and they have been unable to attract new workers.

Hey, where are they selling that magic wand? I want one too.

 

[Tlcooper93]

The new Governor lives only a 5 minute walk from Porter Station and has been taking the T occasionally to the State House unannounced. Indications are she is seething at the mess she inherited.

Massachusetts' new auditor launches review of MBTA

"It’s frustrating that the T has become synonymous with unreliability," she said in a statement.

www.wcvb.com

There is no magic wand to fix things and the T is looking at more major headaches in the coming years. The Red Line extension that was built 40 years has aged badly and that will have to be addressed, upgrading rolling stock has become a nightmare and they have been unable to attract new workers.

Lol, a new governor was never going to be a magic want, nor has the ability to come up with a magic want to fix the T.

This goes beyond left-right politics and is a much deeper and more complex problem than the jurisdiction of the governor alone. That’s why I scoffed a little when anyone claimed Healey would fix the T.

 

[Fenway]

I wonder how long before they are replaced

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

The Red Line extension that was built 40 years has aged badly and that will have to be addressed

That seems to be a common theme on the MBTA. The tunnels and stations built by the Boston Elevated some dating back to 1897 have held up well whereas stuff built in the 70s and 80s is falling apart. They overbuilt stuff in the old days not so much anymore.

 

[Fenway]

That seems to be a common theme on the MBTA. The tunnels and stations built by the Boston Elevated some dating back to 1897 have held up well whereas stuff built in the 70s and 80s is falling apart. They overbuilt stuff in the old days not so much anymore.

It is what it is. The East Boston Tunnel (1904) Washington Street Tunnel (1908) and Cambridge Tunnel (1912) have all held up well.

Alewife Station opened on my 35th birthday in 1985 and it was beautiful - today not so much



The Quincy-South Shore extension opened in 1971 and Haymarket-North opened in 1975 both with a slashed budget. The Southwest Corridor opened in 1987 and has held up better so far but not extending it 6 miles to Rte 128 was in retrospect foolish.

In 1959 the then MTA promoted Riverside to Park St in 34 minutes but they delivered that for a few years

 

[Fenway]

Late on Thursday night, the MBTA dropped this bomb

MBTA announces speed restrictions across all subway, trolley lines

The transit agency did not provide any additional information, only to say that more information would be disclosed at a news conference.

www.wcvb.com

 

[Tlcooper93]

What an absolute mess.
Not sure if it’s possible for the mbta to bounce back at this point.

 

[Fenway]

What an absolute mess.
Not sure if it’s possible for the mbta to bounce back at this point.

It has been EIGHT years since the system collapsed because of massive snow and honestly, it seems worse today.

It is just frustrating at this point.

 

[Fenway]

Perhaps I am being simplistic but what we are seeing today seems to trace back a century when BERy controlled the 3 heavy rail lines and the streetcar system and each developed a culture of its own. Philadelphia had the same problem with the MFL, BSS, and streetcar lines all being incompatible. New York was able to merge the BMT, IRT, and IND into the lettered lines and numbered lines and Chicago benefits from the standards of the "loop"

Routine maintenance over the years was not funded after the MBTA was created as the focus shifted to the commuter rail which has its own cultural issues that go back to the Boston & Maine (North Station) and New Haven and New York Central (South Station).

There is no quick fix and I don't see any realistic options.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Perhaps I am being simplistic but what we are seeing today seems to trace back a century when BERy controlled the 3 heavy rail lines and the streetcar system and each developed a culture of its own. Philadelphia had the same problem with the MFL, BSS, and streetcar lines all being incompatible. New York was able to merge the BMT, IRT, and IND into the lettered lines and numbered lines and Chicago benefits from the standards of the "loop"

Routine maintenance over the years was not funded after the MBTA was created as the focus shifted to the commuter rail which has its own cultural issues that go back to the Boston & Maine (North Station) and New Haven and New York Central (South Station).

There is no quick fix and I don't see any realistic options.

Even going back to the BERy years, by the 1920s they were already having financial difficulties as increasing car ownership was cutting into their business. One can see this in the order of the Type 5 streetcars with their wooden seats, bare bones interior, and antiquated controllers. Then things got worse with the 1930s Depression followed by WW2 when they had to scramble and provide increased service but manpower and replacement parts hard to come by due to the war demands so the system became increasingly worn out. Then postwar you had the explosion in auto ownership and people moving to the suburbs. The Commonwealth took over as the MTA but it was immediately financially hamstrung as there was not yet a culture of support for public transit. The culture of emphasis on highway building with mass transit a poor relation continued into the 1960s when things started to turn around when Governor Sargent cancelled the I95 extension into Boston (the right of way later became the Southwest transit corridor) but even then the emphasis was on new shiny extensions and stations, not so much on maintaining what they already had.

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

DPU hits MBTA with six safety violations after Red Line probe

The MBTA was hit with six violations from its state safety oversight authority, after inspectors observed multiple trains “overshooting” station platforms, defective third rail insulators and a wor…

www.bostonherald.com

The MBTA was hit with six violations from its state safety oversight authority, after inspectors observed multiple trains “overshooting” station platforms, defective third rail insulators and a worker who wasn’t wearing a required hard hat.

The Department of Public Utilities sent six letters to the MBTA on Tuesday, ordering it to develop corrective action plans for violations flagged during a March 6 inspection of the southbound Red Line track between Ashmont and Savin Hill.

“We’re working with the DPU and have identified a series of immediate actions that, once corrected, will make the system safer and more reliable,” MBTA Chief Safety Officer Ron Ester said at a Thursday safety subcommittee meeting.

According to letters shared with the Herald, multiple trains were observed overshooting a station platform between March 3 and 5, a worker wasn’t wearing a hard hat as required by personal protective equipment policies, and inspectors identified defective Red Line track conditions.

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

Lower ridership has MBTA leaning on reserves to cover FY24 budget gap

The MBTA will have to dip further into its reserves to balance its fiscal year 2024 budget, to account for a significant dip in ridership that agency leadership says will likely never recover to an…

www.bostonherald.com

The MBTA will have to dip further into its reserves to balance its fiscal year 2024 budget, to account for a significant dip in ridership that agency leadership says will likely never recover to anywhere near pre-pandemic levels.

Citing the lack of growth in ridership since March 2022, Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann O’Hara recommended an approach that would allow the T to assume $418 million in fare revenue, far lower than what was initially considered for next year’s budget planning.

 

[Fenway]

It is a vicious cycle now as the media just loves T misery stories

Out of an ‘abundance of caution’ the MBTA should slow trains further — to zero miles per hour - The Boston Globe

Or maybe the T should get out of the transportation business and reinvent itself as a buzzy party destination — the Seaport, but subterranean.

www.bostonglobe.com

 

[Tlcooper93]

Lower ridership has MBTA leaning on reserves to cover FY24 budget gap

The MBTA will have to dip further into its reserves to balance its fiscal year 2024 budget, to account for a significant dip in ridership that agency leadership says will likely never recover to an…

www.bostonherald.com

The MBTA will have to dip further into its reserves to balance its fiscal year 2024 budget, to account for a significant dip in ridership that agency leadership says will likely never recover to anywhere near pre-pandemic levels.

Citing the lack of growth in ridership since March 2022, Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann O’Hara recommended an approach that would allow the T to assume $418 million in fare revenue, far lower than what was initially considered for next year’s budget planning.

Wouldn’t be so bad if the T wasn’t slapped with Big Dig debt.

How about we require tolls on I-93 to pay for the Big Dig.

Of course the Herald is going to write this. It’s not like they’re wrong, but they’re looking through a keyhole when they need to open the door and actually see what’s going on.