General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
Per Globe article above, top ten busiest stations (by entry) in Oct 2022 (out of all 63):

10. Back Bay (Orange), 184k
9. Kendall/MIT (red), 214k
8. Copley (green), 240k
7. Maverick (blue), 241k
6. Central Sq (red), 250k
5. Park St (red, green), 251k
4. Downtown Crossing (red, orange), 276k
3. North Station (Green, Orange), 282k
2. South Station (red, silver), 291k
1. Harvard (red), 325k
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HenryAlan said:
I was surprised, but it does actually make sense. Most of the stations on the list feature at least one of three different factors that stimulate utilization:
  1. proximity to high demand destination
  2. proximity to high density residential
  3. serves as a major system transfer point
I think Harvard might be the only one that fits all three criteria.
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I think the writing is on the wall that North Station is destined to take the #1 busiest station by entry by January 2023. The opening of GLX stations in Somerville and Medford mid-December + NBA season home games + NHL season home games + improved OL headways (further reduction of slow zones) translate to a lot of additional ridership there very soon. And once the dust settles on HYM's redevelopment of Government Center Garage, I imagine that'll only complement ridership there. It's really exciting to see the perfect storm of decision-making optimize the throughput at North Station.
 
dshoost88 said:
I think the writing is on the wall that North Station is destined to take the #1 busiest station by entry by January 2023. The opening of GLX stations in Somerville and Medford mid-December + NBA season home games + NHL season home games + improved OL headways (further reduction of slow zones) translate to a lot of additional ridership there very soon. And once the dust settles on HYM's redevelopment of Government Center Garage, I imagine that'll only complement ridership there. It's really exciting to see the perfect storm of decision-making optimize the throughput at North Station.
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I agree and as you may have noticed love looking at ridership data and spamming this board lol.

North Station's highest COVID-era ridership day came on a Celtics home playoff game against the Nets, and North Station constinues to see a notriceable ridership boost on Bruins/Celtics home games, predictably.

System-wide, we usually see ridership peak in the fall, before coming down a bit over the winter. So, even if ridership (gated-entries, but I'm just going to say ridership as short-hand sometimes) holds steady at North Station, it will climb the rankings.

In fact, North Station has already recorded days with the most gated-entries, system-wide. For example, on November 9, the night of a Celtics home game, North Station had the highest ridership system-wide and recorded it's highest ridership day this fall, and second-highest ridership day in the COVID-era. That was a full month before the Medford Branch of the Green Line Extension opened.
 
The MBTA has cut Orange Line service to about 5-6 trains running on the line. The change happened earlier this week (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12...ne-trains-service-nearly-doubling-wait-times/)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1608909981323251712

1672441731218.png


Trains are now running at approximately 18-21 minute headway intervals between trains:

1672441831142.png
 
what I find particularly odd is that after those stories and the initial press release, we're back up to a "palatable level of interruption", with 8-9 trains running. did they... just have those sets in reserve and not take them out? despite going down to 5-6 sets?
 
Delvin4519 said:
The MBTA has cut Orange Line service to about 5-6 trains running on the line. The change happened earlier this week (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12...ne-trains-service-nearly-doubling-wait-times/)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1608909981323251712

View attachment 32394

Trains are now running at approximately 18-21 minute headway intervals between trains:

View attachment 32395
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Almost all Orange Line stations are located within a 20-minute walk of another station (Wellington being the sole exception). If you arrive a station and you've just missed the train and you're only traveling one stop, you'll probably arrive faster by walking.

The stations in the core are closer together. In 20 minutes you can go from...
  • North Station to State, or Downtown Crossing
  • Haymarket to Downtown Crossing, or Chinatown
  • State to North Station, or Chinatown, or Tufts Medical Center
  • Downtown Crossing to North Station, or Tufts Medical Center (and nearly to Back Bay)
  • Chinatown to Haymarket, or Back Bay
  • Tufts Medical Center to Downtown Crossing, or State (and nearly to Haymarket)
  • Back Bay to Chinatown
  • Mass Ave to Roxbury Crossing
  • Roxbury Crossing to Mass Ave
  • Jackson Square to Green St
  • Green St to Jackson Square
In all seriousness, does the T's charter (or equivalent document) give it any mandated responsibilities? Because, for real, 20 minute headways on the Orange Line is not "rapid transit" by any credible definition.
 
Riverside said:
Almost all Orange Line stations are located within a 20-minute walk of another station (Wellington being the sole exception). If you arrive a station and you've just missed the train and you're only traveling one stop, you'll probably arrive faster by walking.

The stations in the core are closer together. In 20 minutes you can go from...
  • North Station to State, or Downtown Crossing
  • Haymarket to Downtown Crossing, or Chinatown
  • State to North Station, or Chinatown, or Tufts Medical Center
  • Downtown Crossing to North Station, or Tufts Medical Center (and nearly to Back Bay)
  • Chinatown to Haymarket, or Back Bay
  • Tufts Medical Center to Downtown Crossing, or State (and nearly to Haymarket)
  • Back Bay to Chinatown
  • Mass Ave to Roxbury Crossing
  • Roxbury Crossing to Mass Ave
  • Jackson Square to Green St
  • Green St to Jackson Square
In all seriousness, does the T's charter (or equivalent document) give it any mandated responsibilities? Because, for real, 20 minute headways on the Orange Line is not "rapid transit" by any credible definition.
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According to the MBTA's Service Delivery Policy (SDP), it states the following standards for Key Bus, Rapid Transit, Light Rail, and Heavy Rail between 6:00am and 12 midnight:

Every 10 minutes during AM Peak and PM Peak (7 - 9am, 4 - 6:30pm)
Every 15 minutes during Early Morning and Midday/Afternoon (5 - 7am, 9am - 4pm)
Every 15 minutes during Evenings and Weekends: Rapid Transit, Light Rail, and Heavy Rail
Every 20 minutes during Evenings and Weekends: Key Bus

Local Bus standards only requires service every 30 minutes during rush hour and every 60 minutes otherwise between 7am and 8:00pm (6:30 pm weekends, service start 8am Sat./10am Sun.). Commuter Rail and Express buses use different standards.

Therefore...

If the Orange Line runs every 18 - 21 minute headways, then therefore it fails the minimum service delivery standard (SDP) set by the MBTA for Rapid Transit.

Earlier in December, as part as the quarterly schedule adjustment, the MBTA cut Red Line service on weekends. Service will run every 18 minutes on Sundays on individual Red Line branches, on scheduled headways (paper schedules). On Saturdays, Red Line branch service only fails the frequency standard by 1 minute, at scheduled 16 minute frequencies.

Most Key Bus Routes running west or north of Harvard (71, 73, 77), no longer meet MBTA's SDP standards for frequency (10 minutes rush hour, 15 minutes early morning/midday, 20 minutes evening/weekends).
 
Is there any hints on any traction for line extension proposals for the MBTA, and what's closest, aside from BL to Charles/MGH? It seems like the T, albeit a different animal, is much more ambiguous regarding its future extensions/projects then LA, NYC, Chicago, WMATA...
 
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
Is there any hints on any traction for line extension proposals for the MBTA, and what's closest, aside from BL to Charles/MGH? It seems like the T, albeit a different animal, is much more ambiguous regarding its future extensions/projects then LA, NYC, Chicago, WMATA...
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Feel like BL to Lynn would make the most sense.
 
393b40 said:
Great... but there's no repercussions.
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Yeah. They have also briefed their board as these are "temporary" service reductions that won't meet SDP. I wonder how long it will take before they need to run a Title 6 review.
 
In terms of getting a handle on "what's next" for T expansion projects, it's probably a good time to get reacquainted with priorities identified in Go Boston 2030 since much of it was developed when Finadaca was BTD Commissioner. Much of that plan was put together assuming there would be a federal infrastructure bill passed in 2017, which obvious didn't happen until more recently. With vastly more federal funding available now, Boston-oriented leaders like Fiandaca in place (especially given her connections to Walsh and construction supporters like the GBBTU), and Wu in the Mayor's office, I can imagine the following projects resurfacing from the realm of ideas into projects with funding and staff allocated:
  • Fairmount Indigo Line service upgrades (Page 179)
  • Regional Rail transformation (lot of "Urban Rail" ideas in GOB2030 that sync up)
  • Orange Line extension to at least Roslindale (Page 157)
  • Green Line E Branch Extension to Hyde Square (Page 162)
I would add Red-Blue connector and potentially North-South Rail Link to this list even though they weren't included in GOB2030. I wouldn't be surprised if Red-Blue connector even evolved into a Blue Line extension to both Lynn and Riverside via LMA, which was a "big idea" included in MassDOT's Focus40 plan (page 40-1), and is also being advocated for by other Walsh allies that Fiandaca would be connected with (like David Sweeney at MASCO - formerly Walsh's CoS). I think these two paragraphs from that Globe op-ed from Sweeney that came out after the gubernatorial general election gives you a good take on what Healey administration's stance is gonna be:

T officials must think big on delivering transit to Longwood, Kendall Square, the Seaport, Allston, and all of Greater Boston. What the exact right solutions are remain to be seen, but we see the right level of big thinking involving solutions that add overall capacity and exist on the scale of a Blue Line-Red Line connection under Cambridge Street, creating a Riverside-to-Wonderland transit line connecting the Blue Line with the Green Line D Branch at Fenway or turning the Silver Line into a true rail transit line connecting to the Red, Orange, and Green lines.

The region can and must have a safe, reliable MBTA. It also needs to have expansions that serve Greater Boston’s enormous, unmet transportation needs — today and for the rest of this century. Massachusetts’ economic prosperity, long-term competitiveness, and the everyday mobility needs of current and future generations of people depend on it.
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lainpimicaja said:
In terms of getting a handle on "what's next" for T expansion projects, it's probably a good time to get reacquainted with priorities identified in Go Boston 2030 since much of it was developed when Finadaca was BTD Commissioner. Much of that plan was put together assuming there would be a federal infrastructure bill passed in 2017, which obvious didn't happen until more recently. With vastly more federal funding available now, Boston-oriented leaders like Fiandaca in place (especially given her connections to Walsh and construction supporters like the GBBTU), and Wu in the Mayor's office, I can imagine the following projects resurfacing from the realm of ideas into projects with funding and staff allocated:
  • Fairmount Indigo Line service upgrades (Page 179)
  • Regional Rail transformation (lot of "Urban Rail" ideas in GOB2030 that sync up)
  • Orange Line extension to at least Roslindale (Page 157)
  • Green Line E Branch Extension to Hyde Square (Page 162)
I would add Red-Blue connector and potentially North-South Rail Link to this list even though they weren't included in GOB2030. I wouldn't be surprised if Red-Blue connector even evolved into a Blue Line extension to both Lynn and Riverside via LMA, which was a "big idea" included in MassDOT's Focus40 plan (page 40-1), and is also being advocated for by other Walsh allies that Fiandaca would be connected with (like David Sweeney at MASCO - formerly Walsh's CoS). I think these two paragraphs from that Globe op-ed from Sweeney that came out after the gubernatorial general election gives you a good take on what Healey administration's stance is gonna be:
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Well that's a city of Boston publication, gonna miss transit priorities in the dense cities north of the border.
 
tysmith95 said:
Well that's a city of Boston publication, gonna miss transit priorities in the dense cities north of the border.
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I don't disagree, but the point I'm trying to make is that we're gonna have a very Boston-centered transportation power structure in place for the foreseeable future, and they are very likely gonna want to use the opportunities available now to make progress on long-talked about projects (while delivering for political coalition partners like construction unions, institutional leaders, etc.). Beyond Regional Rail transformation and East-West Rail, my bet is on more Boston-centered projects for a bit.
 
lainpimicaja said:
I don't disagree, but the point I'm trying to make is that we're gonna have a very Boston-centered transportation power structure in place for the foreseeable future, and they are very likely gonna want to use the opportunities available now to make progress on long-talked about projects (while delivering for political coalition partners like construction unions, institutional leaders, etc.). Beyond Regional Rail transformation and East-West Rail, my bet is on more Boston-centered projects for a bit.
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It would be great to see some processes moving along on Hyde Square and Fairmount - they are most feasible and Fairmount is badly needed.
 
AndrewOnTheMBTA said:
It would be great to see some processes moving along on Hyde Square and Fairmount - they are most feasible and Fairmount is badly needed.
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I imagine we're gonna start hearing Wu and City Hall being very vocal about pushing for projects like these and things at the state level may move faster than we've grown accustomed to the last 8 years. Not say that that will result in projects getting down quickly, but there's a lot more political support for thinking big now.
 
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tysmith95 said:
Well that's a city of Boston publication, gonna miss transit priorities in the dense cities north of the border.
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Especially the case for Medford, Malden, Everett, and Chelsea. These 4 communities, alongside Charlestown, Eastie, and Revere, are cut off, and there's a lot of municipal borders, highways, and rivers separating these dense places apart, unlike south or west of downtown. It makes key transit connections extra essential.

Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville, seem to have stronger influence even though they are separate municipalities.
 
stefal said:
What are reasonable repercussions for a public transit agency?
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There aren't really any... which is kind of the problem. The T spent money and time coming up with a policy which is absolutely and utterly worthless because nothing really happens if they don't adhere to it.
 
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