General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

JeffDowntown said:
Well the MBTA is fundamentally a politically driven entity. So launches = ribbon cutting ceremonies for Pols. Pols don't get news time for the MBTA fixing things that were not obviously broken. (Even fixing obviously broken parts of the system does not get the same press as a ribbon cutting.)

This is a core problem with all of our public infrastructure.
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It’s worth contrasting the MBTA with the MWRA. Both are independent authorities. However, the MWRA has a lot less political shenanigans and takes the concept of maintaining its infrastructure seriously.
 
RandomWalk said:
I learned something new today. Why do they bother with the singletons?
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Basically for vehicle scheduling, it provides the early AM NB service which the E branch can't provide because it lacks a yard at Heath Street. So until that first train gets back from Heath Street the other branches cover that service.
 
RandomWalk said:
It’s worth contrasting the MBTA with the MWRA. Both are independent authorities. However, the MWRA has a lot less political shenanigans and takes the concept of maintaining its infrastructure seriously.
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Really good point. It would be a good case study to analyze why one entity seems to fundamentally work and the other seems to fundamentally fail.

Maybe because even Pols don't want to be seen doing ribbon cuttings at water and especially sewage treatment works?
 
Delvin4519 said:
MBTA Red Line seems to have a noticable drop in ridership since October 2022, correlated with the longest slow zone time delay of any subway line.
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Orange line at nearly 50% service levels is sad. On the bright side Green Line ridership trending upwards despite its issues along with Blue.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Really good point. It would be a good case study to analyze why one entity seems to fundamentally work and the other seems to fundamentally fail.

Maybe because even Pols don't want to be seen doing ribbon cuttings at water and especially sewage treatment works?
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99% of MWRA's revenue comes from user fees. If 99% of MBTA revenue (pre-COVID) came from user fees the situation wouldn't be nearly as bad. The situation is very similar for Massport.
 
737900er said:
99% of MWRA's revenue comes from user fees. If 99% of MBTA revenue (pre-COVID) came from user fees the situation wouldn't be nearly as bad. The situation is very similar for Massport.
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Except you would have to have "beneficiary fees" not just user fees for the MBTA. Because all drivers benefit by having riders on the T not driving. (Every T rider is a potential SOV not on the road.) So T riders and drivers both should fund the T.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Except you would have to have "beneficiary fees" not just user fees for the MBTA. Because all drivers benefit by having riders on the T not driving. (Every T rider is a potential SOV not on the road.) So T riders and drivers both should fund the T.
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I mean, the broadest point is that the T's failing where things like the MWRA and Massport aren't because they have money and the T doesn't. If the legislature just used enough of its tax revenue that the T wasn't perpetually starved of funds we wouldn't be in this position, in the same way that the MWRA and Massport would be screwed if they had to rely on the legislature for funding like the T does. As a mechanism for dealing with the T's funding woes, it's not a terrible idea to have something like road-use fees (particularly within the MBTA district) rather than relying on general taxation, that's definitely true, but not as easy to implement as the T's user fees (fares) or the MWRA's (bills). That's especially true because the T's service is quite variable; it's one thing to have high "beneficiary" fees as you call them where service is plentiful, more problematic the sparser it gets (because transit becomes less and less a viable-competitive option).
 
Aprehensive_Words said:
Has anyone else seen how the Globe has been walking back big parts of their story about T managers working remotely? The story about the capital delivery department largely doesn't seem to have changed, but the fact the deputy safety chief does, in fact, live and work in town definitely changes the story. Pretty glaring omission that they failed to verify that. Way less Howie Carr fodder about how no one is driving the safety train (even if it's clear that Healey thinks Ron Ester is not exactly reliable, given her appointment of a new safety chief).

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Globe just fired the reporter who wrote the story. Definitely a case of persona grievance being employed via a reporter. Sad to hear someone lost their job but the globe had to walk back almost the entire story. That’s incredibly poor fact checking.
 
Also, I’ve been saying for months (a few times here) that the failure to update signs for the GLX is emblematic of a deeper disease. Most recently, I was at chestnut hill station and the big signs over the platform all said “Park St” while the electronic banners sais “Union”. Bad. Globe story today about exactly this: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/05/metro/mbta-green-line-extension-map/
 
Rode the Orange Line for the first time in a while from Chinatown to Oak Grove and was actually pleasantly surprised? Seems like only a few very small slow zones left northbound based on the MBTA's dashboard, and overall slow zone delays on the OL have dropped significantly in the last few weeks. New trains are the norm now, and Oak Grove actually seemed fairly clean and nice? Was it renovated recently?

Just a glimmer of hope in what is otherwise a frustrating time as someone who lives along the Red Line...
 
#bancars said:
Rode the Orange Line for the first time in a while from Chinatown to Oak Grove and was actually pleasantly surprised? Seems like only a few very small slow zones left northbound based on the MBTA's dashboard, and overall slow zone delays on the OL have dropped significantly in the last few weeks. New trains are the norm now, and Oak Grove actually seemed fairly clean and nice? Was it renovated recently?

Just a glimmer of hope in what is otherwise a frustrating time as someone who lives along the Red Line...
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The Orange Line has definitely been better since the closure. The biggest issue I have with it is headways, which is endemic to the entire system. If you happen to get to the station at the right time, it's really fine. Even if you do have to wait, once you are on a train, the experience is decent. I don't usually ride it far enough to lose too much time to slow zones. Also, I mostly ride south side or downtown, so I realize I'm missing the really egregiously bad sections. But overall, I agree, maybe we can see things moving in the right direction.
 
Yes, the slow zones can and will probably be cleared up in the next year or two or three, the stickier problem is going to be workforce shortage and slow delivery of the new Red and Orange line cars reducing frequencies and increasing reliance (for the RL) on older cars. Not to mention the upcoming fiscal cliff making it more challenging to address the former. And we're not even talking about the bus system which is 350 operators short of current service levels and has promised to increased service by 25% as part of the network redesign.

I expect labor costs are going to have to increase significantly to operate the service that the MBTA has promised and the region deserves and so far the Governor and legislature have not begun to address this issue. A good chunk if not most of the millionaires' tax proceeds that everyone has their eyes on for expansion are going to be needed to just get back to 2019 levels.

Most people are not riding end to end so as noted a lingering slow zone in Braintree is not going to matter to most trips, and the work on the OL really did help. But only being able to run 67% of trainsets because you don't have enough workers or because CRRC has failed in building them affects every trip by a few minutes and more if you get unlucky with headways. Or makes every bus super crowded and slow.
 
mass.streetsblog.org

State House Transportation Committee Discusses Bills Regarding East-West Rail, T Oversight - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation hosted a hybrid in-person and virtual public hearing on Monday afternoon to discuss several bills related to transit expansion projects, East-West rail, and MBTA oversight. You can find hearing details – including information about how to...
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org

T Oversight and some proposed deadlines for proposed transit projects.
 
Delvin4519 said:
mass.streetsblog.org

State House Transportation Committee Discusses Bills Regarding East-West Rail, T Oversight - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation hosted a hybrid in-person and virtual public hearing on Monday afternoon to discuss several bills related to transit expansion projects, East-West rail, and MBTA oversight. You can find hearing details – including information about how to...
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org

T Oversight and some proposed deadlines for proposed transit projects.
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I like the one about electrifying the Fairmount Line by the end of 2924. I hope it happens.
 
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#bancars said:
Rode the Orange Line for the first time in a while from Chinatown to Oak Grove and was actually pleasantly surprised? Seems like only a few very small slow zones left northbound based on the MBTA's dashboard, and overall slow zone delays on the OL have dropped significantly in the last few weeks. New trains are the norm now, and Oak Grove actually seemed fairly clean and nice? Was it renovated recently?

Just a glimmer of hope in what is otherwise a frustrating time as someone who lives along the Red Line...
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The Orange Line is faster now over that stretch than it has been since before the global speed restrictions were put in place two months ago:

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In fact, the entire Orange Line northbound is faster now than it has been since before the global speed restrictions were put in place two months ago:

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Still not quite as speedy as early March, and we should definitely keep our eye on the prize of zero slow zones:

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That being said, we appear to have weathered the worst of this particular storm.
 
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