General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[Delvin4519]

I don't think very many people would see that as better than the current method.

MBTA Continues to Successfully Advance Green Line Modernization Investments, Makes Significant Improvements in Green Line Reliability | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.

www.mbta.com

Over 20 miles of new signaling cable were routed through newly installed signal equipment during this most recent service outage, totaling 40 miles of cable installed so far – the MBTA plans to route 72 miles of new cable in total.

In the most recent shutdown the T only replaced and repaired 20 miles of signal cable out of 72. If all 72 miles of signal cable need replacing; why not just make the shutdown long enough to replace them all in a single shutdown instead of breaking it apart into several shutdowns? The T spends around 10-12 days just to replace and repair 20 miles of signal cable. To replace all 72 miles; the MBTA would need about 6 weeks total to do it all; so it could all be done in 6 weeks in one single 6 week shutdown.

 

[Wiltonion]

MBTA Continues to Successfully Advance Green Line Modernization Investments, Makes Significant Improvements in Green Line Reliability | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.

www.mbta.com

In the most recent shutdown the T only replaced and repaired 20 miles of signal cable out of 72. If all 72 miles of signal cable need replacing; why not just make the shutdown long enough to replace them all in a single shutdown instead of breaking it apart into several shutdowns? The T spends around 10-12 days just to replace and repair 20 miles of signal cable. To replace all 72 miles; the MBTA would need about 6 weeks total to do it all; so it could all be done in 6 weeks in one single 6 week shutdown.

There is likely a lot of prep and staging to enable 20 miles of cable work in only 10-12 days. The T probably does not have the bandwidth, supply, and labor to multiply the work per duration on a linear scale.

 

[Koopzilla24]

MBTA Continues to Successfully Advance Green Line Modernization Investments, Makes Significant Improvements in Green Line Reliability | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.

www.mbta.com

In the most recent shutdown the T only replaced and repaired 20 miles of signal cable out of 72. If all 72 miles of signal cable need replacing; why not just make the shutdown long enough to replace them all in a single shutdown instead of breaking it apart into several shutdowns? The T spends around 10-12 days just to replace and repair 20 miles of signal cable. To replace all 72 miles; the MBTA would need about 6 weeks total to do it all; so it could all be done in 6 weeks in one single 6 week shutdown.

The insane cost and inconvenience of doing so was already exhibited in the Baker admin Orange Line shutdown and that was only 4 weeks at a time when Orange Line daily ridership was down to tens of thousands less than current Green Line ridership. This most certainly comes off as someone who does not need to rely on the T and can just use it when convenient or because they enjoy it.

A single week shutdown of the Green Line for me and tens of thousands of people means a week where we cant easily get groceries, where work days become hours longer because of the drastically lengthened commutes. If someone requires certain mobility aids like a wheelchair and purposefully lives near an accessible station, shuttle buses aren't universally accessible, meaning a week of more expensive and time-consuming RIDE trips to do necessary errands. Any lengthy shutdown greatly effects the daily lives of many riders, and there is a balance to be struck between a long enough shutdown to get significant work done whilst also minimizing the immense pain it causes everyone involved. A 6 week shutdown goes well beyond any tolerable period of inoperability with sub-par alternatives if it can be avoided.

But why not just do 1 ultra long 6 month shutdown instead of the nonsense the T does right now? This hybrid “shutdown week” then “10 days of train service” then “shutdown week” again then “10 more days of train service” then “shutdown week” again; is far far more disruptive. It would be much less disruptive to do 1 single ultra long 4-6 month shutdown then forget about shutdowns for the next 19 months - 2 years.

You would just know the subway is “closed for the entire semester”; that’s much easier; way easier to plan for. Versus: “random weeklong shutdown then 10 days train service then another weeklong shutdown then 10 more days of train service then weeklong shutdown again”. Now you have to carefully time your doctor appointments; social hangouts, around random non-shutdown weeks.

Planning for “the subway is closed for the entire semester” would be much much easier and much less disruptive then the nonsense the T does right now.

Just a completely insane thing to suggest as even remotely close to a "better" alternative and deeply unserious. 20,181,926 trips served by the MBTA in a single month (April 2026), 3,887,017 (June 2026) on the Green Line and you expect 6x that number to somehow be absorbed and/or evaporate?

 

[The EGE]

In many cases, someone can plan around a week-ish diversion in a way they couldn't for a substantially longer diversion. They can get extra groceries the week before, shift a date by a few days, swap around their in-office days. Those who still have to make a trip won't have quite as many people crowded onto the shuttles with them.

It's also much more feasible on the agency side to do a shorter shutdown. There's a lot extra going on during a diversion, and a lot of people are putting in extra hours. Not just the track workers and bus operators, but also dispatchers, customer service reps, etc. That's a level of effort that you can keep up for a week at a time, not months, and it's why shutdowns are staggered between different lines (usually with time between). As Wiltonion mentioned, there's also the logistics of staging materials.

 

[themissinglink]

1 dead after report of person under train, officials say; MBTA service impacted​

A person has died after authorities say they responded to a report that someone was under a train in Boston's Brighton neighborhood Wednesday night.
Boston police said they responded, alongside firefighters and Boston EMS, to the Washington Street stop along the B Branch of the MBTA's Green Line.
Boston EMS told NBC10 Boston a person had been declared dead.
The MBTA said service on the B Branch was affected by a "medical emergency." They said shuttles were replacing train service between Babcock Street and Boston College, where the line ends, the agency said shortly after 9 p.m.

 

[Delvin4519]

My current unconfirmed unverified guesstimate is that the T is gonna do another GL shutdown Nov. 7th through Nov. 15th; then another GL shutdown Dec. 5th through Dec 13th.

Absolutely nailed the Nov 7 - Nov 15 outage

MBTA Continues Modernizing and Investing to Improve Reliability, Accessibility, and More as Major Construction Advances | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.

www.mbta.com

Though I think the December shutdowns will be 1 week later (Dec 12 - Dec 20), and there may be a weekend shutdown Dec 5-6.

 

[RandomWalk]

The Green Line shutdowns all seem to have a weekend followed by a nine day stretch. I guess they need to prep ahead of each surge.

 

[Delvin4519]

The Green Line shutdowns all seem to have a weekend followed by a nine day stretch. I guess they need to prep ahead of each surge.

The November shutdowns are the 3rd shutdown with the same exact pattern. So the December shutdowns can finally be predicted with an estimate of (12/5-12/6, then 12/12-12/20)