General Infrastructure

Why is the DOT making cinder block walls in between the columns in the Pru tunnel? They did it inside the tunnel a few years ago and are now doing it at the western entrance to the tunnel. I assume there is a reason for this, but what?
 
Globe: Fare evasion may cost MBTA $42 million a year
Boston Globe said:
Officials believe that commuter rail customers avoid paying up to $35 million each year; Green Line customers avoid paying up to $4.5 million; and bus customers avoid paying up to $2.4 million, according to an estimate that officials believe has not been quantified before.
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Article contains this little nugget:

Boston Globe said:
Keolis officials say they are prepared to spend about $10 million on fare gates at North Station, South Station, and Back Bay station that could help bring in up to $24 million in lost revenue from fare evasion.
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Huh??
 
Keolis moves to capture millions in uncollected train fares

BOSTON - The MBTA's commuter rail operator has proposed building fare gates at three key Boston railroad stations as part of a strategy to boost revenue by collecting millions of dollars in fares that riders are currently avoiding.

Keolis Commuter Services would be willing to invest the estimated $10 million to build fare gates at North, South and Back Bay stations if the MBTA rearranged "the current way things are managed around revenue," Keolis Deputy General Manager Franck DuBourdieu told reporters Monday.

...

The fare gates would check to see whether commuter rail passengers have a ticket for both outbound and inbound trains, according to Peter Williams, who is heading up the initiative for Keolis and presented his ideas to the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board on Monday.

...

Dubbed a "ring of steel," the fare-gate strategy would take an estimated 15 months to put into place, according to Keolis, which could in the shorter term implement "blitzes" of ticket checks along specific lines or stations.
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I still have no idea what exactly the fare gates would be checking.
 
Apologies for the double post. One thought I have is that they may introduce something like this, which would be cool (from Japan):

JR East

I really don't think they would pull it off properly, though.
 
bigeman312 said:
Keolis moves to capture millions in uncollected train fares



I still have no idea what exactly the fare gates would be checking.
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Gah...still clinging to that asinine anti-PoP hysteria on Green and Yellow. Heaven forbid better queue management through all-doors boarding could relieve the extreme pressure operators are under to keep schedule at all cost...which habitually encourages them to wave on the last people in line, thus worsening the fare leakage. Nope...gotta keep losing money to keep losing money. :rolleyes:


Commuter rail does make a ton of sense so long as the next-gen farecard system is fully integrated and allows for quick and foolproof tracking of destination stop. I'm thinking that means you have to tap off at your destination rather than pick from a menu at the terminal faregate if they want any hope of moving people quickly through the gates. Then when the conductors take their positions for a station stop, have a video screen in the vestibule so they can monitor the feeds from unstaffed doors (i.e. 1 staffed door monitoring video feeds from the 3 unstaffed doors on that conductor's 2 assigned cars). Something like that would work very well at ensuring tight enforcement, make good use of the onboard staff now freed up from per-seat collection, and give the T far tighter control over fare evasion than the current shambles.

Of course...they lose far more money on commuter rail parking leakage than they do onboard fares, so if this next-gen system doesn't put the lots on the same farecard, step up the video monitoring, and come up with a roving enforcement officer system that works effectively...they're still guilty of crying wolf every time they shriek about fare evaders.
 
I saw this kind of fare-gate ticketing on the London overground system. Seemed to work well. I take the train rather infrequently and I always use the mobile ticketing app. It seems to me that the conductors barely look at my iPhone. I don't see how they can tell from a 2-second glance if my ticket is valid. A few times they never even asked for a ticket, even though I had always purchased one. A better system of checking riders already on the train seems to be a more cost effective solution.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Gah...still clinging to that asinine anti-PoP hysteria on Green and Yellow. Heaven forbid better queue management through all-doors boarding could relieve the extreme pressure operators are under to keep schedule at all cost...which habitually encourages them to wave on the last people in line, thus worsening the fare leakage. Nope...gotta keep losing money to keep losing money. :rolleyes
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The FMCB presentation with regards to Green Line fare evasion is pretty reasonable with suggested plans: http://mbta.com/uploadedfiles/About_the_T/Board_Meetings/FareCollectionStrategyGreenLineSurface.pdf

Pretty much says: Make sure the fare boxes are working, study to get some actual data on fare evasion, don't do much else at present. And it specifically notes that returning to a front door only policy would be a bad idea.

Longer term they want rear-door validators.
 
The oft-quoted $4.5 million number for the Green Line assumes that 0% of rear-boarders have monthly passes. Previous estimates put that number closer to 55%, implying actual losses are around $2 million. Trial from this February and March found 73% of those waiting on platform had passes, implying losses around $1.2 million.

The T is very clear about this in their presentation, but that hasn't stopped many in the press and the Twitterverse from taking that inflated $4.5 million number and running with it.
 
Nice read -- shame that they have only ruled out "front door only at peak". That would be such a bad idea that it was never really part of the 2012-2014 scheme. It needs to be ruled out at all times, because the Green Line can get loaded at any time, and because front-door-only is horrible for accessibility.

Anyway, good to see calculations of ROI (experiment had net gain of $99, LOL!) and some attempt to grapple with the effects of their decisions on customers.
 
A few years ago, they built cinderblock walls in the Pru tunnel where there were just open columns. Now they are building cinderblock walls on the western entrance/exit to the Pru tunnel. It is just a bridge support and not actually part of the tunnel. Why do they need walls vs. typical columns?
 
TallIsGood said:
A few years ago, they built cinderblock walls in the Pru tunnel where there were just open columns. Now they are building cinderblock walls on the western entrance/exit to the Pru tunnel. It is just a bridge support and not actually part of the tunnel. Why do they need walls vs. typical columns?
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Not familiar with the location, but two possible reasons come to mind:
1. Cinderblock is actually Concrete block (or to be downright pendanic about it "Concrete Masonry Unit" or CMU) Concrete block can be reinforced to create a shear wall to help brace the structure- something that can be difficult and expensive to do with moment-framed column connections that can function in lieu of a shear wall.
2. to provide a fire-rated partition within the station. While fire-rated partitions can be made from metal studs and gypsum drywall, the concrete block walls are far more durable especially when exposed to an occasional dripping tunnel ceiling. The same can also be said for non fire-rated walls in potentially soggy tunnels.
 
^ Isn't there also a "Princess Diana" safety element too? columns present frontal area during crashes, but walls do not.
 
IIRC, the reason they filled in the space between the columns was for fire suppression/protection purposes.
 
North Shore said:
IIRC, the reason they filled in the space between the columns was for fire suppression/protection purposes.
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After last week's I-93 southbound tunnel delays with the garbage truck that caught fire, I can imagine the advantage a wall there presents for keeping a fire hazard from adversely impacting traffic coming from the reverse direction (even if just to deter rubber-necking).
 
Thanks - I will try to get a picture if I can, but I am always driving as I go by. There are jersey barriers so it isn't a Princess Di issue. its also outside the tunnel which made it more interesting to me. thanks for the points.
 
It also makes it easier to clear and replace air - lower volume of air affected by smoke = fewer fans working hard to clear it all.

And wasn't there an actual car fire in the Pru tunnel a few summers back? I remember the view from across the charles, with two plumes of smoke on either end of the pru skyline ... then connecting the dots in my head and saying 'oh shit'....
 
Big news via Twitter today about the City considering closing certain streets for peds only during certain summer days:

https://twitter.com/CityOfBoston/status/733011336783876096

Adam Castiglioni ‏@ConciergeBoston 45m ago
@marty_walsh How about closing streets like Newbury, Union, and Hanover to traffic on certain days in the Summer? #AskMJW

City of Boston ‏@CityOfBoston
@ConciergeBoston We're actively looking into this at several locations around the city. Stay tuned for info later this summer #askmjw
 
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Here is a pic of the part of the entrance I am talking about. It is not totally enclosed.
 
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