General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

bigeman312 said:
It pushed you home from Lowell, right? ;)

But seriously, that's cool! What locomotive is that? I've never seen it before.
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MBTA has leased 7 ex Amtrak locomotives, although only one is in service at the moment. The leasing company that owns them had previously leased them out to AMT in Montreal, that is their paint scheme. Units are to fill in while problems with the new HSP46 locomotives are worked out and allow for the MBTA's own locomotives of the same type to be phased out as they suffer major failures.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

bigeman312 said:
It pushed you home from Lowell, right? ;)

But seriously, that's cool! What locomotive is that? I've never seen it before.
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Leaser unit from RailWorks. Former Amtrak F40PH "Screamer" units that most recently ran on AMT in Montreal (see faded logo). Old beaters that RailWorks bought up, fixed up, and has available ready-to-run on a moment's notice for anyone who needs locomotives and needs them now. No great shakes, but slightly less walking-dead than those ex-MARC GP40 units they had a few years ago.

Keolis (not MBTA) brought them in as a fleet-padding insurance policy because it's sick of racking up maximum monthly performance penalty fines. They figure that the rental cost of these cheap beaters is far less than the savings they get from not getting fined every month, so having them around as a 'surge' fleet when they're pinched helps OTP enough to end up making them money in the end.

HSP-46's are up to 27 active units with uptime at an all-time high so they're not really in any sort of power crunch at the moment. The T's own "Screamers" had simply hit the point where half the active units were in the shop on any given day with various ailments and spot breakdowns or last-minute no-go's from the yard had become the biggest threat to northside OTP. So this clears that junk out of active service and lets the shop spend more time catching up on maint on the equipment that's going to be around a few more years.

The leasers have to be kept in running shape so they will make occasional revenue appearances on the northside whether they're truly needed or not. But the goal is to use them as little as necessary. And if they're never truly needed at all, Keolis still makes money by lowering the fines it's paying out.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

F-Line to Dudley said:
Keolis (not MBTA) brought them in as a fleet-padding insurance policy b

HSP-46's are up to 27 active units with uptime at an all-time high so they're not really in any sort of power crunch at the moment. The T's own ".
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MBTA is leasing them, not Keolis. HSP accepted numbers have been going up each week, but the number actually on a consist each day has not been going up at the same rate.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It's about time. The MBTA will finally phase out the remaining honor boxes in July:

MBTA: No more ‘honor boxes’ at Attleboro, other commuter rail lots starting July 6

ATTLEBORO — The MBTA is eliminating the “honor box” method of paying for parking at its commuter rail lots as of July 6.

The boxes require commuters to fold up dollar bills and stuff them into a slot with a number corresponding to the parking space number.

Starting July 6, commuters will have to pay by cell phone or by purchasing monthly passes, the MBTA said today.

...
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On a related note, I wish parking prices were tied to demand by day/time-of-day. This seems more possible now, with the practice of honor boxes going by the wayside.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

bigeman312 said:
It's about time. The MBTA will finally phase out the remaining honor boxes in July:

MBTA: No more ‘honor boxes’ at Attleboro, other commuter rail lots starting July 6



On a related note, I wish parking prices were tied to demand by day/time-of-day. This seems more possible now, with the practice of honor boxes going by the wayside.
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That's an improvement, but still...why is the Charlie Card expansion halted? That's tailor-made for paying for parking. On any mode, at any park-and-ride. Including the P&R's at all the RTA bus districts around the state and RIPTA in Rhode Island who've adopted Charlie as a unified bus payment card.

If they want to increase their revenue intake from parking they've got to go the whole way and get it on the same card.


I'd say any garage or lot with a punch-ticket gated egress ought to also have EZ-Pass payment by default. Like Route 128 station does.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Going Charlie Card on the parking would be a good impetus to finally go full scan Charlie on CR, but then again, this is the T.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

lol, a suburbanite's trip into town will now involve paying for parking on paybyphone, paying for the train on mticket, then paying for the T on a charlie ticket.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The T did a "fare blitz" today (pre-payment at GL surface stops):
https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/616033479311036416

Proof the T has the ability to do this...

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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Matthew said:
In-depth service survey that you should all fill out (15-20 minutes):

http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news_events/?id=6442454647

Transit nerds will appreciate.
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I did it a couple weeks ago. The crowding pictures are hilarious.

The jist of it seems to be trying to gauge people's thoughts on local vs express bus service and the favorability of the advantages/downfalls that come with each.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Yes, yes they are. At each one I thought: aha, that indicates crush load.

Then I went to the next...
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

At Coolidge Corner on a regular basis there are T employees walking around with the mobile fare machines to make it a lot easier and faster to get on inbound trains. It's been that way for years.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

mass88 said:
At Coolidge Corner on a regular basis there are T employees walking around with the mobile fare machines to make it a lot easier and faster to get on inbound trains. It's been that way for years.
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How often? Every weekday AM, all year, or just when things are heavy or bad? What is the overall rationale?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Arlington said:
How often? Every weekday AM, all year, or just when things are heavy or bad? What is the overall rationale?
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I've only seen it during morning rush hour on weekdays (when not operating on holiday schedule). Even then they're only there about 75% of the time.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

They are consistently there during the AM and PM rush hour and always on the inbound side.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

MassDOT begins Youth Pass program aimed at young people

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation launched a yearlong pilot program Wednesday to help more young people get access to public transportation for getting to work, school, and other activities.

The pilot program MBTA Youth Pass will provide monthly passes to those aged 12 to 21 for $26 a month, and make transportation available to 1,500 people from Boston, Somerville, Chelsea, and Malden, MassDOT said in a statement.

The partnership between those cities and the MBTA offers the current Student Pass program, which is usually available only to middle- and high-school students, to a larger youth population, the transportation department said. The Student Pass allows reduced fares for eligible students.

...
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Any idea who is subsidizing this? Are the cities paying the MBTA? Is the state/MBTA understanding the fiscal effects of these discounts and accepting that cost themselves? Interesting program, though.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It took me exactly 45 minutes to go from Lynn Station to the meetup at Beat Brasserie last night. I was rather impressed. Now if only we had some DMU's to make this possible more often.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The end, after 37 years. The very last MBTA F40PH "Screamer" locomotive was quietly retired from service yesterday and taken off-property. There's two dead ones still lingering at BET for the moment, but the other 15 are in mothball storage at Billerica and Rochester, MA.


9 unaccepted HSP-46's left to go before they're done graduating the newbies.
 
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