General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

JeffDowntown said:
The worst outcome would be a bunch of T riders getting pissed off enough to get back into cars at rush hour, further paralyzing traffic (and hence commerce and growth) in the city.
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These cheapskates go from mode to mode bogging them down and we're supposed to chase them / lure them back with lower fares? No way. They're perfectly awful customers--willing to bog down whichever mode appears to be under-charging them. We should NOT be designing ANY transportation system for these people, street or transit.

We should be designing the system for the 97% *stay* after the fare hike (or toll hike or gas tax hike or parking fee hike or congestion charge), not appease the 3% who flee.

Congestion charges (aka peak hour pricing) are a great idea precisely because they calibrate modes to the people who actually are willing to PAY MORE for BETTER service, not those willing to bog a system down because it is cheap.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

^ I agree with congestion/peak pricing, but unless I missed something, that's not on the table.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Arlington said:
These cheapskates go from mode to mode bogging them down and we're supposed to chase them / lure them back with lower fares? No way. They're perfectly awful customers--willing to bog down whichever mode appears to be under-charging them. We should NOT be designing ANY transportation system for these people, street or transit.

We should be designing the system for the 97% *stay* after the fare hike (or toll hike or gas tax hike or parking fee hike or congestion charge), not appease the 3% who flee.

Congestion charges (aka peak hour pricing) are a great idea precisely because they calibrate modes to the people who actually are willing to PAY MORE for BETTER service, not those willing to bog a system down because it is cheap.
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I am not saying chase the cheap people. I am saying chase the value people.

You want the service to be good enough that people WANT to pay a premium for fast, frequent, RELIABLE rush hour service. That when the service and the pricing is working.

I am not saying people would leave because of the fare increase. I am saying people leave because you create the impression that there is more value in the service than there really is. It is a fundamentally different way at looking at the service value proposition.

Make the service better and charge a premium, yes. (Also charge the drivers at rush hour and funnel it to the T because all those T riders using the premium rush hour service are not clogging their roads!)
 
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

datadyne007 said:
Read the piece. Jim addresses that:

"Hiking T fares now is also not justified by the T’s massive re-investment needs. Think of it: the T admits that its state-of-good repair needs total something in excess of $7 billion. A 5 percent hike in T fares might generate an additional $20-23 million. A 10 percent hike might raise something less than double that, while also driving away many riders who are either unable to afford the new rates, or who decide to shift to micro-transit alternatives such as Bridj and Uber. The problem won’t be solved – indeed, it possibly will be exacerbated – if we move to a means-tested fare system. Once the T loses customers of choice, and serves only those who use it of necessity, it is doomed."

He goes on to lay out his alternative:
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Thankfully for the sake of tax and rate payers -- the Duke and Big Jim are all but confined to the Ash Bin of History -- their only temporary escape is to write screeds

What Big Jim conveniently forgets and is far outside the ken of the Duke -- is that the people of the Commonwealth are already some of the heaviest in debt [public debt] and further burdened by unfunded pension and other liabilities
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

From Channel 5 "on the record" 10/25/15
Baker On MBTA fare increases: "I'm not going to rule them in or out at this point. I certainly think they should be a part of the conversation. It may be that the right thing for the T to do is to lower some fares and raise others depending upon traffic patterns and who's riding them and all the rest."
-- Watch the entire segment: http://bit.ly/1PNJcYk

Emphasis mine. Variable pricing.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

How would that work with monthly passes? Would they go away and switch to a 'pay-as-you-go' model?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

statler said:
How would that work with monthly passes? Would they go away and switch to a 'pay-as-you-go' model?
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Stsat -- that's one of the nice things about computers -- you can program them to do "wondrous things"*1

You could have a Hybrid Charlie Card with both a pre-paid work day pass component and also your own non-work funds for those weekend trips to the MFA, etc.

  • 1 you present the Charlie on entry to the paid area of the T
  • 2 the T turnstyle checks to see what type of card it is -- and if its a hybrid combined pass and personal card -- whether it was your normal work hours and what the price discount should be*2
  • 3 the system would then note your entry time and compute whether you had sufficient funds to cover a max fare trip*3
  • 4 assuming that you do -- you would be admitted
  • the entry the time and location would be noted on the card flash memory
  • 5 when you exited system -- the appropriate amount would be computed and debited from the appropriate account on your card


Notes
  • *1 Howard Carter at the Tut Tomb -- When Carnarvon asked "Can you see anything?", Carter replied with the famous words: "Yes, wonderful things!"
  • *2 conceivably negotiated with individual employers based on their flex hours, and demand imposed on the system, etc
  • *3 --e.g. Providence to Fitchburg via CR to South Station and then Red Line to Porter and CR to Fitchburg
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Between Baker (the Kellogg MBA) and Pollack (who has openly discussed means-tested fares) it should not surprise that they are looking at moving away from one-fare-fits-all.
statler said:
How would that work with monthly passes? Would they go away and switch to a 'pay-as-you-go' model?
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You would have to price passes (transit and CR) "as if" they were going to be used mostly for 10-weekday-peak trips per week.

You might also see a blended pass, good for unlimited off-peak but paying a supplemental fare from store-valued value [when used at peak times]

If I knew how Express Buses charge their "double fare" vs the various pass and stored value cards, then I'd probably be describing that, but I've never mastered that.
 
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Aren't there difficulties reprogramming the TVMs with anything more complicated than a fare change? Technical or vendor problems were the stated reason that the T couldn't give out a free above-ground walking transfer from the Blue to the Green line during the Government Center closure.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Scipio said:
Aren't there difficulties reprogramming the TVMs with anything more complicated than a fare change? Technical or vendor problems were the stated reason that the T couldn't give out a free above-ground walking transfer from the Blue to the Green line during the Government Center closure.
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Whatever prohibited Green-Blue (probably just too many paper tix or too real a risk of ticket theft/resale/scam), I don't see it stopping a tiered fare structure.

WMATA MetroRail uses fare validation at both entry and to exit originally so that it could enforce distance pricing. Time-of-entry pricing came about 10 years after system opening, when it finally got crowded!

MBTA really only needs to do time of entry, and ding your card for a higher fare (from pure stored value users) or for a supplement (dinged to the stored value side or a quota) for Off Peak Pass holders when entering at peak times.

And make system-entry free from 5am to 6:30am, and maybe 10pm to midnight just $1-a huge help to hotel/food/cater and janitorial workers.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

MBTA Performance Table November 16, 2015

The worst performance, as usual was the weekend Blue Line (21% and 24% on Saturday and Sunday). Presumably due to track shifts associated with GC work discussed up-thread.

On the CR side of things, the worst performance was on South Side Monday Peak Service (47% on Worcester Line, 40% on Needham Line, 43% on Franklin Line, 43% on Providence Line). Most of this (excluding Worcester) is directly tied to an Amtrak signal problem at Forest Hills:

Signal problem at Forest Hills delays a.m. commuter trains

This week will feature the most widespread below freezing we've seen this fall. Maybe the delays and poor performance will improve once the temps drop. Haha.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

People are real mad about these service cuts and there is a ruckus about asking for a public hearing about the new schedules.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

There's not much in the way of service loss in those schedules. There are more trains especially to the outer ends, faster travel times, better reliability, higher efficiency, and some nice bonuses like Fitchburg reverse commutes becoming possible. The aft end of afternoon rush hour needs shored up with another train around 7pm, but that's an achievable change and not a crucify-the-MBTA complaint.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Maybe someone with more knowledge can help me out. Why are they increasing emphasis on Belmont, rather than Waverley. They added a round-trip for Belmont but not Waverley, increasing the number of round trips that express through Waverley, but stop at Belmont. After the schedule change, there will be five inbound Fitchburg Line trains that pass through the town of Belmont after 6:00 PM. All five stop at Belmont Center. Only one stops at Waverley!

I'm all for the schedule changes if they increase performance overall. I'm just wondering about that feature that happens to hurt me (I use Waverley). If there is a reason, then so be it.

EDIT: They have a similar number of daily inbound boardings (117 and 168) and Waverley connects to a Key Bus Route (73).
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Waverly and Belmont are both non-accessible stations which have been targeted by the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board. The MBTA wants to do some truly stupid stuff, but the likely outcome is that Waverly will be renovated for handicapped accessibility sometime in the next few years. It may be that Keolis does not wish to increase service to a station that will likely be closed for a year or so soon.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

bigeman312 said:
MBTA Performance Table November 16, 2015

The worst performance, as usual was the weekend Blue Line (21% and 24% on Saturday and Sunday). Presumably due to track shifts associated with GC work discussed up-thread.

On the CR side of things, the worst performance was on South Side Monday Peak Service (47% on Worcester Line, 40% on Needham Line, 43% on Franklin Line, 43% on Providence Line). Most of this (excluding Worcester) is directly tied to an Amtrak signal problem at Forest Hills:

Signal problem at Forest Hills delays a.m. commuter trains

This week will feature the most widespread below freezing we've seen this fall. Maybe the delays and poor performance will improve once the temps drop. Haha.
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One big positive: when was the last time the Fitchburg Line performed so consistently good? If you want some proof of upgrade money well-spent, the almost-finished double tracking + re-signaling is starting to show real dividends. Fitchburg used to be the perennial OTP gimp of the entire system.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Lots of really bad news.

MBTA refusing revenue:

MBTA will ban political advertising on public transit after anti-Israel ad controversy

The MBTA is planning to ban all political advertising after an ad critical of Israel placed at the Davis Square station caused a stir over the limits of free speech.

The ad from the Palestinian Advocacy Project says Israel kills a Palestinian child every three days, aided by money from the United States.

“What we are trying to do is highlight to Americans a component of the story we think is missed,” Jake Chase-Lubitz of the Palestine Advocacy Project told WCVB this week.

...
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No alcohol ads. No political ads. The T doesn't need the money anyways, right?

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Service cuts due to budget deficit!

MBTA board considering cutting late-night T service

Weekend commuter rail service could also be on the chopping block.

For the second time this year, late-night T service is on the chopping block.

Members of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Fiscal and Management Control Board on Wednesday seemed open to abandoning the weekend bus and subway service, which runs until 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday mornings, to cut costs.

“I would be prepared to look at that service, perhaps offering it differently,” Control Board chairman Joseph Aiello said. “But also, depending on the nature of the discussion, [I’m] open to saying that that’s not a business we should be in.”

...
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Fuck Joseph Aiello. This is what's wrong with Baker approaching a public service as strictly a cost-business analysis. Yes, that should be part of the conversation. But "that’s not a business we should be in" is an absurd quote! Moving people is exactly the business you are in. You know what else is a money loser? DCF. Let's do a cost analysis there. I wonder if Aiello will see that we lose more money in poorer neighborhoods and say that helping abused children in poor neighborhoods is "not a business we should be in."

It's fucking pathetic. The T treats revenue like it's a public agency (refusing ad revenue because it might hurt people's feelings). And it treats services like a business (oh, it costs more to move low-income service workers, so fuck them).

Fuck you, T. Absolutely fuck you. Fuck you fuck you fuck you.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

February's Analysis of Late Night Service

Given those ridership numbers, I hope they make adjustments without cutting the entire service. It would make sense to have Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Silver, 66, and 1 operate until 2:30, while the other KBR, and the Mattapan Trolley operate until 1:00.
 
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