General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[deh74]

A picture's worth a thousand words

I don't think this bodes well for GLX.

 

[JumboBuc]

Perhaps the weirdest part of that is that it's her first tweet of 2016. She only tweets once every couple of months or so, and that's what she decides to go with?...

 

[datadyne007]

Gotta be a hack or something.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Gotta be a hack or something.

That was my immediate thought. That image is waaaay too provocative in way too many ways to be kosher for head of a state-level agency to post. Especially just as an image without explanation. She's been a good-soldier bureaucrat far too long for too many varied bosses to make an unforced error with that kind of open-ended risk of misinterpretation. That and she isn't exactly a social media gadfly by nature.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if it came out that she was hacked.

 

[Lrfox]

That was my immediate thought. That image is waaaay too provocative in way too many ways to be kosher for head of a state-level agency to post. Especially just as an image without explanation. She's been a good-soldier bureaucrat far too long for too many varied bosses to make an unforced error with that kind of open-ended risk of misinterpretation. That and she isn't exactly a social media gadfly by nature.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if it came out that she was hacked.

Her account is probably managed by her communications team and not directly by her. Often times, especially at the state level, interns or lower level admins handle it. She probably won't know it's up there until someone calls her in hysterics (it's almost 2 days old and hasn't received much attention yet). I doubt it's hacked (although I'm sure her twitter account isn't super well protected either).

 

[JumboBuc]

Her account is probably managed by her communications team and not directly by her. Often times, especially at the state level, interns or lower level admins handle it. She probably won't know it's up there until someone calls her in hysterics (it's almost 2 days old and hasn't received much attention yet). I doubt it's hacked (although I'm sure her twitter account isn't super well protected either).

Nah, her feed definitely looks like it's actually her. She tweets so infrequently, and the stuff she does post is pretty personal (photos of hiking, at a Sox game, etc). If her Twitter was being managed by a communications team it would look much more "professional" and there would be far more generic p.r. posts. I'm sure she has someone advising her at times and is suggested to retweet certain posts, but in general her feed looks like that of a middle aged woman who doesn't quite know what the deal is with Twitter.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

. . .but in general her feed looks like that of a middle aged woman who doesn't quite know what the deal is with Twitter.

In other words, the very easiest-to-hack social media accounts.


It's like when I have to keep telling my 59-year-old aunt, who still has an AOL e-mail addy in 2016, to change her password because her account started sending me Canadian meds spam again.

 

[statler]

But I could also see a 59 year-old aunt not understanding the full context of that image and thinking "I too am handcuffed by money issues!" and posting that picture.

Never attribute to malice, etc...

 

[bigeman312]

File this under: "well....duh."

Unanimous disapproval at MBTA fare hike meeting

There was unanimous disapproval from community members and elected officials to the MBTA proposal to raise fares during a Feb. 10 meeting.

Dozens of attendees shared their concerns about the potential fare increase. Nobody at the meeting supported any fare raise. About 50 people attended the meeting at the Roxbury Community College

In efforts to close its $242 million deficit, the MBTA is proposing fare hikes and other measures to cut costs and improve efficiency. The MBTA has held a series of public meetings to hear comments and suggestions from the community about those changes.

...

 

[bigeman312]

More news. This is very good news! Anyone know more about whether this is as good as it sounds, or if it is just political discourse and wishful thinking at this point.

Baker vows to boost investment in MBTA infrastructure

Gov. Charlie Baker is pledging to invest $200 million a year over the next five years to upgrade the MBTA’s core infrastructure that keep the state’s public transit system up and running on time.

“When you’re trying to reform an organization that suffered the lack of direction and focus that the T had for such a long time, it’s a pretty bumpy ride,” Baker said during his keynote address before the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Forum at the Intercontinental Hotel.

The much-needed shot in the arm is a $160 million per year boost over what the T was spending annually on infrastructure like power, tracks and signals the past six years, he said.

...

 

[Lrfox]

In other words, the very easiest-to-hack social media accounts.


It's like when I have to keep telling my 59-year-old aunt, who still has an AOL e-mail addy in 2016, to change her password because her account started sending me Canadian meds spam again.

True. And in any case, it's gone. Having been chastised a few years back for posting images of a big dig tour I took, I know that somebody at Mass DOT definitely checks on A/B and probably saw this discussion.

 

[Semass]

More news. This is very good news! Anyone know more about whether this is as good as it sounds, or if it is just political discourse and wishful thinking at this point.

Baker vows to boost investment in MBTA infrastructure

Cool beans BUT where is the money coming from? My sense is that this is a statement of the capital investment planning being undertaken by the Fiscal Control Board and that this statement does not indicate any NEW money. This is likely T money obtained with T debt.

 

[whighlander]

Major Step Forward? T has hired MIT PhD as new consumer-focused CTO
from the Globe story

MBTA gets technology religion as it eyes new apps


JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2014
David Block-Schachter briefly worked at the MBTA before joining the bus service Bridj in 2014.

By Shirley Leung GLOBE COLUMNIST FEBRUARY 09, 2016
Imagine looking at your iPhone and learning where the nearest bus stop is, directions to get there, and that the vehicle is running 10 minutes late, which means you have time to duck into a Dunkin’ Donuts.

When you step on the bus, you don’t have to fumble for change or a CharlieCard. Just flash your phone to pay. No need to figure out where to get off; your phone can send you a text.

It’s a world that David Block-Schachter envisions for MBTA riders, and the state has just hired him to make that a reality. Block-Schachter, 38, is the whiz kid from MIT who worked at the transit authority briefly in 2014 and then got lured away by innovative pop-up bus service Bridj as its chief scientist.

Block-Schachter returns this week to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in a newly created post of chief technology officer for consumers. His job will range from modernizing fare collection to improving the T website and mobile apps.

This is how he sums up his mission: “The whole goal is to make it incredibly easy to ride the T.”

....Block-Schachter was at the T before as its head of research and analysis and left after three months for Bridj. This time around, the MIT PhD thinks the MBTA is ready for change and hopes to attract software engineers and other digital-savvy staff to help him.

“It’s truly a different place than it was,” Block-Schachter said. “The administration is incredibly serious about fixing the T and fixing it right.”

 

[Uncivil_Engineer]

Haven't seen this mentioned yet, apologies if it's already been posted. This was new at Haymarket since the last time I visited. It alternates between this display and advertising:

Can't wait to see these at more stations!

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

Boomeranged back to the T from Bridj. Over in the TransitMatters Slack, some suspect he moved to Bridj thinking he'd get to solve much bigger logistical problems over there, but as it turns out, the MBTA is the place to be if you want big computational and logistical problems to solve while actually making a difference.

 

[datadyne007]

Haven't seen this mentioned yet, apologies if it's already been posted. This was new at Haymarket since the last time I visited. It alternates between this display and advertising:

Can't wait to see these at more stations!

Finally activated! Thanks! Btw, last month I posted about the board being turned on at Maverick and there's also one at Wonderland. The layout on this one is different & a lot better than the Blue Line ones.

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

Haven't seen this mentioned yet, apologies if it's already been posted. This was new at Haymarket since the last time I visited. It alternates between this display and advertising:

Can't wait to see these at more stations!

No, I don't think anyone's posted this and I certainly hadn't seen it yet!

I do know Intersection (née Titan Outdoors) has been working with the T to improve this when I last spoke with someone at the agency during an NYC Transit Museum event on communications at the MTA during and after the WTC attacks and Superstorm Sandy. They may also be working on something like NYC MTA's OnTheGo kiosks in addition to making the service advisory 'dashboard' screens much easier to read.

Intersection's execution of this in Chicago for CTA is similarly clear and well-differentiated from the ads.

 

[DigitalSciGuy]

Finally activated! Thanks! Btw, last month I posted about the board being turned on at Maverick and there's also one at Wonderland. The layout on this one is different & a lot better than the Blue Line ones.

Yeah, the ones at Maverick and Wonderland are MBTA installations, presumably out of the accessibility budget since they include (terrible) text-to-speech reading of the time predictions for visually impaired riders. If they were done by Intersection they might be better. There's also one at Forest Hills; unsure where the data's pulling from because it never seems to line up with NextBus/Cubic's predictions.

Since these aren't by Intersection, I wonder if they can also be used for emergency broadcast (shooter, inclement weather, etc)...

 

[datadyne007]

Yeah, the ones at Maverick and Wonderland are MBTA installations, presumably out of the accessibility budget since they include (terrible) text-to-speech reading of the time predictions for visually impaired riders. If they were done by Intersection they might be better. There's also one at Forest Hills; unsure where the data's pulling from because it never seems to line up with NextBus/Cubic's predictions.

Since these aren't by Intersection, I wonder if they can also be used for emergency broadcast (shooter, inclement weather, etc)...

The Text-to-Speech really is terrible. It's like 80s robot terrible. Amazing how you can still have an engine so primitive in 2016.

 

[metasyntactic]

I don't think this bit of good news has been posted yet:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2...its-deficit/ROdjjtVNuS1L81f7qdsOXK/story.html

MBTA shrinks its deficit

David Kamerman/Globe Staff

A Green Line train leaves Park Street Station.
By Michael Levenson Globe Staff February 29, 2016

MBTA officials will announce Monday that they have cut the authority’s projected deficit by 43 percent, potentially allowing them to pump $100 million into much-needed weatherization projects and repairs to aging signal systems.

The rare bit of good news — the result of reduced spending on overtime pay and increased revenue from advertising and other sources — represents a boost for a transit system long plagued by budget problems and still struggling to regain public confidence after it was forced to shut down during last year’s massive winter storms.

But the improving fiscal outlook might also make it harder for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to persuade critics that substantial fare increases, scheduled for a vote next month, are needed. The MBTA is proposing to raise fares systemwide by an average of up to 10 percent.

“It’s really good news,” said Kristina Egan, director of Transportation for Massachusetts, an advocacy group that has urged the MBTA to consider more modest increases. “There’s no need to raise fares above 5 percent when they’ve been able to achieve these savings.”

T officials argue that, despite the brighter budget forecast, significant increases are still needed to help reduce a $7 billion maintenance backlog and improve the service on notoriously temperamental subway and commuter rail lines.

“Our message to the riders is we’re working really hard to control costs,” said Brian Shortsleeve, the MBTA’s chief administrator. “But the fare increase is important and will be invested into the system, and they will feel it over time, in a better system that gets them to work more reliably.”

Officials say the deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is about $138 million, down 43 percent from the $242 million gap that was projected last year.

They attribute the drop to increased revenue from advertising and real estate and reduced spending on overtime pay, materials, and services.

The elimination of late-night service — scheduled for a final vote on Monday — would save an additional $9 million next year.

“The deficit is still quite large, but it’s better, and an improvement in the right direction,” said Monica G. Tibbits-Nutt, a member of the MBTA’s fiscal control board. Still, she said, “we have a long way to go” to close the remaining $138 million gap.

“Is there some other way to do this, other than a fare increase? I think at this point, no, there isn’t,” Tibbits-Nutt said. “And then it becomes a discussion at what level to increase the fares.”

The control board is considering two proposals: One would raise fares by an average of 6.7 percent, to generate $33 million. The other would increase prices by an average of 9.8 percent, to raise $49 million. A vote is scheduled March 7.

“A fare hike should be a last resort,” said Rafael Mares, an attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, which is among more than 25 groups urging the board to limit increases to no more than 5 percent. “This isn’t a last resort.”

But T officials say they could cut the deficit even further, to $87 million, if the board were to approve a 10 percent fare hike beginning July 1, offer incentives for early retirement to 300 employees, and allow taxis, Uber, and Lyft to pick up more users of the Ride, the MBTA’s door-to-door service for disabled riders.

The final $87 million gap, officials said, would be plugged if the Legislature, as expected, approves $187 million in state aid that Governor Charlie Baker proposed in January.

T officials said they would then use the remaining $100 million in state aid to begin work on several unglamorous but vital projects.

Those include $26 million to replace sections of the third rail on the Red Line and install more heaters on the third rail on the Orange Line, to keep the trains running during snowstorms.

The Worcester commuter rail line also needs $3.5 million in track work to ensure the rails won’t buckle in summer heat, causing slowdowns.

And the subway system needs more than $500 million in upgrades to its balky signals and switches, which officials blame for 30 percent of the delays on the Green, Red, and Orange lines.

“The number one piece of feedback we get from the riders is they want the service to be better,” Shortsleeve said. “The way you will improve the service at the T, long-term, is through this capital investment . . . which will make the trains run better.”