General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Wow, he was pretty good. Well, time for new blood anyway. The T has so many problems it is unfair to pin them all on one guy. But this is Boston politics so that's how it goes. The recently ousted CEO of the MTA just suffered the same fate.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

One has to wonder what Grabuskas did to piss Patrick off so much.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Boston.com - August 7, 2009
Aloisi: GM position at MBTA may change
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

State Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr., ushering in what he said would be a new era for the MBTA Thursday's resignation of Daniel A. Grabauskas as general manager, today promised better customer service and a potential change in the agency's leadership structure.

Aloisi, who led the push by Governor Deval Patrick's administration to oust Grabauskas, said state transportation officials will consider whether a general manager position for the T even makes sense anymore as the state looks to centralize oversight of its transportation agencies.

"It may be that the model of the general manager changes and becomes a different model," Aloisi told reporters this morning.

Aloisi, who toured the T's 28 and 29 bus routes this morning to talk to riders and employees, said he would meet next week with David D'Alessandro, the former John Hancock chief executive who will lead a "top-to-bottom" review of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The review, Aloisi said, will be finished by Nov. 1, when the merger of state transit agencies is set to be complete.

The ouster of Grabauskas has drawn fire from political leaders from both parties, who called Patrick's power play a purely political move. But Aloisi said today that there were recent instances where Grabauskas was uncooperative, which he said was unacceptable. He declined to elaborate.

"We're in a time of change, we're in a time of changing the status quo," he said. "And that's a good thing. There are no sacred cows."

Grabauskas resigned yesterday under great pressure from Patrick's administration. He leaves with $327,487 to settle the remaining nine months of his contract. The general manager position will be filled temporarily by William Mitchell, the agency's general counsel.
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

"We're in a time of change, we're in a time of changing the status quo," he said. "And that's a good thing. There are no sacred cows."

Oh really....

So all the Union loafers, overgenerous underfunded benefits, pension prince and princesses, and friends of friends of friends will be culled from the rolls?

Considering the new interim GM: Mitchell, who is taking over on an interim basis, helped approve a $7 million loan from the T pension fund to Francis ?The Flame? Fraine, an admitted arsonist with ties to gangsters, in 2000. He was also accused of taking a trip to the 1998 Super Bowl on Fraine?s dime but later cleared of any wrongdoing, according to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

If it looks, smells, has flies buzzing around, and the bull is roaming the pasture, then quite likely it is.......
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

As a former Deval supporter and a registered independent, I'm about ready to flip to the Republican cause. This is shameful.

There were times when he was "unresponsive?" come on. He wouldn't go along with the crap you were hatching so you dumped him for someone who would.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Boston Globe - August 10, 2009
Hub got their wheels turning
Creators? trips on T behind birth of Google Transit

By Laura Bennett, Globe Staff | August 10, 2009

Chris Harrelson remembers taking the Franklin Line commuter rail from Norfolk into Boston at age 10, seeing the intense green of passing lawns and watching fall leaves turn copper and red outside the window. ?I loved riding that train,?? he says. ?The way it moved seemed sort of magical.??

So when Harrelson joined Google as an engineer almost two decades later and saw a demo version of Google Maps that calculated driving and walking directions, he was struck by what was missing from the program: public transportation.

?That Franklin Line was the first train I rode. It stayed with me,?? said Harrelson, who works at Google?s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Harrelson started talking to colleagues inside Google about how public transit services could be incorporated into what Google offers. And before long he had a team of transportation enthusiasts eager to help him, among them other former Bostonians. It was these young engineers - all with experiences riding the T - who ultimately shaped the Web tool now available in more than 400 cities around the world, including, as of 10 days ago, Boston: Google Transit.

Fully integrated into Google Maps in 2007, Google Transit helps a traveler plan routes via train, bus, and boat, including walking directions to stations and bus stops. It hinges on having local transit agencies, in Boston?s case, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, provide their own data: precise distances, predicted arrival times, meticulously plotted locations for stops and stations. Google then processes the data to create an interactive map that informs travelers of upcoming departure times and updates about delays and service changes.

Though a number of major cities - including New York and Chicago - joined Google Transit months or even years ago, the MBTA is a relative latecomer to the project, and Bostonians, never known for their patience, were not happy waiting. A Facebook group called ?Put the MBTA on Google Transit!!!?? was formed in February, and has 1,500 members.

?Until recently, the MBTA had no good way to convert our data into Google?s format,?? said Lydia Rivera, an MBTA spokeswoman. ?The MBTA had to do a lot of work to make this happen and ensure that the data is as user-friendly as possible.??

One of the Google colleagues who joined Harrelson as he developed Google Transit was another engineer, Joe Hughes, who had spent several years in Somerville before he came to the company. He could never decide which bus stop to choose when heading to downtown Boston because he never knew which bus would be coming first. Frustrated by the limitations of the MBTA?s Trip Planner online - you can?t click on train or bus stops to see when the next departures are, for instance - he took matters into his own hands and created a mash-up that fused Google Maps with the trip planner. But the difficulty of acquiring transit data was his biggest limitation.

?As a developer in a bedroom in Somerville, the MBTA would not give me the time of day,?? Hughes said. As a result, he spent hours extracting data from PDFs on the T?s website.

When he went to work at Google in Mountain View in 2005, he devoted time to the nascent Google Transit. ?If there wasn?t a project like that in place, I was going to start it,?? he said. Like Harrelson and others, he took advantage of a perk the company offered called the ?20 percent project,?? which allows employees to spend 20 percent of their work time brainstorming and tinkering with ideas unrelated to their daily responsibilities.

For about a half-hour every day, Hughes pored over transit data and created software that would check it for accuracy.

Google Transit debuted in Google Labs, a website where the company demonstrates products for the public that aren?t ready to be formally launched. Portland, Ore., was the first city to join, and as more cities shared their data, the initial vision evolved: train station icons became clickable as in Hughes?s MBTA mash-up, opening a bubble containing departure times.

A team of Google cars equipped with 360-degree cameras was dispatched to drive to every bus and subway stop and train station in participating cities to take photographs for the ?Street View?? option. The hardest part, Hughes said, was persuading wary agencies to participate; some did not want to deal with double-checking their data or feared that Google Transit would compete with their own websites.

Tom Sly, who negotiated with transit agencies as a member of Google?s New Business Development Team, lived in Boston from 1996 to 2006.

?From the beginning,?? he said, ?Boston was one of the cities I was most eager to bring on board.??

As the Red Line lurched and heaved on its way to the Google offices in Kendall Square last week, Steve Vinter, Google?s local engineering director, leaned on a pole inside the train and watched Boston?s skyline outside the window. ?We all have various stories and memories about public transportation,?? he said. ?It can shape your perspective on a city.??
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Boston.com - August 10, 2009
MBTA to hold hearings on proposed fare hikes

August 10, 2009

BOSTON --The MBTA is holding a series of public hearings this month on a systemwide series of proposed fare hikes designed to bring millions of dollars of revenue into the financially struggling agency.

The agency is going forward with the hearings even though state Transportation Secretary James Aloisi (ah-low-EE'-see) says he does not want any increases until an independent review of the transit authority is complete.

The first hearing is at the Statehouse on Monday. More hearings are scheduled for this week in Revere, Braintree and Somerville. Hearings are scheduled for Salem, Framingham, Worcester, Attleboro, Haverhill and Fitchburg later this month.

The proposed increases would boost subway fare by 30 cents and some commuter rail round trips by $1.50.
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Lawmakers blast T fare hike proposal
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

A group of House and Senate lawmakers today blasted a proposed MBTA fare increase, saying it was "unjustified," "unfair," and "ill-advised."

They also said they felt hoodwinked by Patrick administration and T officials, who had earlier said they needed $160 million to close a projected deficit this year. The Legislature provided that amount through a sales tax increase, thinking that it would be enough to offset fare hikes.

?We have done what was been asked of us to offset the need for the fare increases and service cuts this year,? said Representative Carl Sciortino, a Somerville Democrat who said he takes the T every day. ?We call upon the T to do their job, to meet the needs of their riders, and not increase fares in a way that would dramatically decrease ridership.?

Nine lawmakers attended the press conference. All of them voted in favor of increasing the sales tax, from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, in part to help pay for transportation needs.

?To put forth a fare increase is in essence putting forth a new tax on those who are trying to work,? Representative Marie St. Fleur, a Dorchester Democrat, said today. ?We agreed to the sales tax, many of us, because part of it was supposed to take care of? the debt service that we can?t repay right now for the T.?

The MBTA this afternoon is scheduled to hold the first in a series of public hearings on proposed fare increases throughout the system. The proposed increase would raise cash-paying adult bus and subway fares by 50 cents. Commuter rail passes would increase by as much as $31 a month, depending on the zone.

The proposal comes after the Patrick administration last week helped oust MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas.

Sciortino said the inner politics over Grabauskas's removal has diverted from the more far-reaching impacts of the proposed fare increase.

"We think the finger-pointing is actually a distraction from the real issue facing the MBTA and its financial health," he said. "We're looking to move beyond the finger-pointing and get back to the MBTA riders."

Transportation Secretary James Aloisi Jr., who now has much more control over the authority, suggested that a fare increase may not go into effect, depending on the results of a review of the MBTA?s finances.

?I?m not going to bring a fare increase to the board based on these circumstances, until we have this top-to-bottom review and until I?m convinced we?ve kicked the tires on it to know we don?t have any options,? he said.

That review is scheduled to be completed by Nov. 1.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/lawmakers_blast.html
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Patrick Administration Announces Innovative Public Access to MBTA, Regional Transit Schedule Data
Comprehensive Data Access to Encourage Rider-Friendly Software Applications, Revolutionize Customer Service


Boston, MA -- The Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) today announced an historic step toward openness and transparency by releasing to the public the detailed scheduling and geographic data the MBTA submitted for use in the Google Transit Trip Planner. The initiative is part of the Patrick Administration's commitment to comprehensive transportation reform and creating a modern, efficient, and customer-friendly transportation system.

The MBTA becomes the 3rd largest transit agency in the U.S. to make this data public in a format that is converted into the industry-standard Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) using existing scheduling software. The data includes full schedules and geographic information for all MBTA bus, rail, and ferry routes, along with several Regional Transit Authorities. Similar efforts in other areas, such as Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Portland, have allowed third-party developers to create useful applications and scheduling tools for riders at no cost to the city, agency, or state, vastly improving customer service.

Secretary James Aloisi praised MBTA's Operations and Service Development team and EOT partners for making possible the scheduling data availability.

"Our priority is to consistently improve customer service for the riders who rely on the T and RTAs everyday to get to their job or their doctor's appointment on time," said Transportation Secretary Aloisi. "With the help of thoughtful technical developers, making this data public will spawn many possible applications to help transit users use their cell phones or laptops to find and use the right bus or train in the right place at the right time for them."

The data will be located on the EOT Developers' Page, which is the one-stop place to open up to the public useful transportation data across the state. The page will now include nine sets of GTFS data from transit authorities, making Massachusetts a global leader in embracing this open standard for transit data.

Information on the page includes GTFS data for the MBTA, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, Lexpress, Lowell Regional Transit Authority, Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority, Metrowest Regional Transit Authority, Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, Vineyard Transit, and ferry services.

Already, a well-known application called UniBus is utilizing this data for all agencies, creating an easy-to-use statewide transit scheduler for the iPhone.

Other developers have expressed interest in the data and expect to release applications in the coming months. EOT has reached out to these developers, holding a developers' meeting and engaging the community through Twitter and Google Groups, and hopes to expand its data and incorporate more information in real-time.

The EOT Developers' Page can be viewed at:
http://www.mass.gov/eot/developers

Connect with the EOT Developers on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/MassDOTdev

For the latest information about Massachusetts transportation, visit our blog at http://www.mass.gov/blog/transportation or follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/MassDOT.

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Source
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Boston.com Aug 31, 2009
An ant farm? No, a day in the life of the MBTA
August 31, 2009 12:33 PM

http://www.youtube.com/v/0tuzjxEBto...2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff
Is this what the MBTA subway map would look like from above? A multi-colored ant farm?

State Transportation spokesman Colin Durrant sent this link from blogger James Kebinger, who used raw data to create an animated representation of moving subway cars on the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green lines in the course of a day.

The state began releasing the raw scheduling data this month, in hopes of inspiring private citizens to mash it up and create applications that could help commuters. This early effort shows the potential, beyond the practical, to produce aesthetically pleasing and thought-provoking results as well.

Internally, MBTA staffers refer to the static version of the route map as a "spider map."
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

You can really make out the bottleneck between Kenmore and Copley on the Green Line.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Van, this struck me as something you could have a lot of fun with.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

ok here is customer service for ya....

So I just moved up to New Hampshire and decided to head into the city last night to go see the new gallery opening at the ICA. I decide to park at alewife and take the t to save on parking and such. After the train pulls out of Charles and gest into the tunnel, it stops... then the power goes out... we get a million and a half messages telling us we are stoped but like ten different reasons why we are stopped. I am there for an hour and a half in the tunnel because apparently there was some electrical foul up and the boston fire department shut off all power between JFK and Harvard. We are told that we are on "stand-by" about an hour in and that we would not be evacuated... then guess what, we are evacuated and lead basicly by hand by the fire department out back to Charles. Then the bus i hopped on was jam packed and stuck in traffic and wouldnt let anybody off if it wasn't right infront of Park street. There goes over 2 hours of my life.

So thanks T for turning me from being early to missing the opening and then giving me another 4 hour trip back up here.

sorry if i am bitter but it sucked.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Someone threw trash onto the third rail at Chinatown...
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I was in that train too! Hi, neighbor!
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Boston fire commissioner to T passengers: Stop trashing your ride
E-mail|Link|Comments (6)September 23, 2009 09:37 AM
By Globe Staff

Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser today will begin urging MBTA riders to prevent fires in subway tunnels by dumping their trash in garbage cans -- not on the tracks.

Improperly discarded trash -- along with old electrical wiring systems -- has been blamed for two smoky fires that broke out last week at rush hour, forcing the closure of the Downtown Crossing, South Station and Chinatown subway stations.

Fraser is scheduled to record the announcement at T subway operations headquarters on High Street in Boston this afternoon.

In a statement, the MBTA said Fraser's public service announcement is one part of a three-part response to the fires that infuriated thousands of home-bound commuters.

The second part is a reminder to T employees they should pick up trash or alert dispatchers when garbage is spotted in a tunnel so a crew can safely be sent in to clean up the mess.

Finally, the T's power department, which oversees the electrical wiring throughout the system, is to map out a plan to replace the most derelict electrical systems with materials that generate far less smoke should future incidents occur.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/09/boston_fire_com.html

I think the T should start considering about installing platform screen doors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

KentXie said:
I think the T should start considering about installing platform screen doors.
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Not a terrible idea and solves the problem, but i think too "airport" and more, too expensive. If new signs is a 2 year, $500k project i shudder to think what this would be.

And given the track record on mechanical peformance (existing sliding doors, escalators, switches, trains) it could be a disaster as well.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Maybe they should just consider installing them in under ground stations for heavy rail lines. There're around 23 underground stations on the MBTA not counting Bowdoin.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

You know, you guys give the T a lot of shit for wasting money. What about when they save money?

I go through Haymarket station everyday. And there is always some sort of major water leak on the platforms? Does the T waste money by spending millions of dollars trying to fix the problem?

Nope! They save T riders that massive expense by cleverly grabbing stacks and stacks of free (FREE!) Metros, Phoenix and Digs to sop up the water!

Now that's think outside the box!
 
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