General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

The Orange Line was shut down about a couple years ago for track work. Here were go again These lines will never be fixed right!! :eek: :eek:
 
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The smaller above-ground stops on the C branch now have real-time arrival signs 🥳
 
Post red line shutdown, looks like the line is largely free of slow zones with exception of the braintree branch, which continues to be a disaster. The looming September shutdown should do wonders for service frequency. By October 1st the line should be largely back to pre-pandemic travel times end-to-end.

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sneijder said:
Post red line shutdown, looks like the line is largely free of slow zones with exception of the braintree branch, which continues to be a disaster. The looming September shutdown should do wonders for service frequency. By October 1st the line should be largely back to pre-pandemic travel times end-to-end.

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It's sooo nice. I moved back to the Boston area three years ago, and this week is the first time the red line has been running kind of how I remember back in the day.
(My regular trips to Quincy continue to suck. But there's an end in sight.)

Is there some way to figure out what the deal is with the last couple of slow zones in Cambridge? Those sections have been closed a few times this year, and I figure they've replaced just about everything at this point. What might be the cause of the last couple of slow zones?
 
ritchiew said:
Is there some way to figure out what the deal is with the last couple of slow zones in Cambridge? Those sections have been closed a few times this year, and I figure they've replaced just about everything at this point. What might be the cause of the last couple of slow zones?
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If I had to guess, it might involve the switch at Kendall that they've been using for shutdowns, since trains often terminate at the station.
 
The last Red Line closure seems to be pretty successful - even Transit Matter's dashboard today only has a minor slowdown Central -> Kendall (which is the sole slow zone the MBTA tracker flags as a 25pmh+ zone). Otherwise Alewife to Andrew is all clear, and JFK to Ashmont is still holding well. It does seem that once the Braintree branch closure is done we might really be looking at a slow free Red Line.

edit: this is what I get for posting with a stale version of the thread open, rather redundant on my part.
 
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According to TransitMatters' Data Dashboard:

Yesterday, there were 23 minutes, 41 seconds of slow zones on the Red Line. This was the lowest amount of slow zone time since June 2:
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On the weekend of June 1-2, Shuttle Buses replaced service between Alewife and Harvard for track work. The last time there was full service with fewer slow zone time on the Red Line than yesterday was Memorial Day, May 27:
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Memorial Day is obviously a Federal Holiday. The last workday there was fewer slow zone time on the Red Line than yesterday was February 3, 2023, weeks before The Great Slowdown of 2023:
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More findings to come in a follow-up message.
 
bigeman312 said:
According to TransitMatters' Data Dashboard:

Yesterday, there were 23 minutes, 41 seconds of slow zones on the Red Line. This was the lowest amount of slow zone time since June 2:
View attachment 54624
On the weekend of June 1-2, Shuttle Buses replaced service between Alewife and Harvard for track work. The last time there was full service with fewer slow zone time on the Red Line than yesterday was Memorial Day, May 27:
View attachment 54625
Memorial Day is obviously a Federal Holiday. The last workday there was fewer slow zone time on the Red Line than yesterday was February 3, 2023, weeks before The Great Slowdown of 2023:
View attachment 54626

More findings to come in a follow-up message.
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Downtown Crossing <-> Kendall/MIT

Yesterday (8/27), Downtown Crossing -> Kendall had a median travel time of 4 minutes, 45 seconds, which was the fastest since July 3, 2023:

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Yesterday (8/27), Kendall -> Downtown Crossing had a median travel time of 5 minutes, 14 seconds, which was the fastest since July 30, 2023:

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Alewife <-> Ashmont

Zooming out, yesterday (8/27), Alewife -> Ashmont had a median travel time of 38 minutes, 28 seconds, which was the fastest since June 27, 2022:

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Ashmont -> Alewife hasn't had improved travel times due to the now 17-day-old slow zone between JFK/UMass and Andrew.
 
I was under the impression that the Park to MGH slow zone was due to the aging viaduct and wasn’t going to be fixed in this round of repairs. Seems that isn’t the case. 150 seconds to 60 seconds over that one segment.

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At this point, there’s likely a general consensus among transit-followers that Phillip Eng has dramatically improved the MBTA’s transparency, planning, maintenance, and management practices. There is a stark difference between the Poftak administration and the Eng administration and its honestly shocking how much of a difference competent management makes.

So, I pose the question: what can we collectively do to ensure that the next GM of the MBTA is of the Eng mold and not the Poftak mold?

I can honestly say that if the T continues moving in this direction, the Greater Boston area becomes a much more attractive place for residents, visitors, and businesses. It’s clear to me that having a competent GM of the MBTA is one of the most crucial roles for this region, yet it is not an elected position and the governor has typically not even stated who they are going to appoint prior to being elected. So, what can we do as Massachusetts residents, collectively?

PS: Eng for President.
 
bigeman312 said:
At this point, there’s likely a general consensus among transit-followers that Phillip Eng has dramatically improved the MBTA’s transparency, planning, maintenance, and management practices. There is a stark difference between the Poftak administration and the Eng administration and its honestly shocking how much of a difference competent management makes.

So, I pose the question: what can we collectively do to ensure that the next GM of the MBTA is of the Eng mold and not the Poftak mold?

I can honestly say that if the T continues moving in this direction, the Greater Boston area becomes a much more attractive place for residents, visitors, and businesses. It’s clear to me that having a competent GM of the MBTA is one of the most crucial roles for this region, yet it is not an elected position and the governor has typically not even stated who they are going to appoint prior to being elected. So, what can we do as Massachusetts residents, collectively?

PS: Eng for President.
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We are a bit like NYC in that democracy has decayed pretty heavily. The reasons we got Eng are basically whoever had Healey's ear at the time. So we need to do elite persuasion, so that's 1) the mysterious "advocates" that have an elevated voice for what agencies listen to 2) the politician friends of the governor/transportation secretary (eg. that whole story about how one guy convinced Tibbits-Nutt to get rid of the layover at West Station)
 
Longfellow said:
We are a bit like NYC in that democracy has decayed pretty heavily. The reasons we got Eng are basically whoever had Healey's ear at the time. So we need to do elite persuasion, so that's 1) the mysterious "advocates" that have an elevated voice for what agencies listen to 2) the politician friends of the governor/transportation secretary (eg. that whole story about how one guy convinced Tibbits-Nutt to get rid of the layover at West Station)
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Are there paths forward that include systemic change so that we move away from Gangs of New York style “democracy?”
 
Currently It's like a cabinet post - the best person for those jobs is always going to depend on the governor's preferences, and the job description changes every time someone is in the top seat. Structurally, I'd suggest taking the hiring a GM role away from the Governor/MassDOT secretary directly, and assigning that role to the MBTA Board - much in the same way a corporation's board is responsible for their CEO. That would reduce the political effect on the GM role, in so much as the governor is limited to influencing the board, like a majority shareholder.


Frankly, I think the driving thing behind Eng's competence is operational experience leading a major transit organization, and I think the way to keep the T run competently in the medium term is for Eng to build a deep bench of operational talent in the middle upper ranks for future govs to draw from, and who will be in post doing the meat of the work. At least part of this is that senior executives qualified to run a major transit agency are in relatively short supply. There's what, roughly a dozen North American transit agencies with the depth and breadth of the T? External talent like Eng and the team he brought up from NYC won't necessarily be available when the T needs it. NYC took Rich Davey... it's a finite pool.

Look at the last 5 GMs - of them the most recent 3, Poftak, Ramirez, & Shortsleeve - none of them had transit experience before the T. They’re all management types, more comfortable with boardrooms and cost accounting than trains. We got Eng from the LIRR, but before them, Beverly Scott came from MARTA, and seems to have been generally competent before the 2015 snowpocolypse - but even that was nearly a force-majure incident. Following was DePaola, a 20 year T engineer who, by all accounts, kept the T running during that winter before he retired with cancer. The job needs someone who has that depth of experience to draw from, and then look at the T's leadership when Poftak resigned. Who at the T, in a AGM or Chief officer would have been qualified to take over?

Bar the DGM Jeff Gonneville, (who appears to have recently resigned in May) the bench was woefully bare of anyone with real operational experience, being mostly MBA types. Eng is building the bench, with new "Chiefs of" that actually have operational experience running the system like Ryan Colohan as COO - and by the podcast episode he was on, that's currently a focus up and down to build an internal talent pool, from maintainers to management. That's where I hope the next generation of T leadership comes from.
 
TheRatmeister said:
Ranked Choice voting is a pretty big one
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I agree. I volunteered heavily for that effort in 2020 before COVID shut things down.

Given that failed, I’ll ask my question again: what can we collectively do to ensure that the next GM of the MBTA is of the Eng mold and not the Poftak mold?

If the sub-answer is “implement Ranked Choice Voting,” then the real question is “what can we collectively do to implement ranked choice voting?”

Alternatively, are we doomed to sit here discussing things that should be while watching them slip away with the next administration?
 
bigeman312 said:
I agree. I volunteered heavily for that effort in 2020 before COVID shut things down.

Given that failed, I’ll ask my question again: what can we collectively do to ensure that the next GM of the MBTA is of the Eng mold and not the Poftak mold?

If the sub-answer is “implement Ranked Choice Voting,” then the real question is “what can we collectively do to implement ranked choice voting?”

Alternatively, are we doomed to sit here discussing things that should be while watching them slip away with the next administration?
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Was there any lessons learned from the failure to pass it, and is there any time limits to trying to get it on the ballot again? It really does seem like the best way to go, although can be incredibly complex to explain. Best I can think of was an NPR piece from Ireland explaining how it worked in their local elections.

That said, I think I fully agree with taking control of the hiring out of the Governor's hands all together and make it a normal position and agree it probably should be appointed by the board. Since the board is appointed by the Governor and accountable to them, it should incentive good picks.

Also, Gangs of New York style? Mayor Curly is rolling over in his grave.
 
The MBTA posted a video to their YouTube channel yesterday describing the goals of the September Braintree Branch shutdown and in it Phil Eng states directly that at the end of it the Red Line will be restored to full 40mph operation, and a few months following the completion of work speeds will be raised to 50mph on the Braintree Branch.
 
Koopzilla24 said:
The MBTA posted a video to their YouTube channel yesterday describing the goals of the September Braintree Branch shutdown and in it Phil Eng states directly that at the end of it the Red Line will be restored to full 40mph operation, and a few months following the completion of work speeds will be raised to 50mph on the Braintree Branch.
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Which makes sense - even after the physical plant is fixed, I'm sure they've got to go back through and update signals, ATO commands, etc. It's also probably better to have the operators acclimate to 40mph first if they've gotten used to running at 10/25 before asking them to do 50.
 
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