General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I commuted for most of a year on the D branch and now use the C branch occasionally. I found the Green Line pretty reliable. Though the lack of signal priority is pretty annoying. Oftentimes it is faster for me to walk to the St Mary's portal than to take a train there. Also, it seems like the Red Line has had major problems like trains getting stuck in the tunnel for hours.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

metasyntactic said:
I commuted for most of a year on the D branch and now use the C branch occasionally. I found the Green Line pretty reliable. Though the lack of signal priority is pretty annoying. Oftentimes it is faster for me to walk to the St Mary's portal than to take a train there. Also, it seems like the Red Line has had major problems like trains getting stuck in the tunnel for hours.
Click to expand...

To go from St. Paul Steet to the stop just before Coolidge Corner, I forget the name, could require a train stopping 5 times to go 2 stops.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

choo said:
I ride the T for work and to go out... 95% of the time its fine. And when it breaks down it does suck. The fact that it gets blown out of proportion is probably more because it is so overwhelmingly relied on by so many people, and not that its operational track record is relatively terrible. However, when the MBTA does mess up, its does so in a spectacularly horrible way.
Click to expand...

I too am mystified by the level of complaint lobbed at the 'T. I very rarely have any issues with general operations. The only real and enduring complaint that I have is it doesn't go everywhere I think it should.

omaja said:
Too bad the MBTA isn't like a significant other that you can just dump and pick up a new whenever you'd like.
Click to expand...

That sounds nice, until you realize that the relationships that survive are the ones in which the two partners are committed to sticking with each other and making things work. We have to view the 'T that way, rather than through the lens of instant gratification, dump one and date another tomorrow. I suspect many (not meaning you per se) want the 'T to behave like a car, and would like to in fact dump it for the car. But the car has her own issues, like parking, cost, etc. So rather than finding a way to be happy with the relationship that best suits their actual needs, they complain.

And before people jump in about the B-line, the 77 bus, etc., I do realize and acknowledge that there are some tricky spots in the system that need work. But much, probably most, of the system works quite well at what it tries to do.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

That sounds nice, until you realize that the relationships that survive are the ones in which the two partners are committed to sticking with each other and making things work.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you stole that line from Sleepless in Seattle. Or maybe a Peter Cetera song.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

If so, it was inadvertent. I never saw Sleepless in Seattle, but I've probably heard a few Peter Cetera songs.

Anyway, it's just common sense, I'm sure millions have said something along those lines over the years.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

HenryAlan said:
That sounds nice, until you realize that the relationships that survive are the ones in which the two partners are committed to sticking with each other and making things work. We have to view the 'T that way, rather than through the lens of instant gratification, dump one and date another tomorrow. I suspect many (not meaning you per se) want the 'T to behave like a car, and would like to in fact dump it for the car. But the car has her own issues, like parking, cost, etc. So rather than finding a way to be happy with the relationship that best suits their actual needs, they complain.
Click to expand...

But you're right about a relationship only working if both sides are committed, and that's why (aside from a purely economical standpoint) I continue to purchase my monthly pass and use the system daily. Boston needs the MBTA just as much as the MBTA needs Boston.

At a certain point, though, something has got to give on the T's side where there is close to zero initiative to innovate and improve. I don't think increasing fares for the sole purpose of maintaining the status quo (deferred maintenance, inefficient operations, outdated technology) qualifies. In other words: where's the light at the end of the tunnel? When/how do we get beyond the stagnation and neglect?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

F-Line to Dudley said:
No, no. They paid for all the signal prioritization wiring and said, "Here...you just sign off here for these sensors for 2 grand each and give us permission to install them for you and you're all hooked up. And if you're still not convinced we'll trial it at only three intersections and see how you like it, OK?"

...and the MBTA said "fuck you."
Click to expand...

If I was the sort of fella who liked dudes (not that there's anything wrong with it!), I'd want to make out with you right now. Hilarious stuff.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

datadyne007 said:
You should see the Berlin U-Bahn (older trains, not Type H)... Now that is cozy.
Click to expand...

The first time I was in Berlin, I was surprised at how cozy the Kleinprofil cars were. I was also very surprised at how quiet they are as they run along the U1's elevated track through Kreuzberg toward its terminus at Warschauer Straße. I have a friend who lives on Mariannenstraße, about a block from the line, and they can not be heard from there. Alternatively, I lived at Northampton and Tremont Sts, about twice the distance from the Orange Line than my friend is from the U1, a few years back and every train that passed could be heard from my place.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Roxxma said:
The first time I was in Berlin, I was surprised at how cozy the Kleinprofil cars were. I was also very surprised at how quiet they are as they run along the U1's elevated track through Kreuzberg toward its terminus at Warschauer Straße. I have a friend who lives on Mariannenstraße, about a block from the line, and they can not be heard from there. Alternatively, I lived at Northampton and Tremont Sts, about twice the distance from the Orange Line than my friend is from the U1, a few years back and every train that passed could be heard from my place.
Click to expand...

My friends didn't even notice they were in Kleinprofil cars on the U1,2,3,4. (We lived on the U8 at Kottbusser Tor and the U1 was critical for clubbing at Warschauerstr). Meanwhile, I was geeking out at how they were smaller because those are the older lines. =P

Yes, you bring up a good point too. The Orange Line is ridiculously loud. Everything just works better in Berlin though... they actually care about infrastructure.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

datadyne007 said:
My friends didn't even notice they were in Kleinprofil cars on the U1,2,3,4. (We lived on the U8 at Kottbusser Tor and the U1 was critical for clubbing at Warschauerstr). Meanwhile, I was geeking out at how they were smaller because those are the older lines. =P

Yes, you bring up a good point too. The Orange Line is ridiculously loud. Everything just works better in Berlin though... they actually care about infrastructure.
Click to expand...

It's that floating slab trackbed in the South Cove tunnel and SW Corridor. Bad idea. The deep-bore tunnel amplifies it to deafening levels inside the car just like Porter on Red, and the SW Corridor cut amplifies it for everyone in the neighborhood. For whatever reason it was all the rave for mid-80's construction, but they have never used it again. Rock Ballast + wood ties = dampening, not amplification. I don't know why that was so hard to understand.

I feel bad for the few people who live in condos abutting the parts of the Somerville Community Path where there's a Red Line vent shaft or emergency exit a dozen feet away. You almost have to cover your ears on the surface when walking past those grates while a train is passing underneath.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

^ Good point about the deafening levels inside the car too. I've been on some rides through the deep-bore tunnels that absolutely destroyed my ears. It puzzles me how the MBTA can even deem those decibel levels acceptable. You might as well be standing next to a jet with no ear protection.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Have you ever been on BART? It's got a howl which really hurts.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

^ So frustrating to see things like this take so long before they are implemented in the US. I know, for example, Madrid has had this technology on its 8000 series and subsequent trainsets since 2002. I am sure it is commonplace on many other systems as well.

Speaking of trainsets, anyone know why the US seems to have some of the ugliest trains in the world? Case in point: the new MBTA Blue Line trains that seem instantly dated with the boxy and garish steel design. The insides are quite nice but the outsides leave a lot to be desired. The Red and Orange have similarly ugly designs and don't even get me started on how hideous the Green Line type 8s are--inside and out! Boggles my mind that the same company that made this also made this.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

datadyne007 said:
^ Good point about the deafening levels inside the car too. I've been on some rides through the deep-bore tunnels that absolutely destroyed my ears. It puzzles me how the MBTA can even deem those decibel levels acceptable. You might as well be standing next to a jet with no ear protection.
Click to expand...

data -- if we are talking un-necessary noise -- try the screech coming out of Harvard heading to Central

If anything after all the investment in the station during the 1980's the screech got worse -- yet all it would take is a bit of widening to increase the radius of the turn
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

omaja said:
^ So frustrating to see things like this take so long before they are implemented in the US. I know, for example, Madrid has had this technology on its 8000 series and subsequent trainsets since 2002. I am sure it is commonplace on many other systems as well.

Speaking of trainsets, anyone know why the US seems to have some of the ugliest trains in the world? Case in point: the new MBTA Blue Line trains that seem instantly dated with the boxy and garish steel design. The insides are quite nice but the outsides leave a lot to be desired. The Red and Orange have similarly ugly designs and don't even get me started on how hideous the Green Line type 8s are--inside and out! Boggles my mind that the same company that made this also made this.
Click to expand...

US safety standards do not pass EuroTrams. That's how we consistently end up with absolutely disgusting pieces of unnecessarily bulky shit.

This issue came up a while back when I posted about Berlin's brand new "Flexity Berlin" stock.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Are US safety standards designed to ensure trams here can withstand the impact of an SUV or something? What's the rationale for them in the case of a heavy subway line that's entirely grade-separated?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

datadyne007 said:
US safety standards do not pass EuroTrams. That's how we consistently end up with absolutely disgusting pieces of unnecessarily bulky shit.

This issue came up a while back when I posted about Berlin's brand new "Flexity Berlin" stock.
Click to expand...

I thought the really strict safety standards only affected lines with mixed freight/passenger operations because the FRA hates the idea of mixing the two? Wouldn't surprise me that there is some archaic legislation affecting rapid transit as well, though.

Too bad, too, because some nice, sleek, modern designs would certainly do a lot for the T's public image.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

But if the T did get sleek new designs, fiscal conservatives/libertarians/laissez-faire capitalists would complain about it wasting money.

Of course, they currently complain that the current, clunky old designs prove that government can't do anything better than private industry, so it's a lose-lose.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

You can't even compare them.

2007080301093130540.jpg

vs
799px-Flexitityberlin.jpg


Also note the practically atomic countdown clocks.

008.jpg

vs
FLEXITY_Berlin_innen.JPG


Note how there are no lights on during the day when the train is above ground.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top