General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[whighlander]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I'm surprised. I figured with natural gas price being so low right now I would think there would be real operational savings over diesel. Ignoring for a moment the (substantial) upfront investment - does anyone know if the CNG buses are cheaper to run?

AMF -- Massport has gone whole-hog on CNG
All the buses based at Logan will have to be CNG fairly soon

 

[whighlander]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I'm pretty sure I've read that they use sampling and visual counts and a number of statistical methods rather than only relying on the card readers for data. Transit systems have been keeping ridership statistics from the beginning, with techniques that were effective long before any kind of fare box data collection was possible.

Henry -- since the vast majority of T heavy / light rail users are commuters who end-up debarking at one of the underground (or Charles or Airport) stations --they presumably use those stations as embarkation points in the evening so they should be counted in the PM

The only real exceptions to the above:
1) BU students / faculty using the Comm Ave line as local transport
2) tourists going to the MFA (though they should be embarking downtown and counted there
3) people returning from a trip and entering the system through the Silver Line at Logan who might disembark on a Green Line surface stop

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The fifth annual outdoor Water Gun Fight is taking place at a mystery spot in the city, and this year, the theme is the MBTA.

Each team will be dressed up in the colors of an assigned MBTA line—Green, Blue, Red and Orange.

According to the group’s event page, there is no Silver Line team because, well, “we know you’re a bus.”

The secret location of the free soak-fest will be announced later tonight, via e-mail, to those who register in advance on their website.

http://bostinno.com/2012/07/13/huge-mbta-themed-water-gun-fight-going-down-in-boston-saturday/

 

[omaja]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Speaking of customer service and serving those who don't pay... anyone know why BU can't afford to have special buses for its incoming student orientations and relies on the ever-unreliable MBTA to do so? I got caught waiting 5+ minutes for a gaggle of stupid parents and idiotic tour guides boarding a train at Pleasant St inbound the other night. Easily 50+ people and I don't think a single one paid.

Then, to my horror, going back home from Copley I had to contend with their even more annoying offspring at 10:30 p.m. At least they had to pay outbound. Probably never had more delight in the front door only policy when the conductor refused to open the back doors for all of those entitled brats. Though it was slightly annoying having to wait for 100+ of them to exit through the front door.

So frustrating for everyone involved, I'm sure. As a parent, you're shelling out $50K+ per year and they can't even have special shuttles? Give me a break! The B Line doesn't exist for BU.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Speaking of customer service and serving those who don't pay... anyone know why BU can't afford to have special buses for its incoming student orientations and relies on the ever-unreliable MBTA to do so? I got caught waiting 5+ minutes for a gaggle of stupid parents and idiotic tour guides boarding a train at Pleasant St inbound the other night. Easily 50+ people and I don't think a single one paid.

Then, to my horror, going back home from Copley I had to contend with their even more annoying offspring at 10:30 p.m. At least they had to pay outbound. Probably never had more delight in the front door only policy when the conductor refused to open the back doors for all of those entitled brats. Though it was slightly annoying having to wait for 100+ of them to exit through the front door.

So frustrating for everyone involved, I'm sure. As a parent, you're shelling out $50K+ per year and they can't even have special shuttles? Give me a break! The B Line doesn't exist for BU.

The T exists to serve the community and all areas around it. It is not just for locals nor is it just for special people. Everyone can and should be able to utilize it as a sustainable transit option in Boston. Asking for special shuttles is extremely backwards, anti-urban thinking. Shuttles are something you would expect from Roger Williams in the middle of nowhere, not downtown Boston with excellent transit access.

It's not just your problem either. I have to deal with the same BS on the E-Line at Longwood Medical Area because the ENTIRE BLS swarms it every. single. weekday. at 3PM. It's annoying, but I'd still much prefer having them using public transit than the school system adding 50 more school buses to the road.

 

[saulblum]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

not downtown Boston with excellent transit access.

If Comm Ave had excellent transit access, a few dozen newcomers to the city would not back up an entire line as they fiddled with coins and dollar bills at one single farebox on-board the vehicle, or apparently, in this case, ended up not paying at all.

 

[Mark02474]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I never fully explained the operational problems with CNG. With its lower energy density than gas/diesel fuel, MPG is under 2 miles per gallon. The problem this creates is how much fuel can be put on board, how far the bus can go on a load of fuel, and then the longer refueling time for CNG compared to diesel. Operationally, CNG buses won't have as many service hours a day as diesel buses due to limited driving distances and extra refueling time, besides more costly refueling equipment (fewer filling spots). Consequently, the T can only use CNG buses where service/refueling depot locations, route distances and schedule opportunities for refueling allow.

 

[George_Apley]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Speaking of customer service and serving those who don't pay... anyone know why BU can't afford to have special buses for its incoming student orientations and relies on the ever-unreliable MBTA to do so? I got caught waiting 5+ minutes for a gaggle of stupid parents and idiotic tour guides boarding a train at Pleasant St inbound the other night. Easily 50+ people and I don't think a single one paid.

Then, to my horror, going back home from Copley I had to contend with their even more annoying offspring at 10:30 p.m. At least they had to pay outbound. Probably never had more delight in the front door only policy when the conductor refused to open the back doors for all of those entitled brats. Though it was slightly annoying having to wait for 100+ of them to exit through the front door.

So frustrating for everyone involved, I'm sure. As a parent, you're shelling out $50K+ per year and they can't even have special shuttles? Give me a break! The B Line doesn't exist for BU.

I'm pretty sure that BU already has a University Shuttle Bus system...

http://www.bu.edu/thebus/

Might not be available to prospective students, but they do exist.

 

[HenryAlan]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

If I understand what Omaja described, it was probably a somewhat informal tour group organized on an as needed basis. They wouldn't be able to schedule shuttle buses for this sort of thing, and more to the point -- what Datadyne said. Part of the selling point on a campus like BU's is the city and the 'T. They should absolutely feature it on the tours.

 

[bbfen]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

If I understand what Omaja described, it was probably a somewhat informal tour group organized on an as needed basis. They wouldn't be able to schedule shuttle buses for this sort of thing, and more to the point -- what Datadyne said. Part of the selling point on a campus like BU's is the city and the 'T. They should absolutely feature it on the tours.

And the T should be something worth featuring. Unfortunately, they won't even tackle low-hanging fruit such as signal priority and fixing the fare system. To my continued dismay.

 

[omaja]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The T exists to serve the community and all areas around it. It is not just for locals nor is it just for special people. Everyone can and should be able to utilize it as a sustainable transit option in Boston. Asking for special shuttles is extremely backwards, anti-urban thinking. Shuttles are something you would expect from Roger Williams in the middle of nowhere, not downtown Boston with excellent transit access.

The MBTA does not, however, exist to provide free service for Boston University's special events. The Green Line is easily overwhelmed when groups of 50-75+ students, parents, and orientation leaders swarm one two-car train and expect to have non-stop, fare-free service.

If Comm Ave had excellent transit access, a few dozen newcomers to the city would not back up an entire line as they fiddled with coins and dollar bills at one single farebox on-board the vehicle, or apparently, in this case, ended up not paying at all.

Thank you, that is exactly the issue at hand.

If I understand what Omaja described, it was probably a somewhat informal tour group organized on an as needed basis. They wouldn't be able to schedule shuttle buses for this sort of thing, and more to the point -- what Datadyne said. Part of the selling point on a campus like BU's is the city and the 'T. They should absolutely feature it on the tours.

No, it was not an informal tour group organized on an as-needed basis; those would be ~25 people or less. We are talking 50-75+ people mobbing one train. It was very clearly a planned part of their incoming student orientation with some sort of event Downtown - perhaps a harbor cruise or somesuch. My biggest issue is the entitlement that such instances breed whereby parents and students expect to inconvenience everyone else who is actually paying while they cause delays and board for free. It is absurd.

When you have a special event and need to move hundreds of people from on destination to another, the T (especially the Green Line) is not the appropriate avenue for doing so.

 

[Mark02474]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The MBTA does not, however, exist to provide free service for Boston University's special events.

You fail to appreciate the position of the BU administration. Boston exists to serve BU!

I attended a MassDOT hearing a few months ago on the next phase for the Comm Ave reconstruction project. This heads west from the Kenmore Square part already completed. The goal is to widen Green line platforms at two stops serving BU. BU owns the land on both sides, so, I assert, the project is mostly for them. Less than a mile of roadway will be realigned for $15M to allow a $5M MBTA project to widen the narrow platforms. Landscaping will be added along BU's sidewalks.

BU plans to contribute no money to the project. When a developer wants to build an office park, mall, or even a single large store, they pay for road upgrades. Not BU. I pointed this out at the hearing and some VP at BU got up in a huff and claimed BU chipped in for the Kemore Square part and does its part (MassDOT people were amused at my question and the outrage by BU for even asking why they don't pay for something for them). Later on, I found out that BU helped pay for the Kenmore Square project at the last minute because it wasn't going to happen otherwise - the taxpayer funds weren't enough to cover the project costs. BU owns Kenmore Square too, so, they should have had their checkbook open at the beginning anyway.

On this area of Comm Ave, sidewalks are so wide that they had been used for diagonal parking up to about 2000. I suggested there was plentiful width for bike tracks on them. They said they never considered that.

 

[omaja]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

You fail to appreciate the position of the BU administration. Boston exists to serve BU!

This is very, very apparent. The entitlement with respect to the T that is displayed by BU's student population is no doubt a product of how the administration treats the privilege of having such a service right through its campus.

As for the Comm Ave reconstruction, I wish the MBTA would man up and outright eliminate two or more stops between BU Central and Packard's Corner. So much redundancy that can be better served via BU's own shuttle system and/or the 57 bus. But alas, BU West, St. Paul, Pleasant and Babcock have "always" been there so, you know, they are so vital to the community and need to stay.

I'm still wondering why they didn't combine BU East and BU Central into one station back when they reconstructed the Kenmore-BU Bridge segment. The stations are a block apart for crying out loud.

 

[ErnieAdams]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Friday evening's adventures on the Green Line:

Board on the C inbound about 6:30, 10 cents left on my card as a vestige from the pre-7/1 fares. I go to the second car so I can reload without bothering the driver. Feed a $10 bill into the farebox, which recognizes it as a $5. The non-driver -- whose primary function, it should be noted, is to operate the fare box -- doesn't know how to cancel it, and insists that I tap my card again. Yep, it's $5 for $10. He can grab a reimbursement form for me when we get to Kenmore. No thanks -- not a chance of making it to Downtown Crossing during business hours anytime soon. The fare hikes do not strike evenly on this day, five years since Charlie came to town and still has not brought with him any fare machines to Coolidge, Wash. Sq., or St. Mary's.

Outbound around 11, taking the B, obviously a mistake at that hour, but after 15 minutes at Park I'm not waiting for the C any longer. Idle at Kenmore for a four-minute schedule adjustment, begging for a C or even a D. No dice. When we pull into BU Central, the bro seated by the middle door has a surprise visit from his third through eighth SoCo-and-limes. I bail, having to go to the front of the car and around his now-20-foot-long vomit puddle because the rear doors aren't being opened on a platform that (a) also has lots of room for fare machines that haven't been installed five years later, and (b) has no ostensible fare-evaders on it at that hour in the summer anyway. I walk the last mile home.

Boston. Fin.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

If Comm Ave had excellent transit access, a few dozen newcomers to the city would not back up an entire line as they fiddled with coins and dollar bills at one single farebox on-board the vehicle, or apparently, in this case, ended up not paying at all.

Those are operational faults and can be fixed (ie. front-door only or the long-term goal implementation of PoP). BU has plenty of transit infrastructure. I agree that the T does not exist to freely serve BU's special events and it never has. Operational faults might have resulted in fare-dodging, but the situation as it stands is that theoretically everyone must pay just like any other light rail stop on the Green Line. Some of you are treating this situation as if the MBTA is letting everyone on for free at BU on purpose. Also consider the long-term effect:

Student comes to visit BU, gets shuttled around
Student comes to accepted student day, gets shuttled around
Student comes to college... how likely are they to want to purchase a T pass if their experience of the city was getting shuttled around? That's actually what the BUS does anyways. It's simply not the appropriate response to the problem.

Like I said, the same exact thing happens with the BLS on the E-line. I'm sure that most of them have Student LinkPasses, but I'm sure there are some that fare-dodge from time-to-time too. It's just the price that the system pays for serving those specific institutions.

 

[bbfen]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Some of you are treating this situation as if the MBTA is letting everyone on for free at BU on purpose.

They are. Even though most of the general public doesn't believe so, there are headways to consider. Compounded over years that gives BU a sense of entitlement. And they already had a pretty bloated ego for some reason.

 

[omaja]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Some of you are treating this situation as if the MBTA is letting everyone on for free at BU on purpose. Also consider the long-term effect:

Student comes to visit BU, gets shuttled around
Student comes to accepted student day, gets shuttled around
Student comes to college... how likely are they to want to purchase a T pass if their experience of the city was getting shuttled around? That's actually what the BUS does anyways. It's simply not the appropriate response to the problem.

They do. Because in these cases it is easier to give in than fight. Also, a pretty significant percentage of BU's population already do not purchase passes. Instead, they evade fares when possible or use their CharlieCards when they can't. Again, my issue is with respect to very specific instances (orientations) where BU needs to move hundreds of people from one location to another. The MBTA is not the way to do that.

 

[Mark02474]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

As for the Comm Ave reconstruction, I wish the MBTA would man up and outright eliminate two or more stops between BU Central and Packard's Corner. So much redundancy that can be better served via BU's own shuttle system and/or the 57 bus. But alas, BU West, St. Paul, Pleasant and Babcock have "always" been there so, you know, they are so vital to the community and need to stay.

I'm still wondering why they didn't combine BU East and BU Central into one station back when they reconstructed the Kenmore-BU Bridge segment. The stations are a block apart for crying out loud.

You make great suggestions that need to be raised with MassDOT and the MBTA QUICKLY. There was a $10M project to analyze and eliminate stops on the top bus routes, so why not the Green Line which suffers so much because of it.

I would love to hear BU both defend the need for all the stops and not paying for any of the road and MBTA projects to upgrade the platforms!

Which brings me back to my suggestion on how to help fund the MBTA with fairer city/town assessments. The current system levies based on population. Do it by service instead. Each bus/subway stop gets charged for so there is an incentive to reduce them and thus the operational cost to the MBTA and the time cost to riders suffering slower journeys. If an institution or business wants a stop, they can pay for it (and name it), be it BU, a hospital, or other employer. Cambridge and Brookline get far more service than they pay for. Somerville wants its unfair share too with the GLX.

 

[Mark02474]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

BU needs to move hundreds of people from one location to another. The MBTA is not the way to do that.

This supports my idea to put bicycle "tracks" on the enormous sidewalks at places like Northeastern and BU. Perhaps BU needs to buy a moving sidewalk for its spoiled students, given the slight hill. I call it slight because we have real hills at Cornell as do many colleges. Absolutely, the MBTA should not be BU's shuttle service and how taxpayer funds are used.

 

[KentXie]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

This supports my idea to put bicycle "tracks" on the enormous sidewalks at places like Northeastern and BU. Perhaps BU needs to buy a moving sidewalk for its spoiled students, given the slight hill. I call it slight because we have real hills at Cornell as do many colleges. Absolutely, the MBTA should not be BU's shuttle service and how taxpayer funds are used.

I can't speak for BU because I don't go there often enough but there are no "enormous" sidewalks along Huntington Ave with the exception of that one section where Marino and Speare Hall is located, unless enormous sidewalks constitute allowing 3 people walking side-by-side. You can make a case for Columbus Ave but there are already a bike path running through the sidewalk.