General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

JeffDowntown said:
SL4 and SL5 also have huge bunching problems, and not just due to congestion in Chinatown. There is little attempt by drivers to maintain a schedule, so inbound you end up with as many as five (yes 5!) SL buses at Tufts Medical inbound at once. The local joke is that SL's run in packs.

Truly horrible, because then there is a huge service gap throughout the route.
Click to expand...

Have there been any recent studies (as in since implementation) on how to improve SL4 or SL5?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Don't blame drivers for bunching. Bunching is caused by dwell times and overcrowding.

The blame rests squarely on the upper management, and their continual refusal to implement proper BRT. The management, all the way up to Davey, would rather spite the riders than implement all-door boarding. I know this because I have talked to Davey personally about it, and he was more worried about possible "free riders" than the fact that his vehicles are falling behind, bunching up, and providing crap service.

A service like the Silver Line should not be run on a fixed schedule where the departure time of each bus is known, but should instead be seeking to achieve regular, even headways. They should do this by speeding up dwell times with off-board payment, all-door boarding. The stations should be built to enable level-boarding at the curb without forcing the bus to leave its lane. They should [actually] use signal priority. There should be bus lanes all the way through. And finally, they should consider dispatching the buses according to algorithms like this one which naturally adjust to conditions to keep buses spaced out evenly.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Matthew said:
Don't blame drivers for bunching. Bunching is caused by dwell times and overcrowding.

The blame rests squarely on the upper management, and their continual refusal to implement proper BRT. The management, all the way up to Davey, would rather spite the riders than implement all-door boarding. I know this because I have talked to Davey personally about it, and he was more worried about possible "free riders" than the fact that his vehicles are falling behind, bunching up, and providing crap service.

A service like the Silver Line should not be run on a fixed schedule where the departure time of each bus is known, but should instead be seeking to achieve regular, even headways. They should do this by speeding up dwell times with off-board payment, all-door boarding. The stations should be built to enable level-boarding at the curb without forcing the bus to leave its lane. They should [actually] use signal priority. There should be bus lanes all the way through. And finally, they should consider dispatching the buses according to algorithms like this one which naturally adjust to conditions to keep buses spaced out evenly.
Click to expand...

You are correct, sorry to blame the drivers -- it is a systems engineering error on the part of the T. The implementation is not BRT in any meaningful definition of the concept.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

All very true Matthew. One just has to look at the difference boarding for the 111 has when there are different inspectors. Those inspectors that are more proactive in rear door boarding and managing the flow of the buses leaving the station result in a much more orderly commute.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

My problem with bunching is when it's caused by passengers who don't have enough fare in their charlie card and who takes a really long time to reload it on the bus. I understand that occasionally you forget to reload your card and that's fine but if you do forget to reload your card, please do/don't do the following things:

- Do have cash out ready so you don't have to dig through your purse, wallet, bag to find it.
- Do straighten out your bills beforehand so that it doesn't get rejected multiple times before it gets accepted.
- Do learn how to reload the card in the first place so you don't need the driver to teach you how.
- Don't pay in nickles and dimes.
- Don't carry 3+ charlie card and test each one to see if any of them has enough value to pay the fare.
- Don't be the first one to get on the bus. By doing so, those that can quickly tap through are stuck waiting outside in the cold/heat/rain/snow. Plus the bus can continue to move while you reload your card, whereas it can't when other passengers are waiting to board.

Yes, it may seem like reloading a card will only cause a slight delay but it will add up when multiple passengers forget and if each one of them manages to do/don't do one of the things mentioned above and it will cause buses to bunch, especially during rush hour.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Again, something a proof-of-payment system would address. Either you could ban payment on-board, or you could have an on-board kiosk that doesn't interfere with normal boarding procedure.

One of the most egregious spots is Dudley, which ought to have off-board fare vending machines, but I've never been able to find them.

The T's management also bears some blame here for picking a farebox system which is extremely awkward and difficult to use quickly. Inserting coins should not be so hard, especially for people with arthritic fingers. There must be a better way of accepting dollars.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Does the T have any plans to put fare machines in more outlying, non-subway areas? The one in Worcester never seems to work and there are two at Central Square, Lynn. Any others? I vaguely recall one in Lowell, but I think it is LRTA.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The T really needs to encourage people to connect to the commuter rail when the Braintree branch melts down like this. Make announcements that all Old Colony trains are free to ride until they pass Braintree. I don't know if they can add more intermediate stops, given the constraints of the line, but just relieve some pressure, somehow.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

You can tell there's a problem on the T because UberX has jumped to 2.0x surge pricing at this time of day ;)
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It's going to be a long time before those new red and orange sets arrive.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Yesterday it was a cracked third rail. Not sure if that has anything to do with the cars (shoe problem?). Today it's "suspicious package" which in these paranoid times could happen anytime, anywhere.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

^Fair point, I didn't check into the specifics. I'll edit my point to say

"It's going to be a long time until those new red and orange sets arrive, and then we are still going to have crippling infrastructure problems."
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

4 120s have come and gone from Maverick. Still not a single 116 or 117. Wtffff.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Matthew said:
Again, something a proof-of-payment system would address. Either you could ban payment on-board, or you could have an on-board kiosk that doesn't interfere with normal boarding procedure.

One of the most egregious spots is Dudley, which ought to have off-board fare vending machines, but I've never been able to find them.

The T's management also bears some blame here for picking a farebox system which is extremely awkward and difficult to use quickly. Inserting coins should not be so hard, especially for people with arthritic fingers. There must be a better way of accepting dollars.
Click to expand...

The MBTA was busy getting their discount on that fare system for being a test city AND the former governor was only too happy because the German company based its U.S. subsidiary in Burlington. NOTE- They've since moved out west after getting more public transit bodies on their team.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Matthew said:
Yesterday it was a cracked third rail. Not sure if that has anything to do with the cars (shoe problem?). Today it's "suspicious package" which in these paranoid times could happen anytime, anywhere.
Click to expand...

The broken third rail damaged the shoes from a train during the first incident on Tuesday evening and caused a loss of power to the train. That was the "disabled train" that was first reported that caused the initial delays. Once the officials on the scene realized why the train had lost power, they knew they had a bigger problem to deal with than just a disabled train.

There is a major project underway to rebuild the track and signals at Columbia Junction (located between JFK U Mass and Andrew). The two third rail failures were both in locations that are within the construction zone of the rehab project.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

On Monday, I waited 45 minutes in the sleet and snow during rush hour for the 93 bus when it normally comes every 5-7 minutes. Yes the weather was bad and Boston is a fair weather city that normally sees temperature in the 60s during the winter but 45 minutes? What's even more ridiculous is that only one overcrowded bus came. ONE! I walked up 6 stops, nearly to the top of Bunker Hill to get on and I was the 2nd to last person to fit on the bus. The bus ended up probably leaving 50 or so passengers on its way out of Charlestown because it couldn't pick up much more and there was no bus behind it either. 50 or so people were left in the cold to wait for the next one. The bus literally crawled down the street at 10 mph.

And tonight as I was coming back from BU and temperatures dropped to near the teens, the 93 at 9:10 pm decides to not show up at all. I walked home. What normally takes 30 minutes took me nearly 2 hours.

Sometimes when I read the news about T drivers being spit at, I feel sort of bad for them, but then I remember all the times the T has left me out in the cold and snow or forced me to walk back home in temperature cold enough that I can't feel my extremities. They get no sympathy for me because some of them deserves to be spat at.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Do you use any of the bus tracking apps like NextBus? I've always found it pretty accurate - maybe not to the exact minute, but worth it to see if there's a 15+ minute wait or major delay before I head to the bus stop in the freezing night.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Shepard said:
Do you use any of the bus tracking apps like NextBus? I've always found it pretty accurate - maybe not to the exact minute, but worth it to see if there's a 15+ minute wait or major delay before I head to the bus stop in the freezing night.
Click to expand...

Yup I use Open MBTA which is I would say 95% accurate. It said the bus was coming at 9:20 but only the 92 came. The 93 bus that was supposed to appear at 9:20 just disappeared afterwards. As for the rush hour problem, the app tracks the real time by how fast the bus should be moving through the stops. What often happens is the bus sits at Sullivan longer than it should so the time ends up being moved back 5-10 minutes. Usually. Regardless, its inexcusable for a bus to arrive 45 minutes late during rush hour.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Well, in case all else fails and you're wondering "What To Expect When You're Expectorating" - it's likely a trip to wherever Transit Police want to take you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top