General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[George_Apley]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

They're doing it wrong. VERY VERY wrong. Any Schwarzfahrer that's caught should be penalized. No exceptions or excuses.

This. PoP has to be all or nothing. You don't have proof-of-purchase, you get fined.

 

[deh74]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I'm really curious to see how buses & GL perform today. Free fare is a simulation of POP. In theory, they should be running more on time because of dramatically reduced dwell times.

I took the Green Line in from MFA and everything was running smoothly and quickly.

 

[The EGE]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I was actually out collecting data on that. Unfortunately, the information was not distributed well to the bus drivers. At Dudley, all the SL buses were opening all doors, but the 1 was not.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I was actually out collecting data on that. Unfortunately, the information was not distributed well to the bus drivers. At Dudley, all the SL buses were opening all doors, but the 1 was not.

Well kudos to the 111, 116 & 117 drivers because they were using all doors. It was wonderful!

 

[whighlander]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I took the Green Line in from MFA and everything was running smoothly and quickly.

On Induced Demand -- Friday should have been the ultimate test of Induction of Demand by lowering fares

Some personal observations on a nearly 3 hour tour-de-T:

• 13:15 I drove to Assembly Square and parked for free in a large lot near the Partners construction site -- lots of space remained
  
• I took the Orange Line north to Oak Grove to see what had happened along the tracks since Telcom City got renamed the Rivers' Edge.
  • Train was virtually empty except for 3 guys with bicycles
  • still lots of potential for development at Wellington
  • Development at Rivers' Edge -- driven by political hacks -- underway since mid 1990's with not too much to show for itself -- perhaps they should have done the Assembly thing and built another station between Wellington and Malden Center
  • passed by a Commuter Rail train heading north -- the race wasn't even close
  • Oak Grove -- a potential development site somehow not even being discussed
• Timing was perfect -- ready to depart Oak Grove heading south
  • train was again mostly empty -- two guys were talking about their new jobs selling Wind generated energy to the masses
  • finally south of Assembly approaching Sullivan Square -- only thing I could think about was Charles Ponzi as we passed the view of the Wind Turbine superimposed on the old Mystic Station -- about 2,000 wind turbines worth of fossil fuel powered generation -- still thankfully there
  • changed to the Blue Line at State -- Airport Bound
• Timing was perfect again about 3 minute wait for the Blue Line
  • Blue Line cars were much nicer than the Orange Line and somewhat more occupied
  • 14:02 Airport Station -- the best of the more recently built / rebuilt stations from the standpoint of a customer -- even had display of flights courtesy of Massport -- Massport is much better at customer service than the T
  • took the C-E shuttle which also stops at the Rental Car center -- huge structure -- no more competing rental car vans -- its all Blue Massport now
  • disembarked @ Terminal C -- haven't been inside since Emirates moved in -- gives the old terminal some pizzaz
  • the C-E Connector construction is hard to see as it is mostly inside the existing walls
  • took the moving walkway to the Main Garage -- expanding again with construction happening over near to the Hilton
  • moving walkway to Terminal E
  • Next -- Silver Line to South Boston Innovation District
• boarded the Silver Line after about a 5 minute wait -- about 1/2 full
  • Silver Line does have an essentially private exit from the Ted Williams Tunnel -- too band that it can't do the same on its trip to the Airport
  • hopped off on Congress behind the Seaport Hotel
  • 14:45 walking along Congress and heading for Courthouse area
  • South Boston Seaport / Innovation District -- still a lot of parking lots that will ultimately be built upon -- very much still a work in progress
  • not very impressed with District Hall -- seems weirdly out of place
  • missed the pedestrian access to the Courthouse station due to construction in all directions down by the Moakley Bridge
  • the construction over by the Children's Museum is definitely disrupting the pedestrian experience along the Fort Point Channel
  • Childrens Museum has become a major venue -- lots of activity
  • walked over the Summer St bridge heading for South Station
  • Tea Party Ship quite busy with tourists -- witnessed a T dump
  • South Station area very very busy -- both inside and out
  • took the escalator to the top of the CVS - nice view of the main waiting room floor
  • boarded the Red Line for DTX
• another short wait -- trains starting to get filled up -- very short ride 1 stop to DTX
  • 15:29 clear example of induced demand -- I wandered my way through to a stairs and came out on Washington St -- at the old Filene's entry
  • very busy -- nice to see the DTX much as in its heyday except for still a lot of vacant or under-utilized retail space
  • did a lot of looking and counting -- MT seems to be getting close to 30 floors
  • re-entered the T at the old / new entry under the MT on Franklin -- the T should work with Millenium Partners to make this a showpiece entry
  • few minutes wait and back on the Orange Line heading north
• 15:50 back on the Assembly platform walking to my car
  

Tremendous opportunity to take a look at the city without feeling guilty of spending Charlie

the T should do this once a month on a Saturday -- wouldn't lose much in $ and would expose the benefits of the system to more people

 

[Arlington]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

the T should do this once a month on a Saturday -- wouldn't lose much in $ and would expose the benefits of the system to more people

Yes, it could build familiarity and "ownership" by non-users.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Tremendous opportunity to take a look at the city without feeling guilty of spending Charlie

What is this actually supposed to mean?

A lot of people, myself included, felt very guilty about riding for free and being part of a campaign that was pointlessly costing the T about $1.5 mil in fare revenue ($5 mil if you lump in 15% LinkPass discounts). You're constantly harping about the T wasting money and you want the T to forgo fare revenue on a regular basis?

I think the Commuter Rail is really the only expensive (cost prohibitive to potential riders) factor on the entire T system. I'd support reduced fares (or special family fares?) on the Commuter Rail on weekends and such to encourage people to come into the city via the T. It is extremely expensive for a family of 4 to ride the Commuter Rail into the city & back for a day trip.

Yes, it could build familiarity and "ownership" by non-users.

I don't really think you need "win" anyone else back with reduced fare promotions. Families are really the only demographic the T should be targeting that they are currently losing out on.

--
Also, this guy's got the right idea:

Eric Wildman
‏@EricJWildman
Hi @MBTA / @MassDOT will fare machines be set up to allow riders to opt out of the May discount? I'd rather you have the $$ to fix the #mbta
https://twitter.com/EricJWildman/status/592742143631949824

 

[Matthew]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I wouldn't have ridden to Newburyport and Salem if not for the promotion. And spent money on food/beer in those places. That's not revenue the T is missing out on. It's an induced trip.

But yeah, I agree that it's a little silly to "suddenly" explore the subway system this one day. Anyone with a monthly/weekly pass can do it any day. I gave up my monthly pass cause it wasn't worth it anymore. But I have picked up a weekly pass once in a while when I know it'll be worthwhile.

Commuter rail is a different story. It's much more expensive and that price only makes sense for people commuting to 9-5 jobs when traffic and parking is a problem. The name is bad: "commuter rail" implies that it's only for commuting. In fact, it should be "regional rail" verging on rapid transit for the inner portions of the lines. Maintaining an entire railroad just for the benefit of a tiny segment of the market that is "9-5 commuters" is insanely expensive, which is part of the reason why the T bleeds money.

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I wouldn't have ridden to Newburyport and Salem if not for the promotion. And spent money on food/beer in those places. That's not revenue the T is missing out on. It's an induced trip.

Huh? But what does that do for the T? How is that not missed revenue? You used a service for free that you'd normally pay for. The T doesn't pay itself for the privilege of you riding it. The bars you went to in Salem & Newburyport aren't going to give the T a commission because it brought you there either.

In fact, it should be "regional rail" verging on rapid transit for the inner portions of the lines.

The Germans get it right with Regionalbahn.

 

[whighlander]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Huh? But what does that do for the T? How is that not missed revenue? You used a service for free that you'd normally pay for. The T doesn't pay itself for the privilege of you riding it. The bars you went to in Salem & Newburyport aren't going to give the T a commission because it brought you there either.


The Germans get it right with Regionalbahn.

Data -- you missed the key point of this discussion about temporary Free T Day

By the way because the T get's a piece of the Sales Tax -- every drink, sandwich or tourist whirligig purchased on that Newburyport Trip does contribute to the revenues for the T

While Friday was great PR -- Yes it did cost the T some $ -- and so it shouldn't be repeated on a normal commuter day

Note that the avoided [lost] revenues are smaller than you might think and the real additional costs were virtually $0

• "The Regular T Commuter" with monthly or weekly prepaid passes have by definition already paid for a maximum number of days of use and not the number of rides. Therefore any additional "free use" will not have any effect on the revenue stream.
  
• Almost all the avoided or lost revenue comes from the fares from those who have and regularly use Charlie Cards loaded with cash [fixed number of rides], or those who might just have bought a one ride Charlie Ticket. These are probably a relatively small percentage of the total workday riders.
  
• While economists like to talk about variable and marginal costs -- the reality is that if 1000 people normally use a service in a given period and even if somewhat more people use it on a day without revenue collection -- the cost of serving them is virtually the same [ok perhaps a bit more wear & tear] -- the trains run at the same speed and the same amount of current is used to get them moving, the lights are on, and the fans are venting.

However -- the real idea of Free T day is to expose the benefits of the T to the general non-commuting public at a time when the costs of the conducting the exercise are insignificant. Hence you don't want to do this during some major event [e.g. 4th of July Fireworks] when there need to be extra personnel on hand to handle the crowds.

So as I originally proposed pick one Saturday or Sunday a month and make it a Free T Day for all on that day -- you really would lose virtually nothing in revenue have and virtually nothing extra in costs --- But the value of letting families come in from the suburbs and spend a day in a museum or walking around Boston might be great

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

But it's likely that Matthew just would have got dinner in Boston which would also give the same tax revenue. I was originally writing an add-on to that post asking if he was referring to extra meal/beverage tax revenue, but decided to delete it because I just don't see how it pans out.

The meals tax revenue is marginal compared to a lost full T fare. If anything, the argument should be that Matthew & the MBTA helped boost Salem & Newburyport's economy, not really the T's.

 

[Matthew]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I was being quick and sloppy in my description. Yes: I 'boosted' the North Shore economy a tiny amount by choosing to ride out there and spend money. That ride only happened because of free fare day, an induced trip.

It's not revenue the T is missing out on because I would not have made that trip at all if it was any other day.

I wasn't the only person doing this either. In fact, I ran into another person with exactly the same idea (take a bike to Newburyport for no particular reason) while boarding the exact same train car as me. We both spent money out there. And we also saw a lot of other people getting on and off the train who were clearly people who would not have been there otherwise. Lots of kids, too. I'd see a family of 5 get on-board at one stop, go a short distance, then get off. And they'd be replaced by another family. It was amusing to me. I think the conductors were slightly less amused, one of them complained to me about all of the newbies.

 

[whighlander]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I was being quick and sloppy in my description. Yes: I 'boosted' the North Shore economy a tiny amount by choosing to ride out there and spend money. That ride only happened because of free fare day, an induced trip.

It's not revenue the T is missing out on because I would not have made that trip at all if it was any other day.

I wasn't the only person doing this either. In fact, I ran into another person with exactly the same idea (take a bike to Newburyport for no particular reason) while boarding the exact same train car as me. We both spent money out there. And we also saw a lot of other people getting on and off the train who were clearly people who would not have been there otherwise. Lots of kids, too. I'd see a family of 5 get on-board at one stop, go a short distance, then get off. And they'd be replaced by another family. It was amusing to me. I think the conductors were slightly less amused, one of them complained to me about all of the newbies.

Mathew -- Precisely

I heard of some Rail-o-Philes who carefully plotted a Tour-de-T going to Greenbush, Worcester, Fitchburg and Newburyport in one day

I think there were stories of people who zipped around on the harbor ferries

I presume that somewhere they ate and perhaps spent a bit more -- none of those visits would have happened if they had to pay for the fares

Free -- T - Saturday -- most likely on one Saturday a month or something a bit less frequent would be much like the Bank of America which lets its customers attend museums for free on the first weekend of the month

and once again if the service doesn't change -- there will be virtually no impact on the T's budget

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Deborah Norville was a Commuter Rail conductor for a day (morning peak trip) on the Middleborough/Lakeville line:

"Do you know how complicated this punchie stuff is?"

http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/10367-what-does-a-train-conductor-actually-do

Conductor Jack Simpson was her guide. The CR conductors are really great people. I've seen him a few times on trips to my parents' and back.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Deborah Norville was a Commuter Rail conductor for a day (morning peak trip) on the Middleborough/Lakeville line:

"Do you know how complicated this punchie stuff is?"

http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/10367-what-does-a-train-conductor-actually-do

Conductor Jack Simpson was her guide. The CR conductors are really great people. I've seen him a few times on trips to my parents' and back.

I was expecting more from an article called, "What Does a Train Conductor Actually Do?"

No mention of getting out and conducting a brake test every time the train changes ends, reminding the engineer of temporary speed restrictions ahead, taking special instructions form the dispatcher, etc. It is the conductor's train (they're the boss).

 

[datadyne007]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I was expecting more from an article called, "What Does a Train Conductor Actually Do?"

No mention of getting out and conducting a brake test every time the train changes ends, reminding the engineer of temporary speed restrictions ahead, taking special instructions form the dispatcher, etc. It is the conductor's train (they're the boss).

You mean to tell me that train conductors do more than use a hole punch?

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

FYI...just to show that something has been happening improvements-wise during this tough year. . .

HSP-46 availability has hit a point where there's now only 1 old F40PH "Screamer" locomotive left in commuter rail service, with all others officially retired as of this week. Unit #1013 on the northside is the very last one, and unless it craps out unexpectedly that's the one they'll be scheduling some sort of "Farewell to the Screamers" fantrip on during its last scheduled day of service TBD this summer.

 

[Randomgear]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I'm sure this is old news to most of you, but this is the engine that pulled me home from Lowell yesterday:

 

[bigeman312]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It pushed you home from Lowell, right?

But seriously, that's cool! What locomotive is that? I've never seen it before.

 

[winstonoboogie]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It pushed you home from Lowell, right?

But seriously, that's cool! What locomotive is that? I've never seen it before.

MBTA has leased 7 ex Amtrak locomotives, although only one is in service at the moment. The leasing company that owns them had previously leased them out to AMT in Montreal, that is their paint scheme. Units are to fill in while problems with the new HSP46 locomotives are worked out and allow for the MBTA's own locomotives of the same type to be phased out as they suffer major failures.