General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Do any of you transit insiders have any sense of whether the T makes good use of this census?:

http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/default.asp?id=6442454743

I filled it out because what the hell, why not. But I'm curious to know whether they get enough people responding to constitute a sufficient sample size to do anything useful with it.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

West said:
Do any of you transit insiders have any sense of whether the T makes good use of this census?:
http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/default.asp?id=6442454743

I filled it out because what the hell, why not. But I'm curious to know whether they get enough people responding to constitute a sufficient sample size to do anything useful with it.
Click to expand...
I'm an outsider, but I have to believe that it really helps in the case of mixed mode trips, particularly those that mix payment and mixed mode trips (like bike-to-transit and CR-to-CharlieCard)
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Definitely. Any trip done with a serialized electronic fare media (i.e, CharlieCard and CharlieTicket) where it actually gets tapped/shoved in the farebox - we already have good data for that. MIT, doing research for the T, has the ability to aggregate that into inferred trips (that's actually what my research uses). But that doesn't get:

*Ashmont-Mattapan Line (because no tracking data is available)
*Commuter Rail, MBTA Boat, and the 700-series buses
*Non-MBTA modes like the Logan buses, Hubway, EZRide, etc
*Walking and private biking
*Charlietickets shown to the driver rather than inserted
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The EGE said:
Definitely. Any trip done with a serialized electronic fare media (i.e, CharlieCard and CharlieTicket) where it actually gets tapped/shoved in the farebox - we already have good data for that. MIT, doing research for the T, has the ability to aggregate that into inferred trips (that's actually what my research uses). But that doesn't get:

*Ashmont-Mattapan Line (because no tracking data is available)
*Commuter Rail, MBTA Boat, and the 700-series buses
*Non-MBTA modes like the Logan buses, Hubway, EZRide, etc
*Walking and private biking
*Charlietickets shown to the driver rather than inserted
Click to expand...

Glad I filled it out, then. I'm in one of those modes that isn't captured in one direction: I show a monthly pass to the D line driver when boarding the rear door. Heading home they can capture my data as I enter through a turnstile.

They had an option to allow them to track one's card by number. I'd have been happy to allow it but my company is switching to a new method of monthly passes, so I'm going to have a new monthly card as of January 1. They'd have been tracking a dead card.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Keolis AMA right now on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/3w3fu5/we_operate_the_mbta_commuter_rail_ask_us_anything/

In the room are: - Gerald Francis, General Manager - Franck Dubourdieu, Deputy General Manager - Ronan Coatanea, Director of Customer Service - Kennon Foster, Director of Quality and Performance Improvement - Scott Treece, Chief Transportation Officer - Jonathan and Rich from Operations

Just got an awesome response on if the higher ups at Keolis use the CR/public transit:
How many of your senior managers take the train every day to work?

[–]AskMBTACommuterRail 3 points 7 minutes ago
I bike to work from Cambridge. - FD
I ride the Old Colony on a daily basis. - ST
Greenbush for me. I've taken the train for over 20 years!- Rich I ride the Lowell line 1-3 times a week. The first inbound from Wedgemere. - RC
I come in from Worcester. - Jonathan
Middleboro Line. - Kennon
The question isn't whether we ride or not, it's whether we care. And we do. - FD
Click to expand...
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Cross-posted from here.

Arlington said:
Can we use the LED ceiling signs on the Subways & CR to deliver delay information?

Right now the signs mostly have 2 dimensions of information:
[Next stop:][Harvard Square]
[Entering][Park Street]


What if we could "insert" new information in that first position?

[Delays at][Harvard Square]
[Disabled train at][Park Street]
[Ill Passenger at][Wood Island]

Sure would be better than garbled PA.
Click to expand...

Related to this... These chyrons are so terribly inconsistent on all modes in Boston as are the automated announcements. Is it a case of faulty hardware/software or is it simply operators who can't be bothered to reset the system?

I regularly see people unfamiliar with the transit map get very confused by a train that said (for example) "Entering JKF/UMass" as it's pulling in to Kendall...
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

RL train went 4 stops this morning without an operator:

"A Red Line train left Braintree Station without an operator Thursday morning, according to MBTA officials, who say they are investigating a report of tampering involving a safety device."
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

datadyne007 said:
RL train went 4 stops this morning without an operator:

"A Red Line train left Braintree Station without an operator Thursday morning, according to MBTA officials, who say they are investigating a report of tampering involving a safety device."
Click to expand...

The first step in decreasing the T's reliance on its biggest expense: wages. Haha.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

From Twitter:

A Red Line driver related to the train with a driver was "brushed by a train" and sustained injuries, according to @MBTA spox Joe Pesaturo.

Passenger speaking to Fox says there was something tied to the lever that conducts the speed of the train when the conductor left #MBTA

Sources tell #7News' @CherylFiandaca MBTA employee got off train to check something; may not have secured brakes
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

datadyne007 said:
RL train went 4 stops this morning without an operator:

"A Red Line train left Braintree Station without an operator Thursday morning, according to MBTA officials, who say they are investigating a report of tampering involving a safety device."
Click to expand...

Maybe we should rename the title of this thread to:

"Driven by No One in Particular"

In all seriousness, can we assume at some point this train would have jumped a red signal and came to a stop on its own? Or are all of the safety devices interconnected and could all be affected by one tampering incident?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

A brief taste of the glory that is ATO! If only...
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

There aren't any emergency signals that will trip up a runaway train? They actually have to shut down the 3rd rail to get the train to stop?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Assuming that the tampering didn't disable anything - and this looks to be more on the level of tying-a-lever-down - then then train would have gotten stopped either when it got within a few signal blocks of another train, or an enforced speed restriction.

I suspect the third rail shutdown was used to 100% guarantee the train would stop no matter what the tampering had been (or if a person had been in the cab - they couldn't have known.)
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The EGE said:
Assuming that the tampering didn't disable anything - and this looks to be more on the level of tying-a-lever-down - then then train would have gotten stopped either when it got within a few signal blocks of another train, or an enforced speed restriction.

I suspect the third rail shutdown was used to 100% guarantee the train would stop no matter what the tampering had been (or if a person had been in the cab - they couldn't have known.)
Click to expand...

Latest story says FBI is involved in the investigation -- could be significant or just a "Sign of the Jittery Times"
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

whighlander said:
Latest story says FBI is involved in the investigation -- could be significant or just a "Sign of the Jittery Times"
Click to expand...

Charlie's noon presser confirmed the FBI is not involved.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

I thought that T had a "dead man's lever" or whatever it's called. Shouldn't it be impossible for the train to run on its own?
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

bolehboleh said:
I thought that T had a "dead man's lever" or whatever it's called. Shouldn't it be impossible for the train to run on its own?
Click to expand...
Yes--and hence the early reports that the controls had been tampered/manipulated.
 
Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

So I watched the MBTA presser at 4 PM. The RL this morning was having signal problems (like usual) and the trains had to operate in emergency bypass mode to override the ATC. The OCC had given permission for bypass mode to be activated and they were aware the train was in bypass mode. The operator for some reason stepped out of the cab to check something on the platform related to the signal issue. The train then somehow took off, possibly with the throttle rigged to be active. Upon taking off, the train struck the operator (who had just stepped out on the platform) who alerted station personnel who contacted the OCC. The OCC knew the train was rogue within 60 seconds of it happening and were tracking it live on the big board. They could not immediately kill power to the 3rd rail because they had to rush & clear trains in front of the rogue train to a safe location before the power could be cut.

Steph Pollack made it clear that they know more and they were withholding information due to the on-going investigation. Despite the fishy situation, the MBTA is calling this "driver error" over malicious behavior at this time.

Also, I reaaaaaaally wish that it was Bev giving that presser. I miss her.
 
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