General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

It looks like Transit Signal Priority is getting rolled out in much more significant fashion:

"The MBTA, which has had success in speeding up travel by coordinating eight traffic lights at six intersections in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge, is preparing to expand the test to 89 traffic lights in the same three communities.

The system uses software that allows a bus or Green Line train to notify a traffic light when the vehicle is approaching an intersection. The traffic light responds based on the conditions, and can extend the length of a green light, shorten the length of a red light, or take no action at all."


And they mention plans for expanding it further in 2019.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/t-notes-green-line-ext-clears-pricing-hurdle/
 
millerm277 said:
It looks like Transit Signal Priority is getting rolled out in much more significant fashion:

"The MBTA, which has had success in speeding up travel by coordinating eight traffic lights at six intersections in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge, is preparing to expand the test to 89 traffic lights in the same three communities.

The system uses software that allows a bus or Green Line train to notify a traffic light when the vehicle is approaching an intersection. The traffic light responds based on the conditions, and can extend the length of a green light, shorten the length of a red light, or take no action at all."


And they mention plans for expanding it further in 2019.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/t-notes-green-line-ext-clears-pricing-hurdle/
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Only ten years late!

According to Bill Smith, who manages the Beacon Street reconstruction project for the town, the system will reallocate time among traffic lights depending on pedestrian and vehicular demand.

The MBTA, however, is not investing in a technology to integrate the Green Line trolley into the new system. "The only thing not detected is the trolley," Smith said.

The MBTA could have invested in a device that allows traffic signals to recognize trolleys and give them higher priority, Smith said, such as extending green time to let a train get through when it's approaching, or switching the light to green when a trolley arrives.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the T will not invest in trolley-recognition technology until Brookline provides the MBTA with a study that demonstrates how the T stands to benefit from it.

"The T asked the town for this information more than two years ago, and the T is still waiting for a response," Pesaturo wrote in an e-mail. "The T will not make a major investment before establishing all of the facts."

According to city officials, however, the MBTA simply was not interested in purchasing trolley-recognition devices for traffic lights.

"We gave them that option early on in the design process, and they opted not to select that," said the town's director of transportation, Peter Ditto. "My guess would be probably budgetary. They said they weren't interested."
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^ At first I was confused by your post...but then I realized that the bottom quote is the one from 10 years ago. So the point is they have overcome this inaction inertia, and are now going ahead to equip traffic signal system to recognize the trolleys and give priority.
 
Pesaturo is such a tool. He drives me nuts.
 
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The FMCB live stream from this week (10/23?) (I had the link but lost it) has an extended presentation by a staffer (a women wearing red, if you're zipping through the timeline, stop for her)

The trial was on stretches of the B, C, & E and the CT1 on Mass Ave, with the larger, next phase rollout being:

Surface B
Surface C
Surface E
All of Mass Ave

And each city (Cambridge, Boston, Brookline) has said that they would contribute to the $1.5m cost (about $12k per signal that needs to grant TSP)

To make this happen requires that every bus or trolley be given an emitter that "pings" whenever it crosses a "geofence" line in the ether as it approaches an intersection. If conditions are met, priority is granted. Once granted, priority is either an extended green or early green.
 
Arlington said:
The FMCB live stream from this week (10/23?) (I had the link but lost it) has an extended presentation by a staffer (a women wearing red, if you're zipping through the timeline, stop for her)

The trial was on stretches of the B, C, & E and the CT1 on Mass Ave, with the larger, next phase rollout being:

Surface B
Surface C
Surface E
All of Mass Ave

And each city (Cambridge, Boston, Brookline) has said that they would contribute to the $1.5m cost (about $12k per signal that needs to grant TSP)

To make this happen requires that every bus or trolley be given an emitter that "pings" whenever it crosses a "geofence" line in the ether as it approaches an intersection. If conditions are met, priority is granted. Once granted, priority is either an extended green or early green.
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How does this work when the station platform is immediately before a signaled intersection?

The two biggest examples that come to my mind are Coolidge Corner (crosses Harvard Street) and St. Paul Street on the "C" Branch? Is there some way to trip the signal by closing the train doors after boarding/de-training?
 
jdrinboston said:
How does this work when the station platform is immediately before a signaled intersection?

The two biggest examples that come to my mind are Coolidge Corner (crosses Harvard Street) and St. Paul Street on the "C" Branch? Is there some way to trip the signal by closing the train doors after boarding/de-training?
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She (the T official) did not get into that level of ops detail, but did say specifically that "implementing a TSP corridor" may not mean doing every signal in every direction along the corridor, but rather selecting signals, sometimes just in one direction (inbound but not outbound, for example).

So I think that also means that if the conditions for granting TSP are hard to meet at an intersection, that they'd skip it.
 
Arlington said:
The FMCB live stream from this week (10/23?) (I had the link but lost it)
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Found it, thanks for mentioning this: https://www.mbta.com/events/1155

Haven't watched the presentation, but just read through the PowerPoint at the link.

All of Mass Ave
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Only Mass Ave in Cambridge for this expansion/pilot corridor, according to slides 20-23

jdrinboston said:
How does this work when the station platform is immediately before a signaled intersection?
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Per slide 9 of the PPT, one of the requirements for doing it at an intersection is "Far side or no stop at intersection".

So at least at the moment the answer appears to be: They won't be doing it in that direction (or at that intersection if both platforms are on the far side).
 
btw, holy crap what is it going to be like getting around the Metro using public transit in 5-7 years?

+/- a foot of snowfally day?
 
How much does the MBTA lose annually in skipped fares? In the past 2 weeks, I have seen 3 or 4 people just toss their backpacks over the gate to activate the exit sensor and walk right through. You would think they would figure out a better system by now.
 
Or just a motion sensor aimed above the gates that triggers a photo-flash whenever there's a big motion made tossing something in/over.
 
Globe: T’s declining ridership: Why and Where

Boston Globe said:
MBTA ridership is on the decline.

The agency has in recent weeks divulged that it saw a decrease in trips in fiscal 2017 from the previous year. Ridership dipped 2 percent on its heavy rail lines, and 6 percent on buses.

It’s probably too simple to say riders are ditching mass transit, and officials noted a lot of nuance to the data. We parsed some of the numbers:

• Subway ridership is actually up during rush hour, which may come as little surprise to crowded Red and Orange Line commuters.

• Most of the decline is attributed to weekend and off-peak travel times. Laurel Paget-Seekins, the T’s strategic initiatives director, floated ideas to attract more riders outside rush hour, including boosting frequency of off-peak service and different fares during these hours.

• There’s also a geographic distinction: some buses to the northeast side of Boston and toward Chelsea have seen ridership increase. And the Blue Line, which also travels in that direction, has seen a 3 percent uptick.

[...]
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A decrease in off-peak usage certainly sounds like an Uber/Lyft story to me (as the article mentions). I take the T every single weekday, but on the weekends I've found myself taking more Uber and Lyft so as to not have to deal with weekend headways/construction/decreased bus service. With Uber and Lyft's below-cost pricing (for now) it's hard to turn down...
 
Off-peak/weekend ridership is down because of all the bustitutions on the Red & Orange Lines. They have been near constant for the past year+.

The T has no "normal" ridership data where the system just functions as is. The data starts at the snowpocalypse of 2015 and then the next 2 years of data are skewed by absurd levels of bustitution. You can't draw any conclusions from the T's data besides:
- When the system melts down during a period of all time record snowfall, ridership drops
- When the lines are closed for construction, ridership drops (because obviously, they can't use it)

In both cases, ridership drops because the services are literally closed.

Shocker, this causes ridership to drop!!
DORyGW5VoAEkeUM.jpg:large
 
datadyne007 said:
Off-peak/weekend ridership is down because of all the bustitutions on the Red & Orange Lines. They have been near constant for the past year+.

The T has no "normal" ridership data where the system just functions as is. The data starts at the snowpocalypse of 2015 and then the next 2 years of data are skewed by absurd levels of bustitution. You can't draw any conclusions from the T's data besides:
- When the system melts down during a period of all time record snowfall, ridership drops
- When the lines are closed for construction, ridership drops (because obviously, they can't use it)

In both cases, ridership drops because the services are literally closed.

Shocker, this causes ridership to drop!!
Click to expand...

I assumed they would have controlled for service shutdowns / bustitutions when measuring ridership... Apparently not.
 
JumboBuc said:
I assumed they would have controlled for service shutdowns / bustitutions when measuring ridership... Apparently not.
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Laurel briefly mentioned/glossed over bustitutions & shutdowns as a potential reason for this drop when she made her presentation on this to the FMCB.
 
DominusNovus said:
Does anyone have any good sources on MBTA commuter rail electrification?
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We'll (TransitMatters) be dropping a bombshell of a regional rail/electrification white paper/report early next month! Stay tuned. ;-)
 
Does the silver line occasionally skip stops at terminals? Waiting at terminal E when the sign says it's due. It never arrives and the timer resets to 13 minutes. 5 minutes later the sign resets to 18 minutes. Wtf. Fuck the silver lie

Update: a non airport dedicated silver line bus shows up. What a welcome back to Boston
 
KentXie said:
Does the silver line occasionally skip stops at terminals? Waiting at terminal E when the sign says it's due. It never arrives and the timer resets to 13 minutes. 5 minutes later the sign resets to 18 minutes. Wtf. Fuck the silver lie

Update: a non airport dedicated silver line bus shows up. What a welcome back to Boston
Click to expand...

I think there was a car fire tonight in the Ted Williams which really screwed up the Silver Line.
 
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