General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

'I'M ON THE T': Tunnels ready for cellphones

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | December 27, 2007

Passengers riding the T in tunnels underneath downtown Boston will now be able to chat on their cellphones, text-message their friends, or use hand-held devices to e-mail their bosses from platforms and underground tunnels in and around four of the MBTA's busiest stations.

Yesterday, AT&T became the third cellphone provider to offer a signal underground. T-Mobile and Verizon both connected their networks earlier this month, but without any announcement from the T, many customers were not aware they could use their phones.

The service is currently being offered in Downtown Crossing, Government Center, State, and Park Street stations, and all the tunnels in between. Expansion to other stations and tunnels is expected as cellphone service providers see demand and are willing to pay for the connection.

Most riders interviewed yesterday said they appreciate the freedom to use their phones. But some also said they regretted losing one of the last places in Boston where people can both get a break from their phones and not be subjected to the noise and unwanted intrusion of others' conversations.

"I'm glad it's happening," said Samuel Kelley, 20, a college student. But "it's kind of a nuisance to be next to the person who's blabbing away, trying to overpower the sound of the trains."

The MBTA acknowledges the potential for annoyance from loud talkers and is rolling out a campaign designed to encourage passengers to keep conversations brief and quiet.

Ads will be placed in train cars with the message: "Peace and quiet. It has a nice ring to it."

Robert Karash, 58, a semiretired professor, said cellphone chatter on the buses he rides has become prevalent, but he has learned to cope.

"The key is, people have to Zen out and not really listen," he said.

The nation's subways have been slow to introduce cellphone service, in large part because carriers have not wanted to spend the money to wire tunnels. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has tried to get cellphone service into the system for most of this decade; an earlier deal fell through when companies balked at the high cost of wiring the entire T.

T-Mobile built its own limited network, available on a handful of platforms, in 2003, but its customers could not get a signal in the tunnels.

Two years later, the T contracted with InSite Wireless, which installs the wiring and antennas necessary to provide cell service. InSite is paying the MBTA at least $4 million over 15 years for the right to charge cellphone carriers for use of the system it built. When service expands - probably first to South Station, North Station, and other busy stations - the fees paid by InSite to the T will rise.

"These are very complex projects that kind of fall outside the traditional infrastructure agreement that carriers get into, say, on a tower or a rooftop," said Christopher J. Davis, president of InSite Wireless.

InSite had been expected to wire the first four stations two years ago, but Davis said that negotiating deals with cell providers delayed the launch. He expects more cell companies will sign deals next year, now that three major competitors have committed.

Because InSite has built an equipment room and installed 89 small antennas for the first four stations, it should be technologically easier to expand, Davis said. New locations depend on collecting money from cell companies, so the order of expansion will be driven by demand, he and MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas said.

"The goal of all parties is to build out the entire system," Davis said. He declined to provide a timetable.

Grabauskas and cell company managers say text messaging and e-mailing from handheld devices may prove more popular than trying to talk on a noisy train.

"The whole data side is really where the growth of the industry is now," said Michael Murphy, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless.

Grabauskas believes most riders will embrace cellphone service as a convenience for getting work done and keeping appointments, as well as a way to report suspicious behavior. He also hopes to give commuters another reason to ditch their cars.

"It's a competitive advantage. People can let somebody else do some driving while you're able to do some work," he said.

Cell service on other subways is at various stages of development. Passengers who ride the MARTA in Atlanta have no cell service underground. On the Metro in Washington, Verizon customers have had cell access for more than a decade, but customers of other companies get no signal.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit added service in some San Francisco tunnels and on platforms a year ago and is expanding to other parts of the system over the next two years.

New York City Transit signed a deal this fall with an outside contractor to equip all platforms in the city with cellphone and wireless Internet service. But officials there decided not to include service in the tunnels because installation of cell equipment would disrupt too many trains, said Paul Fleuranges, a spokesman for the transit agency.

"The subway was never really built for a lot of modern technology that we're overlaying," Fleuranges said.

Globe correspondent Daniel M. Peleschuk contributed to this report. Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.

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[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Ridership's down, it's broke, but the T needs to keep you happy
Galen Moore Reporter

The T is "structurally broke," but General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas has resolved to continue spending big money in 2008.


"It doesn't sound like a company that's broke, the way we're spending money," he said in a wide-ranging interview with BostonNOW covering the MBTA's plans for the new year, "but if we don't do that, we're going to spiral into a much worse condition."

Riders on Commuter Rail, bus and subway can look forward this year to improvements costing multiple millions, Grabauskas said. Although the MBTA faces a widening budget deficit, "2008 will not see a fare increase," he said.

Operating costs are expected to rise, but MBTA funding is tied to the state sales tax. If a talked-of recession materializes, that will hit the T hard, said former Transportation Finance Commission member Stephen J. Silveira.

"It's not like they can say, well, we're not going to run these 25 bus routes this year," he said.

Instead, closing the gap will be up to Gov. Deval Patrick and the state Legislature, Grabauskas said. Patrick has proposed casino revenue and a cost-saving state transportation merger. All Grabauskas can do is work on the one factor that may be within his control - ridership, he said.

"The death knell in any transit system - unless all avenues have been exhausted - is to reduce service or reduce quality of service, because then you have fewer riders," he said.

MBTA ridership has fallen slowly but steadily since Grabauskas took over in 2005. In 2008, he hopes to reverse that trend.

By the end of the year, bus riders can expect an end to long waits that end when three buses arrive at once, he said. Using GPS technology to be deployed by the end of the year, "We will be able to track our bus fleet the way we track our subways."

Meanwhile, new LED signs at every subway station will display late-train announcements. New Commuter Rail LED signs will tell riders how many minutes until their train arrives.

Behind-the-scenes, equipment overhauls and replacements will hopefully increase the most important factor: reliable on-time service, Grabauskas said.

"I think we have a chance to boost ridership," but even if that happens, the T will still need more money that can only come from additional state revenue support, he said. "That's at higher pay grades than mine to determine."

Planned improvements

Subway

Service alerts on new LED signs in all stations by mid-2009
Blue Line: platform replacements
Red Line: fix at Columbia Junction, responsible for 70 percent of delays
Green Line: New low-floor cars on "D" Line; overhaul of older "No. 7" cars
Orange Line: Ongoing signal project to be completed May-June

Commuter Rail

Next-train countdown on new LED signs in all stations
Fitchburg Line work begins
75 new bi-level coaches to be ordered (delivered by 2011)
28 new locomotives to be ordered (delivered by 2011)

Bus

155 new buses
Surveillance cameras to be added on 300 buses (out of 1040)
GPS tracking of bus fleet to reduce traffic delays
Route-wide service alerts via on-board public address systems

BostonNOW - Dan Interview MBTA
2:18 minutes (2.11 MB)
* Download audio file

Published on January 9, 2008

Link

 

[unterbau]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

It's nice to see the T continuing to invest in infrastructure and keeping up with the times. I just hope that they can keep this up...

 

[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

All Grabauskas can do is work on the one factor that may be within his control - ridership, he said.

He may be forgetting one small thing...union contracts.
Though, in reality, he doesn't have that much control over them, as it really lies in the hands of arbitrators and courts, but I still think he would have a good shot at some concessions if he tried. Especially if he was willing to cut some management fat along with them.
Piss off too many people and it could cost him his job however.
In short, I don't have good answer.
I don't think anybody does.

 

[KentXie]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Comment: Too many people are still being allowed on-board without paying, mostly because drivers just wave them on, when there's a line. This is on the Green Line, of course, where the stops are above ground and riders can get on at any door.

Normally it happens on the green line during the end of school days but during other times, they only open the front door. Though normally when they do this, a few people get on with out paying but I believe the T has a legitmate reason. I know for a fact that at the Longwood Medical Center stop on the E line, if the trolley did not open all the doors allow the students on and instead choose to open only the front door to make sure everyone pay, it would take at least 5-10 minutes to get everyone on board, especially when the students refuse to move to the back of the train to allow more riders on.

 

[czsz]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The aboveground Green Line fare collection system is ridiculously inefficient. They should just install turnstiles at the entrances to every station. You can do this even on the narrowest of mid-street platforms: it's prevalent on the Istanbul light rail system.

 

[KentXie]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The aboveground Green Line fare collection system is ridiculously inefficient. They should just install turnstiles at the entrances to every station. You can do this even on the narrowest of mid-street platforms: it's prevalent on the Istanbul light rail system.

Except that it will be easy to jump the gates. Most likely it will end up costing more on maintaining the turnstiles than to leave the station without them especially when they are exposed to the weather.

 

[saltbox]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Jaime Lerner's plan for Curitiba is the best example of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bus_Stops_2_curitiba_brasil.jpg

 

[KentXie]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Yea that was what I was thinking they should do but seeing how the T is practically broke, I don't think they will ever put up something like that.

 

[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Wi-Fi to reach the rails this week
MBTA?s pilot program welcomed

By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
jmonahan@telegram.com

BOSTON? The trains from Worcester to Boston will not be moving any faster, but starting in the middle of this week, passengers will be able to surf the Web on their laptops, iPhones and hand-held PDAs as the MBTA starts a free high-speed Wi-Fi Internet service.

The pilot program, one of the first of its kind in the country, will be tested on the Worcester-Framingham-Boston commuter trains with the hope of soon installing it on all 13 commuter rail lines in the state.

Initially, at least one car per train will provide free wireless fidelity, or Wi-Fi, service to passengers.


For the thousands of commuters using the rail line, officials said they expect the service will come as a major breakthrough, allowing the commuters to make better use of their time or catch up on reading and e-mails on their way to and from work.

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, who has occasionally used the train to get to the Statehouse, said he has been working with Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, to get the wireless service on the trains since he was mayor of Worcester.

He and MBTA officials said Friday they expect the service will provide a new incentive for commuters and others to use the commuter rail and allow those already commuting to be more productive during the time they spend on the trains.

Mr. Murray said while other train systems in some parts of the country have ?tinkered with this? in recent years, the pilot program and yearlong test of the service here will put the state ahead of all other commuter train systems.

?I believe this is a great opportunity for Massachusetts because we are a high-tech state and pride ourselves on our well-educated work force,? Mr. Murray said. ?This allows that connectivity to take place and encourages and incentivizes people to take the train as well.?

Posters on the inside and outside of the train cars will identify which coaches are equipped with the service. Other commuter rail lines may also have Wi-Fi access from time to time as well, when the MBTA may move Wi-Fi coaches from one line to another to meet service demands, officials said.

The Worcester-Framingham-Boston line, Mr. Murray said, is a good place to start testing the service, in part to make up to commuters for some of the problems with periodic delays. ?This is a way to mitigate some of the problems we have had over the last year as we try to improve service, and we really want to bring it to the whole commuter rail system,? he said.

Mr. Murray said while some commuters have used air cards on laptops, cell phones and BlackBerry hand-held devices while on the train, until now service to those devices often was ?in and out? and frequently interrupted as the train moved through different service and blackout areas along the route.

Kris Erickson, MBTA deputy chief of staff, said Friday the technology involves the installation of a 10-inch antenna to the outside of the train to pick up Sprint wireless signals; those signals are then fed by wire to a wireless router and a device that converts the signals to a free open Wi-Fi system in the train car.

?We?ve been working on this for more than a year, and we are also starting to test it on other lines as well,? Mr. Erickson said. The work has focused on the ways the signals and the routers interact, trying to eliminate low signal areas as much as possible.

So far, the MBTA has spent $262,000 on the project, including the cost of installing wireless routers on 45 passenger coaches, but the agency hopes the investment will pay off through increased ridership.

Mr. Erickson said signal strength on the Worcester-Boston line is strong throughout almost the entire route, with the signal dipping in some areas, including a spot in Southboro, as well as occasional dead spots.

?We have always heard this is one of the top requests from commuter rail riders,? he said, but it has proven difficult to provide the service on trains that cover lengthy routes with varied signal strengths.

?There is not one commuter rail system in the country that has this right now,? Mr. Erickson said. ?We know there are going to be some technical glitches, but we want to get in there and test it in a real environment and get a much better idea how to do it.?

While testing the system as it was being worked up, he said, some commuters picked up on the signals and figured out what was happening, and e-mailed reactions to the discovery to the MBTA.

?Awesome! Keep it going! This is a great idea. So far the network seems pretty fast. Might change when there are more riders connected,? said one rider.

?Yes! Yes! Yes!? read the subject line from Alec, who picked up the signal on a train from Boston to Providence while passing through Attleboro during a test on Jan. 18.

?Hello from an ecstatic rider on the Providence/Boston line,? he wrote. ?I work with European clients, so being able to work on the train as I?m heading in would be extremely valuable ? an extra hour with the time zone thing.? He said he turned on his laptop and found a very strong signal on the ?ridership connection.?

?Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!,? he wrote.

?The Wi-Fi service is awesome!!!! Best thing the MBTA has done in many, many years to improve the rider experience,? wrote a rider named Charles in an e-mail he sent to top officials at the MBTA after coming upon the signal Friday.

?What does this mean?? he added. ?I can leave the house later and start work on the train, spending more time with my kids. I can leave work earlier and work on the train to again spend more time with my family. ? This gives me a one-up on the competition. Seriously thank you!!?

Mr. Murray said, ?This will allow people to work this into their daily work plan and it really goes to the issue of productivity? faced by commuters on the hourlong trips between the two largest cities in the state. Besides getting work done, he said, it will give commuters a chance to use whatever Internet activities they enjoy while they are going back and forth to work.

?This is an important first step in our commitment to improve commuter rail services throughout the commonwealth,? Mr. Murray said, commending MBTA officials for getting the pilot system up and running.

The 45-mile line, from Union Station in Worcester to South Station in Boston, passes through 17 communities and serves 17 stations, carrying more than 18,000 passengers daily.

Contact John J. Monahan by e-mail at jmonahan@telegram.com.

Link

 

[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Wi-Fi gets trial run on commuter trains

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | January 28, 2008

Passengers on one of the Commonwealth's busiest commuter rail lines will be able to e-mail clients, exchange YouTube videos, or amuse themselves with details of Tom Brady's personal life from their laptops beginning this week.

The MBTA announced a pilot program yesterday that makes free wireless Internet access available along the Worcester/Framingham rail line to South Station.

The program officially begins Wednesday, but many riders have noticed they already have Internet access in some train cars.

Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the MBTA, said he believes the program is among the first in the nation to offer wireless Internet access on a commuter rail.

The service has become routine in airports and coffee shops, and is even appearing on airplanes. But commuter trains have taken longer to adapt.

"If we really want to try to boost commuter ridership, then the way to do that is to have a difference that gives a competitive advantage for people getting on a train rather than getting in their car," Grabauskas said in a phone interview.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority began developing the service more than a year ago after Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, then mayor of Worcester, suggested it.

The agency has spent $260,000 so far on development. Recent testing showed service available throughout the 45-mile line, with some weak spots near Boston but no loss of signal, Grabauskas said.

By Wednesday, one designated Wi-Fi car in each Worcester/Framingham train will be marked with a sign explaining the program.

Riders in other cars might be able to pick up a signal as well, but the strongest signal will come from the designated car.

Because the MBTA rotates trains throughout the commuter system, some passengers on other lines might occasionally get one of the 45 Wi-Fi cars outside of the Worcester/Framingham area. In those cases, the service will work, but it will probably be spottier.

Riders will know they have a Wi-Fi car by the poster advertisement inside. The MBTA plans to post a guide on its website that will indicate how strong or weak the signal is in various parts of the commuter network.

Eventually, Grabauskas wants continuous strong service throughout the system and he wants it to be free to commuters. But at this point, he says he has no cost estimates or timetable. Much will depend on what managers learn from users during the pilot program, he said.

"The goal is to work out the bugs on the Worcester/Framingham line," he said.

The MBTA says 18,000 passengers rely on the Worcester/Framingham line on a typical weekday. It has been plagued by delays in recent months, largely because it is the only line dispatched by CSX Transportation, which also runs freight on the line.

Because bandwidth is limited, the T is also looking at technology that would limit how much bandwidth individual commuters can use so the signal spreads among more people. That could mean commuters would have to wait until they get to work to download videos.

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.

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[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Crime on T hits 10-year low
January 28, 2008 12:40 PM

Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

Crime on the T decreased in 2007 to a 10-year low, as violence dropped 18.5 percent from the year before, according to a statement released today by transit police.

Serious crime fell 10 percent from 2006, with robbery dropping 20 percent, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The likelihood of a passenger being a victim of a crime while riding the transit system is now less than 1 in 400,000, said acting Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillian.

Authorities credit a number of initiatives for the decrease in crime, including visible uniformed patrols and the "See Something, Say Something" campaign that encourages riders to report suspicious behavior.

"No matter how insignificant they feel it is, they should let us know,? MacMillian said in a statement. ?It's better to err on the side of caution."

The expansion of the closed circuit television system has also helped transit police investigate crimes and identify suspects.

Link

 

[kz1000ps]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

T may get edge on Beacon St.

By Julie Masis
Globe Correspondent / January 27, 2008

The T may be ready to get in synch with Beacon Street's new traffic lights.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority plans to hire a consultant to analyze costs and benefits of giving Green Line trains priority at the computerized lights.

The use of trolley-recognition devices would allow traffic lights to extend the green, letting an approaching trolley pass through an intersection, or shorten the red, so a trolley does not have to wait as long at a red light.

Four MBTA officials met with Brookline officials on Dec. 21, nearly three weeks after the Globe ran a story about the new traffic light system on Beacon Street. The article reported that the Green Line was not integrated into the system, and that the T wanted the town to provide more information about how the system would benefit the trolleys.

"We spoke after the last story ran and decided that it was a good idea if the city and the authority got together and [discussed] what each side was working on," said MBTA deputy chief of staff Kris Erickson.

As a result of that meeting, the MBTA is going to hire a consultant in a "couple of weeks or so, [February] at the latest," he said, to perform the analysis.

HNTB Engineering, which the MBTA is looking to hire, this month submitted a preliminary proposal to complete the cost-benefit analysis for $61,000 in 22 weeks after being hired.

Even if the MBTA goes through with the cost-benefit analysis, however, trolleys might not get priority at Beacon Street intersections.

"The time savings might not be worth the cost to implement the system," said John C. Lewis, the MBTA's director of systemwide maintenance and improvements. "If we're going to save minutes then the cost may be worthwhile, but if you're [talking] seconds or milliseconds, the cost may not be the best option."

Lewis added that having trains run faster between St. Mary's Street and Cleveland Circle might create a bottleneck at the Kenmore station, where three Green Line branches converge and share the same track.

And, he said, trolley prioritization can work only at some of the intersections. "Can't do it at every traffic light because [then we will] have a potential of a massive traffic jam in Brookline if [we] always give the Green Line priority," he said.

William MacLellan, a signal engineer with HNTB, said it isn't a good idea to "constrain any vehicular traffic either."

"You don't want to be throwing red lights in front of a car approaching" an intersection, he said.

Twenty-one computerized traffic signals have been installed on Beacon Street, replacing 25- to 40-year-old mechanical lights. Five of the 21 signals are at intersections that had stop or yield signs before.

The new traffic signals on the corners of Charles Street and Pleasant Street will begin working this month, while the traffic signal on Hawes Street and Beacon is expected to go online by early or mid-February, according to Bill Smith, who manages the Beacon Street reconstruction project for the town.

Once the project is complete, the computerized lights will vary the length of the signals depending on pedestrian and vehicular demand on the street, with sensors that will provide information about how long the line of cars is at the intersections.

If trolley-recognition devices are installed on Beacon Street trolleys, the street will become the first in the Boston area to use the technology.

Commonwealth Avenue in Boston used to have devices that allowed traffic lights to detect trolleys about 15 years ago, but that system no longer works.

Erickson said trolley prioritization never worked on Commonwealth Avenue because the trolley sensors, which were buried underground, were ripped up each time the street was plowed. "It was a different kind of system," he said.

He added that it is too early to say if trolley recognition on Beacon Street could serve as a model for aboveground trolleys elsewhere in the MBTA system.

? Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/27/t_may_get_edge_on_beacon_st/

 

[czsz]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

The fact this hasn't been thought of/done before is astonishing.

 

[jass]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Its like these people dont understand how it works.

In California, where I spend time, even the bike lanes have sensors to activate the lights. Every single intersection has sensors; between 12am and 5am every light in the city is red until a car or bike approaches.

 

[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Contactless payment trial goes live on San Francisco's BART

Posted Jan 31st 2008 8:24AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation
We knew full well that a contactless payment trial would soon be underway in the city by the Bay, and now it's finally ready for use by 230 guinea pigs. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of details on the Samsung handsets and the technology itself, but we do know that the program is being closely watched in hopes of it operating quite smoothly. If indeed that happens, it could be "expanded," presumably allowing others in the area to have their bank account dinged with the swipe of a cell each time they need a lift. Furthermore, a video clip at CBS5 shows the pilot phone being used to snag some totally nourishing grub from Jack in the Box.

Link

This should be easy enough to implement with the Charlie system.
Let San Fran work out the kinks first.

 

[KentXie]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Link

I have to say this is a waste of money. They should have spent the money on other things like upgrading trains, maintenance, etc. The MBTA is already in debt and making this thing is pointless. You don't need wi-fi on the train.

 

[statler]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

^^ It's just a matter of convincing cell providers to put a Charlie chip in their cell phones. It shouldn't cost anything, really.
In fact, if you are the clever sort you can do it yourself by slicing open a Charlie Card, removing the chip and taping it inside the phone.

 

[caravaggiste]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

When it rains, it pours at some T stations
Subway stops weren't sheltered from the storm
By Tania deLuzuriaga, Globe Staff | February 2, 2008

A funny thing about subway stations in Boston: When it rains outside, it pours inside.

As a winter deluge soaked the city yesterday, water stains the color of coffee spread across the ceiling at Kendall Station and oozed down the walls. Maverick resembled a site for water torture. State Street sounded as if a river ran through it. At North Station, where MBTA officials have spent more than $262 million renovating the station, water poured in through the ceiling.

"I'd like to see a discount for every drop that hits us," said John Shields, 43, of Kingston, N.H.

The problem of water in T stations is almost as old as the T itself. And these days, MBTA officials say, construction projects and renovations are allowing more water than normal to seep into some stations, a problem that should end when the projects are complete. But in other stations, it is simply a fact of life when the weather gets wet. The solutions employed yesterday by the T are about as old as the problem: buckets and mops.

At many places yesterday, receptacles like garbage cans were used to catch leaking water. In some places, signs or orange traffic cones warned of wet floors.

"It shouldn't be like this, not at all," said Mike McNeil, 25, of Jamaica Plain. "One little sign is not going to stop people from slipping."

At the Orange and Green lines on the subway at North Station yesterday, would-be riders stepped gingerly and dodged the streams of water pouring through the roof of the Causeway Street entrance. T employees eventually cordoned off a soaked section of stairs, and a worker dressed like a Gorton's Fisherman in yellow plastic pants tried in vain to battle the water with his mop.

Downstairs, commuters stood waiting for trains as water poured steadily onto the benches by the track. A few towels did little to sop up the mess.

"It's a new station, isn't it?" said one commuter as he jogged off to catch his train.

North Station has a history of water problems. In 2005, it was plagued with leaks, most notably a yellow liquid streaming from the ceiling near the northbound passenger platform of the Orange Line that caused problems with escalators and elevators.

Joe Pesaturo, MBTA spokesman, said yesterday that leaks in the underground tunnels are normal and that the particularly problematic ones are a result of construction projects that expose the tunnels to the elements.

But T officials have sometimes lost the battle with Mother Nature. In 2005, train service on three subway lines was interrupted after 3 inches of rain fell on the city in a matter of hours. In 1996, the Muddy River flooded twice in two months, throwing the Green Line into chaos and causing at least $15 million in damage.

"The tunnels are underground; it's like your basement at home," Pesaturo said.

At North Station, the ongoing construction of a private apartment building over the station has meant near constant leaks near the Causeway Street entrance.

Pesaturo said that the construction company will soon replace the sieve-like plywood and tarpaulin covers that were placed over the skylights with something more watertight.

"The developer has acknowledged this is their issue," he said. "They're addressing any problems associated with the water."

The problems at Maverick, on the Blue Line in East Boston, and State Street station near City Hall are also temporary, Pesaturo said, since both stations are undergoing major renovations.

"During construction activity there are areas that are open to the elements," he said.

Maverick is undergoing a $55 million renovation that includes platform extensions, new elevator and escalators, and updated mechanical and electrical systems. State Station will also get new platforms and improved lighting, communications equipment, and historical graphic panels.

The drips aren't simply annoying to some riders. "The leaking is troubling," said Damon Clark, a law student who takes the T nearly everyday.

"It just suggests there's something not stable."

But while the tunnel leaks might appear troubling, they don't indicate any danger, Pesaturo said. "We have a very elaborate drainage system and a lot of pumps."

Not everyone is worried by the water. Jameer Nelson of Roxbury said he doesn't mind the leaks in North Station, even though the water dripping onto a bench meant he couldn't sit down to wait for his Orange Line train.

"I can't complain," he said, "as long as they get the Big Dig taken care of."

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[JoeGallows]

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos

Chance for those of you with the time, know-how and desire to try to change the T to do something. Looks like the MBTA Rider Oversight Committee is trying to fill some vacancies. Here's the press release PDF. The actual press release on the website doesn't have any info on it, but here it is anyway.

Does this committee have much power at all? I'm not sure I've heard of it.