General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Teban54 said:
www.trains.com

MBTA officials say improvement is at least a year away - Trains

BOSTON — Major improvement in Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rail operations will take a year or more, MBTA board chair Thomas Glynn said in an online forum Thursday. “I think people will see a different T a year from now,” Glynn said, according to a Boston Herald report, “but I...
www.trains.com www.trains.com
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I'm not going to be too sure about this until the fiscal cliff gets resolved. After FY24, the T's going to be 500 million short of operating expenses. I don't even know if the state level has the political will to fix the mechanism that funds the T short.
 
Riverside said:
I mean, trains, even diesel trains, are shockingly fuel efficient. (Also, as far as I can recall, no one has used fuel costs as the justification for cutting service.) Likewise, IIRC, the weight of a train derives primarily from its passenger load, so, insofar as fuel costs do contribute, they’ll be lower in off-peak.

But anyway, to @Java King’s point, the lack of flexibility itself depresses ridership even further. You’re always going to have some low ridership runs at the shoulder periods of any service — that’s part of what enables higher ridership during other periods.
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An empty k car weighs at least 120k. 180 people, a full car, would add 36k
 
Riverside said:
I mean, trains, even diesel trains, are shockingly fuel efficient. (Also, as far as I can recall, no one has used fuel costs as the justification for cutting service.) Likewise, IIRC, the weight of a train derives primarily from its passenger load, so, insofar as fuel costs do contribute, they’ll be lower in off-peak.
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I haven't seen any detailed analyses, but the rule of thumb seems to be that staffing is the major driver of operating costs, which is to say fuel is not. What is the staff requirement for a late evening train? Two people*, right? So the cost for one hour of an engineer and one conductor is likely more expensive than the fuel cost. So again, the fuel isn't too expensive. By far the largest cost is amortization of capital spending. And that happens whether or not you run the train. I can't imagine the marginal cost for running one extra train is that significant, nor that very many passengers would need to ride in order to make up that amount, plus cover some of the amortization costs.

* I know it's a simplification to only count the train crew, but I'm not sure what percentage of dispatch, maintenance crew, etc. is required for a single train from South Station, particularly if it can be handled by the existing late evening staff.
 
HenryAlan said:
I haven't seen any detailed analyses, but the rule of thumb seems to be that staffing is the major driver of operating costs, which is to say fuel is not. What is the staff requirement for a late evening train? Two people*, right? So the cost for one hour of an engineer and one conductor is likely more expensive than the fuel cost. So again, the fuel isn't too expensive. By far the largest cost is amortization of capital spending. And that happens whether or not you run the train. I can't imagine the marginal cost for running one extra train is that significant, nor that very many passengers would need to ride in order to make up that amount, plus cover some of the amortization costs.

* I know it's a simplification to only count the train crew, but I'm not sure what percentage of dispatch, maintenance crew, etc. is required for a single train from South Station, particularly if it can be handled by the existing late evening staff.
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Electricity load also plays a factor. On closed coaches the HVAC isn't constantly cycling because the doors aren't opening and there's no human bodies taxing the ambient temp. The lights are usually dimmed. The toilets aren't flushing.HEP (Head-End Power) load is a significant performance demerit, as much so as human weight, when a consist is overstuffed. So when you have closed cars the locomotive isn't nearly as taxed by electrical load, which nets better fuel efficiency and better acceleration when more of the electricity can be portioned into propulsion.
 
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Delvin4519 said:
Lots of lots of schedule cuts to meet the actual level of service:

Summer 2023 Service Changes | Previous Service Changes | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
www.mbta.com www.mbta.com
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Several route changes:
  • 16: Weekday trips until 10pm and Saturday morning trips will serve South Bay Center consistently, except trips served by articulated buses. Currently, most weekday morning trips until 9:30am, some weekday evening trips and Saturday morning trips until 9am use Boston St.
    • It was mentioned that articulated buses will not serve South Bay Center, but I wasn't aware of any articulated buses doing route 16 trips? Someone enlighten me. (Edit: See replies below. )
    • With this change, the only trips that use Boston St are late nights, Sunday mornings and evenings, and trips served by articulated buses during weekday AM & PM peaks.
    • The BNRD has all route 16 trips serve South Bay Center, although I'm not sure if that was because the BNRD map doesn't display alternative routes.
  • 29: Cut back from Ruggles to Jackson Square at all times. Currently, weekday evening and Saturday trips terminate at Ruggles.
    • This was planned in BNRD.
  • 90: Outbound route amended near East Somerville station, via Tufts St, Washington St and McGrath Hwy. This adds a stop closer to East Somerville GLX station.
    • This was planned in BNRD.
  • 99: Woodland Rd terminal moved from west parking lot to east parking lot.
    • This was planned in BNRD.
  • 106: Weekday inbound trips before 8pm will complete the loop via Forest St and Sylvan St. Currently, trips after 6:30pm use Lebanon St.
    • The BNRD has all route 106 trips serve Forest St and Sylvan St, although I'm not sure if that was because the BNRD map doesn't display alternative routes.
  • 134: Sunday outbound trips after 8pm will be extended to Playstead Rd. Currently, the 7:20pm and later trips terminate at Medford Square.
    • It's unclear whether the 7:20pm trip will be extended.
    • The BNRD has all route 134 trips to North Woburn, although I'm not sure if that was because the BNRD map doesn't display alternative routes.
  • 230: Mid-afternoon weekday trips will serve Holbrook Housing Authority. This had been officially discontinued since August 29, 2021, though in practice it stopped earlier due to construction.
    • This was not in BNRD.
  • 713: Amended from Hermon St to Walden St.
    • This was not in BNRD.
Minor changes (temporary and single-trip changes):
  • 28: No service to Avenue Louis Pasteur (Boston Latin School) in summer
  • 85: Temporarily terminate at Bow St (near Union Sq Somerville) due to construction
  • 137: Weekday 3:58pm inbound trip terminates at Oak Grove instead of Malden Center
  • 230: Weekday 5:40am inbound trip terminates at Quincy Center instead of Braintree (currently, it's the only trip terminating at Braintree)
  • 450: Cut back from Haymarket to Wood Island on weekdays due to Sumner Tunnel closure
 
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Teban54 said:
It was mentioned that articulated buses will not serve South Bay Center, but I wasn't aware of any articulated buses doing route 16 trips? Someone enlighten me.
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The 16 mostly gets articulateds going to/from the 39 at Forest Hills and the Southampton Street Garage. You can see them in the list of the 16's blocks on Pantograph.
 
Riverside said:
End door on a Red Line car stuck open while in motion. The unlucky operator tried to close it and wasn’t able to.

www.boston25news.com

Video shows open door on new Red Line subway car while train in motion

The MBTA is investigating how a new Red Line subway car door remained open for several stops with passengers on board.
www.boston25news.com www.boston25news.com
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The article specifically noted it was a new CRRC train.

I've had a similar incident myself with an old Red Line car that couldn't close one of its doors at Park St. The operator stopped the train there for 5 minutes and tried everything she could to close the door, asking for help from passengers and station staff, and only departed after the door could be closed. I was under the impression that it was supposed to be standard procedure when a door can't be closed, so this instance of a train traversing through several stations with an open door was surprising to me.
 
The semi-annual accessibility update is out: https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2023-06/2023-06-05-swa-initiatives-june-2023-accessible.pdf

Just about everything has slipped a quarter or two since the December update. Highlights since the last update:
  • Beginning of construction at Newton Highlands delayed from mid-2023 to mid-2024. No reason given.
  • Utility work has begun at Symphony; station work will begin in mid-2024.
  • B and C branch stations have also slipped: B stations constructed spring-fall 2024, C stations 6 months later. B is still at 30% design, C now at 15%.
  • Winchester Center only progressed 5% (25 to 30) in 6 months, but still anticipated for April 2024 completion.
  • Worcester also progressed only 5%; it is at 45% and anticipated February 2024.
  • Rebuild of North Wilmington to start this summer and be completed within a year
  • Freestanding mini-high platforms to be at Beverly this fall, as "the existing mini high-level platforms are no longer salvageable". If those are successful, the next 4 would be at West Medford, Wellesley Square, Walpole, and Franklin. (I note those are the four highest-ridership non-accessible stations not currently under construction.)
 
The EGE said:
  • Freestanding mini-high platforms to be at Beverly this fall, as "the existing mini high-level platforms are no longer salvageable". If those are successful, the next 4 would be at West Medford, Wellesley Square, Walpole, and Franklin. (I note those are the four highest-ridership non-accessible stations not currently under construction.)
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I'll be glad if Franklin/Dean receives mini-high platforms in the short term, but I hope it eventually gets rebuilt with full high-level platforms.
 
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Walked from DTX to Park yesterday through the connector and found it strange that all the walls are lined with fences. Anyone know what’s up with that? It made the stretch kinda ugly.
 
Along with busses, it's probably worth noting the schedule changes to trains.

First, I'll quote u/Chemical-Glove-1435 who been consistently publishing slow zone updates. It's just easier to read the bullet points and than the PDF.

So that said, his post notes this

Weekdays:
  • Red Line: every 9 minutes on trunk, every 18 on branches
  • Orange Line: every 10-12 minutes
  • Green Line: every 6-8 minutes during peak, every 7-12 minutes off peak
  • Blue Line: every 5-6 minutes on peak, every 7-12 minutes off peak
Saturdays:
  • Red Line: every 11 minutes on trunk, every 22 minutes on branches (How far we've fallen)
  • Orange Line: every 9-11 minutes, MORE FREQUENT THAN WEEKDAYS
  • Green Line: every 8-12 minutes
  • Blue Line: every 10-12 minutes
Sundays:
  • Red Line: every 11 minutes on trunk, every 22 minutes on branches (How far we've fallen)
  • Orange Line: every 10-11 minutes
  • Green Line: every 9-13 minutes
  • Blue Line: every 10-12 minutes.
Key Takeaway:

MORE SLOW ZONES = LESS FREQUENCY

Source: https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/media/route_pdfs/batch_6559/SUBWAY-S3-P4.pdf
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So that said, I decided the compare between the March 2023 and July 2023 schedule. The main website listing Summer 2023 Service Changes a pretty detailed list of bus schedule updates but all I can see for trains are just "Service frequency decreases and departure times change on all branches throughout the day on weekdays." (and it's notable it's only for Orange, Green, and Blue - I'm keeping a pin on that to follow up later on this post).

Old (Effective March 12, 2023): https://web.archive.org/web/2023030...oute_pdfs/batch_6375/RL-OL-GL-BL-SL-S2-P4.pdf (Web archive to keep the link relevant)
New (Effective July 2, 2023): https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/media/route_pdfs/batch_6559/SUBWAY-S3-P4.pdf

Which my own analysis found a few additional notes.
  • There is no longer "peak trains" for Orange Line. March 2023 was peak OL was every 7-10 min, off-peak 8-12. Now will be every 10-12. This does make Saturday more frequent than weekdays
  • Orange Line Sunday will increase frequency from every 11-13 mins to 10-11 mins
  • Mar 2023 Weekday Peak Red Line was officially every 7-8 on min within trunk, 13-15 min on branches vs July 2023 Weekday peak will be every 9 minutes within trunk, 16 min on branches
  • Mar 2023 Weekday Off-Peak Red Line was officially every 8 on min within trunk, 16 min on branches vs July 2023 Weekday Off-Peak will be every 9 minutes within trunk, 18 min on branches
  • Mar 2023 Saturday Red Line was officially every 8 on min within trunk, 16 min on branches vs July 2023 Saturday will be every 11 minutes within trunk, 22 min on branches
  • Mar 2023 Weekday Off-Peak Blue Line was officially every 11 mins vs July 2023 Weekday Off-Peak Blue Line will be every 7-12 mins
  • Mar 2023 Weekday Weekend Blue Line was officially every 9 mins vs July 2023 Weekday Off-Peak Blue Line will be every 10-12 mins
While Transit Matters do have their headway data set and someone is probably already doing it, we should start archiving these PDFs. Not that waiting up to 22 minutes needs reminding that it's not normal, it is probably still important that we can still remember what headways used to be on official records. Especially if even the current numbers becomes the "good old days".
 
ant8904 said:
While Transit Matters do have their headway data set and someone is probably already doing it, we should start archiving these PDFs. Not that waiting up to 22 minutes needs reminding that it's not normal, it is probably still important that we can still remember what headways used to be on official records. Especially if even the current numbers becomes the "good old days".
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I've already archived 'em all back to September 2017. :) 2.5 years of pre-COVID schedule PDFs.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17NIGxHhHBiHDRu9vmeVMoyxXViVoQp_GkrZ3sV5iQ7k/edit?usp=sharing

I fed the whole list to the wayback machine, so there are 3 links listing archived copies:
https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/*
https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/route_pdfs/*
https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/media/route_pdfs/*

MBTA also has GTFS back to 2009, but it's in GTFS form and not PDF format, so that requires coding know how. https://cdn.mbta.com/archive/archived_feeds.txt
 
Not sure if this was posted.

House Budget Proposal Would Shift More Funds From Highways to Transit
fair-share-spending-proposals-pie-charts.png



“A new state budget proposal from the House Ways and Means Committee would ante up more state funding for transit, with a particularly large boost in funding for the 15 regional transit authorities that operate bus routes outside of the MBTA service area.

The House Committee on Ways and Means last week issued its recommended revisions to the Governor's budget proposal, which Governor Healey released at the end of February.

The Ways and Means proposal aligns with the governor's proposal to establish a new "Education and Transportation Fund" from the state's new Fair Share Amendment income tax surcharge on high-income taxpayers, and split an anticipated $1 billion in new funding evenly between education and transportation projects.

What’s In Gov. Healey’s Budget Proposal

But while Gov. Healey proposed to spend slightly more of the Fair Share revenue on MassDOT's road and highway programs, the House budget proposal would spend more on transit – particularly for MBTA capital projects and for regional transit authorities (see chart above).

Some of the biggest changes the House proposes include $69 million more for MBTA capital projects, which are necessary to repair the T's failing infrastructure, and $45 million more for regional transit authorities (RTAs)…”

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2023/0...uld-shift-more-funds-from-highways-to-transit
 
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