General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[RandomWalk]

Consultants will cash their check from Keolis to say “not possible”. The T will use it to say “not possible without many federal dollars” when the next study for electrification happens.

 

[kingofsheeba]

So, I went to the Sox game earlier this evening with a buddy of mine and we took the OL into North Station, and I have to say. Phillip Eng has made a world of difference. Everything ran the way they were supposed to. No slow zones. Even the GL ran smoothly. When’s the last time anyone can say that? Even after the game, the GL ran well.

Usually, I have a litany of complaints sad grievances against the T. After coming back from the game, I was astounded at how succinct things went. Could the T be making a turn around? It’s too early to say, but if what I saw tonight coming to and from the game is an indicator of things to come, the. I have confidence that the T will be on par with MUNI, DC Metro, et al.

 

[Teban54]

Fall 2024 service changes

Fall 2024 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

Service improvements are coming to every heavy rail line: (Also credits to Chemical Glove on Reddit)

Line	Before	After
Red	Weekend 8-11	Weekend 8
Orange	Weekday Peak 7-8 Weekday Midday 7-10 Saturday 10-11 Sunday 13-15	Weekday Peak 6-7 Weekday Midday 6-9 Saturday 9-10 Sunday 12-14
Blue	Weekday Peak 5-6 Weekday Midday 7-13 Weekend 10-11	Weekday Peak 4-5 Weekday Midday 6-13 Weekend 9

Also for the bus schedule changes, 21 of the 64 routes were explicitly listed as to "improve frequency". Most of the others (and some of the 21) do involve "schedule reliability", but to be, that sounds like calibrating schedules to the actual traffic conditions, not removing service that should have run. Only one route had a removed: on the 351, because it doesn't connect to the 350.

Other interesting tidbits among the bus changes:

• Harvard-bound 66 will now drop off in the Harvard upper bus tunnel (!!), instead of at Johnston Gate.
  • Could this suggest the 66 may get some left-door buses in the future, and pick up in the lower bus tunnel as well?
• The 15 will be extended to St. Peter's Square, no longer having any trips terminate at Kane Square.
  • Today, the 15 has AM and PM rush hour trips terminate at Kane Square, midday trips at St. Peter's Square, and evening and weekend trips to Fields Corner. The Fields Corner trips will remain unchanged.
  • Note that the 15 will eventually have all trips extended to Fields Corner under the Bus Network Redesign.
• The 100's Roosevelt Circle short-turn trips on weekend nights (after 9:30pm) will be extended to full-length trips terminating at Elm St.
• The 501's PM service now starts more than 1 hour earlier, at 2:45pm. Previously, the first inbound trip was at 3:50pm.
• The 714 will have improved ferry connections at Hull.

But yeah, THE T IS DOOMED!!!!!!

 

[alewife]

• Harvard-bound 66 will now drop off in the Harvard upper bus tunnel (!!), instead of at Johnston Gate.
  • Could this suggest the 66 may get some left-door buses in the future, and pick up in the lower bus tunnel as well?

The extremely useful "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA District" notes that the 66 previously operated in this way from 1998 to 2004, but reverted to the surface routing to accommodate the operation of CNG buses (which are banned from the Harvard bus tunnel due to safety concerns) on the route. I wonder if this change will stick, as I honestly have no idea how difficult it will be to keep CNG buses from being assigned to the 66. (The 66 is part of the Cabot/Albany district, which is mostly diesel hybrids but does have 55 CNG buses on its roster.) Perhaps if a CNG bus ends up being assigned, it will simply take the current surface route, which shouldn't be too big a problem since the tunnel will be for drop off only.

The current BEB contract for Quincy and North Cambridge does include options for additional left-door buses. I'm not sure what the T's intention for those was, since I don't know of any current proposals for busways with island platforms. Routing the 66 (and the 86, once it's truncated to Harvard under the BNRD) through the lower busway would be a potential application, though. (The BNRD map curiously shows the 66 looping around Cambridge Common, which would be required for it to operate through the lower busway, but otherwise maintains the current surface routing.)

 

[Delvin4519]

Service improvements are coming to every heavy rail line: (Also credits to Chemical Glove on Reddit)

Line	Before	After
Red	Weekend 8-11	Weekend 8
Orange	Weekday Peak 7-8 Weekday Midday 7-10 Saturday 10-11 Sunday 13-15	Weekday Peak 6-7 Weekday Midday 6-9 Saturday 9-10 Sunday 12-14
Blue	Weekday Peak 5-6 Weekday Midday 7-13 Weekend 10-11	Weekday Peak 4-5 Weekday Midday 6-13 Weekend 9

Also for the bus schedule changes, 21 of the 64 routes were explicitly listed as to "improve frequency". Most of the others (and some of the 21) do involve "schedule reliability", but to be, that sounds like calibrating schedules to the actual traffic conditions, not removing service that should have run. Only one route had a removed: on the 351, because it doesn't connect to the 350.

Other interesting tidbits among the bus changes:

• Harvard-bound 66 will now drop off in the Harvard upper bus tunnel (!!), instead of at Johnston Gate.
  • Could this suggest the 66 may get some left-door buses in the future, and pick up in the lower bus tunnel as well?
• The 15 will be extended to St. Peter's Square, no longer having any trips terminate at Kane Square.
  • Today, the 15 has AM and PM rush hour trips terminate at Kane Square, midday trips at St. Peter's Square, and evening and weekend trips to Fields Corner. The Fields Corner trips will remain unchanged.
  • Note that the 15 will eventually have all trips extended to Fields Corner under the Bus Network Redesign.
• The 100's Roosevelt Circle short-turn trips on weekend nights (after 9:30pm) will be extended to full-length trips terminating at Elm St.
• The 501's PM service now starts more than 1 hour earlier, at 2:45pm. Previously, the first inbound trip was at 3:50pm.
• The 714 will have improved ferry connections at Hull.

But yeah, THE T IS DOOMED!!!!!!

I am waiting for the GTFS schedules to be released in order to analyze those "improved schedule reliability" statements. At this time GTFS schedules are not out yet.

The reason for this is that I need the ability to count the total number of scheduled trips, and for key bus routes and subway schedules, I cannot get total trip counts within the PDFs alone.

I did however, catch reduced schedules for the 1 bus via the PDF.

The 1 bus will go from 12 minute midday headways to 15 minute midday headways (5 vph to 4 vph). This trims service by about 20%, but if dozens of neighboring bus routes get increased peak service, it may balance out the cuts with a slight net gain in service.

Even after scanning the changes, that still does not change the frustration that only a fraction of the summer 2023 service cuts will be reversed. The T cut service massively in Summer 2023, and a large portion of those service cuts are still not reversed and restored.

A large portion of the frequency improvements are weekday peak periods only. Is it better than nothing? Yes, but we're talking 16 months since the new contract by the time the fall rating ends in Decmber 2024. The T is only running 85% of pre-pandemic bus service as of earlier this year. Where is that other 15%? We're 5 years since COVID by the end of the fall rating in December 2024. 5 years of reduced bus service. The changes for fall 2024 feels like the T is probably only bumping it up if I had to guess, from 85 to 89% of pre-COVID bus service? Sure, 89% of pre-COVID service is better than 85%, but at the length it takes to restore service. Riders have waited 14 - 16 months for any bus service restoration, and the T has only undid a fraction of just the summer 2023 service cuts, let alone undoing the 2021 service cuts. Of course riders will get frustrated, if it takes this long just restore only a fraction of the service. Add the fact that the Blue and Orange Lines are seeing decent recoveries, and bus riders would be right to feel impatient, frustrated, or demoralized, for wanting pre-COVID frequencies back.

Plus there is BNRD. Is the T going to leave some bus routes in one neighborhood of Boston at 50% of pre-COVID service levels, so the route serving the neighborhood next door gets increased to 300% of pre-COVID service levels? As Fall 2024 is the last rating before the first scheduled rating for BNRD, it is right to be concerned that not all local bus routes in the inner core will recover to pre-pandemic frequencies before some resources get diverted to BNRD. The T had 1,819 bus operators pre-pandemic, and BNRD will go ahead with just 1,560 bus operators. Can the T run a bus schedule that requires 1,819 bus operators (like it did pre-COVID), with just 1,560 human operators on board?

 

[ritchiew]

Here's a service disruption I'm ok with!
Ferry service might have minor delays today because of a young humpback whale in Boston Harbor.

x.com

x.com

 

[Koopzilla24]

Can the T run a bus schedule that requires 1,819 bus operators (like it did pre-COVID), with just 1,560 human operators on board?

I'd assume you don't mean it this way but it comes off as if 1,819 drivers were always active or on standby to drive the buses. That is not the case and is just the roster of employed bus drivers. The T only has about 1079 buses total with also not all of those in-use at once. The construction of new busways such as the Columbus ext to Ruggles, Blue Hill Ave, and Alford/Broadway in Everett will serve to allow the same or better headways with less buses on route due to shorter trip times from less traffic. There's also, as you've pointed out, the shift from frequent (10-15min) peak, infrequent off-peak (60min) routes such as the 86 and 65 to all day 20-30min service that while reducing frequency will reduce the number of drivers necessary and be a net increase in daily trips on the route. These BNRD changes affect operations down to the basic positioning of buses.

For example, the 65 currently operates every 10min at peak and drops off to hourly midday. This means the bus drivers required to operate this service goes from 6+ to about 2. The buses themselves don't just sit out waiting for the driver to come back, they reallocate to other routes or mostly deadhead back to a garage. This is a maneuver that takes a lot of drivers not actually operating any service and is what creates the dreaded split shift. This same maneuver needs to be repeated 6 hours later and drivers need to come back and then return the buses again at the end of evening peak. Spread this operation across all the peaky routes and you get tens of drivers and buses every day moving around empty buses. Now that shift to all day ~25min service does mean a decrease in peak usability but brings a big boost to off-peak usability and ultimately means a consistent number of drivers are needed throughout most of the day. This also reduces the need for split shifts as drivers can be on the clock in more complete shifts with a slight overlap for the morning and night bus moves and midday driver swaps which can happen on route at Kenmore instead of drivers bringing a whole bus with them from the garage or switching from a 66 Brighton center extension like currently is the practice.

Overall, making schedules more consistent and predictable results in more/better service with less total drivers, and less redundancy or empty bus moves means less extra drivers that are on the cock only to perform them. A total smaller roster

 

[Teban54]

Proposals would boost cost of parking, package delivery, rideshares

One of the initiatives would raise fees on rideshares; the other two would impose a new sales tax on privately owned parking spaces and assess a new fee on all retail deliveries.

commonwealthbeacon.org

 

[fatnoah]

Proposals would boost cost of parking, package delivery, rideshares

I'm all for this as long as we actually get improved transit out of it. Speaking as someone who literally enjoys riding the T in all of its forms and who has lived car-free in Boston before, there are times where the T just doesn't cut it due to completely terrible schedules, overcrowding, or (my special pet peeve) the bus driver literally not stopping for you and your kid at the bus stop several times per month. In the latter case, Uber was the only way to get to school on time, because good luck hailing a cab, even on a busy string like Boylston St.

 

[Delvin4519]

I'd assume you don't mean it this way but it comes off as if 1,819 drivers were always active or on standby to drive the buses. That is not the case and is just the roster of employed bus drivers. The T only has about 1079 buses total with also not all of those in-use at once. The construction of new busways such as the Columbus ext to Ruggles, Blue Hill Ave, and Alford/Broadway in Everett will serve to allow the same or better headways with less buses on route due to shorter trip times from less traffic.

Overall, making schedules more consistent and predictable results in more/better service with less total drivers, and less redundancy or empty bus moves means less extra drivers that are on the cock only to perform them. A total smaller roster

BNRD was originally supposed to begin in 2023, and the MBTA was originally going to raise bus operator hiring to fill in a total of 1,923 positions to cover Round 1 of BNRD, up from 1,819 positions pre-COVID. After the announcement that BNRD was postponed to December 2024, the MBTA slashed the bus operator ceiling from 1,923 positions to 1,867 positions. While we don't know what the current bus operator ceiling is for FY25, since the most recent update to the board in May 2024; we do know that the T has always historically always had 1,750 - 1,800 active bus operators in the most recent year prior to COVID-19, despite a slightly higher ceiling of 1,819 operators.

For example, the 65 currently operates every 10min at peak and drops off to hourly midday. This means the bus drivers required to operate this service goes from 6+ to about 2.

Now that shift to all day ~25min service does mean a decrease in peak usability but brings a big boost to off-peak usability

This is one of the most FRUSTRATING things about the COVID-19 and SUMMER 2023 SERVICE CUTS, and how the T has responded to restoring service in Fall 2024.

The 65 in Brighton and Brookline had ALREADY BEEN operating 20 - 30 minute midday headways PRE-COVID. The service was a lot more balanced. Every 10 - 20 during AM/PM peak, every 20 - 35 middays. It sounds like the 65 is being described as "always having been hourly" but this is NOT true.

Comparing the 65's Fall 2019 schedule (left) and the Fall 2024 schedule (right). On the right you see 6 - 14 minute peak headways with off peak service of hourly or worse! Where pre-COVID there were 7 trips between 9:40 a.m. and 1:40 p.m., now in Fall 2024 there are only 3 trips during the midday hours.

This is NOT about service improvements under BNRD. This is about OFF PEAK, MIDDAY and WEEKEND SERVICE the T PREVIOUSLY ALREADY HAD BEEN RUNNING PRE-COVID, taken away from us.

Here's Saturday service on the 108 bus dating back to 2009 (total number of scheduled trips).

The 108 ran every 30 - 35 minute service during the day until 7:30 p.m. in 2017. Then in 2023, the first thing under Eng, after he came into office, was a bus service massacre to "right size the schedules" to operator headcount, due to hundreds of vacant positions leaving the inability to run the published schedules. The 108 was reduced to 55 minute service middays and Saturdays under GM Eng, and it's still like that today, at 66% of pre-COVID Saturday schedules. The weekday schedule for the 108 today contains the same number of trips as the Saturday schedule of the 108 from Fall 2014.

Take the total number of trips scheduled per week across the North Washington Street Bridge (92/93 buses, Mon-Fri x5, Sat x1, Sun x1). Pre-COVID it was consistent around 700 trips per week that ran across the North Washington Street Bridge dating all the way back to 2009, 120 trips on weekdays, 80 Saturdays, and 25 Sundays. Service ran every 20 minutes durng the middays and Saturdays, every 7 - 8 rush hour, and every 30 - 60 minutes on evenings and Sundays in 2017. In late 2019, rush hour frequency was reduced to every 9 - 13 minutes in order to increase evening frequency from every 30 - 60 to every 30 - 40 minutes, maintaing 20 minute frequencies midday/Saturdays. Route 92 was shortened in order to increase frequency from every 40 - 60 to every 30 -40 minutes frequency during middays, evenings, and Saturdays for a more balanced off peak schedule and to offset the loss of some rush hour service on the 93. ALL of these OFF PEAK FREQUENCY IMPROVEMENTS HAPPENED PRE-COVID, in 2019.

Today, what was once every 7 - 20 minutes pre-COVID is now hourly service at best. So demoralizing and frustrating. And this is for OFF PEAK service that got slashed. Not just peak service.

Spoiler

The service cuts are so bad it's only at 50% of the pre-COVID weekday service. Only half as many buses run across the North Washington Street Bridge compared to pre-COVID. Much worse than Braintree Branch service cuts. There are fewer weekday trips (42 trips) in 2024 today than the 49 Saturday trips scheduled back in 2012.

Route 7 serving South Boston once ran every 20 minutes middays in 2019. Now it's every 45 minutes, only half that of pre-COVID. The 101 ran every half hour on Sundays in 2019. Now it's hourly or worse.

Spoiler

Route 57 Saturday service in 2019 and 2024. Route 39 Saturday service in 2019 and 2024. What was once 10 minute headways is now every 15 - 20:

All of these OFF PEAK service improvements HAD ALREADY EXISTED IN 2019. In 2021 and AGAIN under Eng 2023, the T SLASHED OFF PEAK service. The T has responded since by restoring mostly peak service instead of off-peak service. All of the 2024 schedules are that of the Fall 2024 rating, allegedly the LAST rating before BNRD takes effect.

Why should the industrial pit wasteland of 2nd Street in Everett get 15 minute headways, while bus riders saw their bus routes go from every 15 - 30 minute frequencies in 2013 - 2019, to hourly service in 2024? That seems very cruel to today's bus riders whom have ridden the bus system both in 2019 and in 2024. It is very reasonable to be frustrated, demoralized, and concerned about what happens next with the T after the T's actions since 2020. It is especially the case under GM Eng in how the MBTA is treating bus riders and responding to restoring and cutting bus service, relative to Eng's swift action in justifiably restoring subway service relatively quickly (compared to bus service), since Eng took office in Spring 2023.

The 65 being hourly service middays is only a new development since COVID. It is very misleading to omit the fact the 65 ran 30 minute headways middays in 2019, as that was what the 65 bus did in 2019. Hence the need to debunk this misleading statement and state what actually happened. In late 2019 the T has already made progress in becoming less peak oriented. It is true, howver, that the unfunded BNRD will likely flatten service levels even more, for a more balanced approach to peak and off peak service, compared to 2019, as 2019 was still relatively peak heavy in terms of service levels.

 

[Delvin4519]

BNRD was originally supposed to begin in 2023, and the MBTA was originally going to raise bus operator hiring to fill in a total of 1,923 positions to cover Round 1 of BNRD, up from 1,819 positions pre-COVID. After the announcement that BNRD was postponed to December 2024, the MBTA slashed the bus operator ceiling from 1,923 positions to 1,867 positions. While we don't know what the current bus operator ceiling is for FY25, since the most recent update to the board in May 2024; we do know that the T has always historically always had 1,750 - 1,800 active bus operators in the most recent year prior to COVID-19, despite a slightly higher ceiling of 1,819 operators.

BNRD was going to raise the number of bus operators by 440 above the pre-pandemic count of 1,819 bus operators, which would mean a total of 2,259 bus operators needed to run BNRD. The T will need to hire an additional 700 bus drivers beyond that set out in BNRD phase 1. So the idea that BNRD would allow less operators is just flat out false.

The T is forecasted to only be at a little over 1,600 by December 15, 2024, which is still 200 below pre-COVID levels and 300 below the original budgeted count of 1,923 in Summer 2023 before the celing was reduced from 1,923 to 1,867 to account for BNRD Phase 1 being postponed.

 

[Koopzilla24]

To keep playing the part of the optimist:

BNRD was originally supposed to begin in 2023, and the MBTA was originally going to raise bus operator hiring to fill in a total of 1,923 positions to cover Round 1 of BNRD, up from 1,819 positions pre-COVID. After the announcement that BNRD was postponed to December 2024, the MBTA slashed the bus operator ceiling from 1,923 positions to 1,867 positions. While we don't know what the current bus operator ceiling is for FY25, since the most recent update to the board in May 2024; we do know that the T has always historically always had 1,750 - 1,800 active bus operators in the most recent year prior to COVID-19, despite a slightly higher ceiling of 1,819 operators.

I don't think a total budgeted officer positions difference of 56 drivers will make a big difference in the grand scheme of things (a -3% decrease). At that point in time when the BNRD was expected for 2023, the Columbus Ave bus lanes were not complete and there weren't years of data of how the center bus lanes would effect bus schedule trip times and reliability. There was also not concrete funding and plans in place to definitively do the same on 3 more major bus corridors. With things delayed by COVID and the T become more cash strapped looking ahead, reassessing the number of operators necessary to provide the same service with the new knowledge would allow them to reallocate the operational funding that would've gone to those 56 driver's pay to other aspects of bus operation. Drivers' wages are the highest cost element of operating a bus service.

BNRD was going to raise the number of bus operators by 440 above the pre-pandemic count of 1,819 bus operators, which would mean a total of 2,259 bus operators needed to run BNRD. The T will need to hire an additional 700 bus drivers beyond that set out in BNRD phase 1. So the idea that BNRD would allow less operators is just flat out false.

View attachment 53996

"In the early years of implementation, it is likely that we will focus on operator-neutral changes we can make, and really get the capital work (like new bus lanes, garages, and bus stops) underway."

This article is from October 2022, times change and situations change. Columbus Ave was only a year into service ripe in the pandemic under really reduced levels. This statements indicates that their end goal is to increase their budgeted operators to that 2259 number to further increase service under the new route configurations and base service standard of the BNRD. The 1867 number is the budgeted amount for the start of service but the goal is to increase that as they plan to increase service.

This is one of the most FRUSTRATING things about the COVID-19 and SUMMER 2023 SERVICE CUTS, and how the T has responded to restoring service in Fall 2024.

The 65 in Brighton and Brookline had ALREADY BEEN operating 20 - 30 minute midday headways PRE-COVID. The service was a lot more balanced. Every 10 - 20 during AM/PM peak, every 20 - 35 middays. It sounds like the 65 is being described as "always having been hourly" but this is NOT true.

Comparing the 65's Fall 2019 schedule (left) and the Fall 2024 schedule (right). On the right you see 6 - 14 minute peak headways with off peak service of hourly or worse! Where pre-COVID there were 7 trips between 9:40 a.m. and 1:40 p.m., now in Fall 2024 there are only 3 trips during the midday hours.

This is NOT about service improvements under BNRD. This is about OFF PEAK, MIDDAY and WEEKEND SERVICE the T PREVIOUSLY ALREADY HAD BEEN RUNNING PRE-COVID, taken away from us.

As someone has already mentioned, the specific frequencies of the BNRD routes seem to come from a template for potential place-holder purposes and may not be final. Even if they are the final starting frequencies, as I mentioned above they can provide a base-level service. The key difference from pre-pandemic is that the BNRD is bringing consistent service 7 days a week and into late nights on routes that didn't experience it prior, such as the 65. Having 65 buses available after 9pm and until 1am every day is demonstrably an increase in total service and utility of the bus route even if the weekday 6-8 service is a decrease over pre-pandemic.

Take the total number of trips scheduled per week across the North Washington Street Bridge (92/93 buses, Mon-Fri x5, Sat x1, Sun x1). Pre-COVID it was consistent around 700 trips per week that ran across the North Washington Street Bridge dating all the way back to 2009, 120 trips on weekdays, 80 Saturdays, and 25 Sundays. Service ran every 20 minutes durng the middays and Saturdays, every 7 - 8 rush hour, and every 30 - 60 minutes on evenings and Sundays in 2017. In late 2019, rush hour frequency was reduced to every 9 - 13 minutes in order to increase evening frequency from every 30 - 60 to every 30 - 40 minutes, maintaing 20 minute frequencies midday/Saturdays. Route 92 was shortened in order to increase frequency from every 40 - 60 to every 30 -40 minutes frequency during middays, evenings, and Saturdays for a more balanced off peak schedule and to offset the loss of some rush hour service on the 93. ALL of these OFF PEAK FREQUENCY IMPROVEMENTS HAPPENED PRE-COVID, in 2019.

The North Washington St bridge has been half the capacity since 2020. Of course they're going to run reduced service if the travel times are hampered by bridge traffic making ridership decrease due to longer trips when they're suffering from depressed operator headcount.

Why should the industrial pit wasteland of 2nd Street in Everett get 15 minute headways, while bus riders saw their bus routes go from every 15 - 30 minute frequencies in 2013 - 2019, to hourly service in 2024? That seems very cruel to today's bus riders whom have ridden the bus system both in 2019 and in 2024. It is very reasonable to be frustrated, demoralized, and concerned about what happens next with the T after the T's actions since 2020. It is especially the case under GM Eng in how the MBTA is treating bus riders and responding to restoring and cutting bus service, relative to Eng's swift action in justifiably restoring subway service relatively quickly (compared to bus service), since Eng took office in Spring 2023.

As has been discussed before in here 2nd St has over 2,000 new housing units under construction with hundreds leasing by the end of this year. I understand Chelsea St has more currently along it and anemic service but 2nd is by no means undeserving of any bus service. Everything along the 112 there will be within a 5-10min walking distance from a route that runs every 15 or better.

If every complaint boils down to "look what we had in 2019," well the reality is it's not 2019 and the world has changed. Eng stepped into an underfunded transit agency that already had a rapidly retiring workforce that was underpaid. People's travel patterns changed from the pandemic and had wavering trust in a falling apart transit system. Prioritizing the corridors that have the most riders when you're strapped for bus operators and funding is the sensible thing to do. You've gotta start from somewhere working with what you've got and build up from there. Getting the buses on all day every day consistent schedules that people can rely on and bolstering the highest travelled corridors with frequency and reliability is a good way to start. Routes that once had double the service and ridership before may now not see the same gains from running that same service. While I'd love to magically make every route run every 10min regardless of ridership potential that can't be done and some routes are gonna suck and be worse than before while others will be better. I believe in Eng's ability to play chess with top brass to get positive change. Rapid transit fixes, 30min Fairmount, and 3 additional center-running busways coming are signs of that.

 

[Delvin4519]

Having 65 buses available after 9pm and until 1am every day is demonstrably an increase in total service and utility of the bus route even if the weekday 6-8 service is a decrease over pre-pandemic.

If every complaint boils down to "look what we had in 2019," well the reality is it's not 2019 and the world has changed. Eng stepped into an underfunded transit agency that already had a rapidly retiring workforce that was underpaid. People's travel patterns changed from the pandemic and had wavering trust in a falling apart transit system. Prioritizing the corridors that have the most riders when you're strapped for bus operators and funding is the sensible thing to do. You've gotta start from somewhere working with what you've got and build up from there. Getting the buses on all day every day consistent schedules that people can rely on and bolstering the highest travelled corridors with frequency and reliability is a good way to start.

This is what makes the T's choices for restored Fall 2024 service on many bus routes questionable. Almost all of the restored services are during peak period rush hours, not off peak.

Of course, it makes sense that COVID changes travel patterns, but you've confused my post about the 65 and other bus routes. The pre-COVID schedule was a more balanced schedule with less peak service and more midday service. The Fall 2024 schedule has the MBTA increasing rush hour service but leaving the midday off-peak service at reduced frequency. Why would they choose to increase rush hour frequency on a dozen bus routes in Fall 2024, then reduce rush hour frequency when BNRD goes into effect? BNRD is slated to better balance off peak service with more service as opposed to peak service. If the bus schedules would be more consistent for riders, it would be reasonable to expect, say, every 12 - 15 peak service and every 35 off peak service for the 65 with the schedules being restored this fall, more akin to 2019 schedules and not this new peak heavy schedule they're moving to this fall 2024. This would make for more consistent all day bus schedules if they went with restoring midday service as opposed to rush hour service, yet the T opted for the polar opposite. The MBTA has done this for dozens of bus routes this fall 2024. They increased only rush hour service for the majority of bus routes, not off peak service, let alone any of the off peak service that were cut back in 2023.

In a way, the T is sliding back in balancing off peak service versus peak service, against the goals of BNRD, going against the flow of the post-COVID world that demands more off peak service and less orientation around peak service. Yes, restoring any kind of service is better than restoring no service, but the way the T is now running only 85% of pre-COVID service, the buses are almost impossible to use during off peak hours. Rush hour service is still relatively usable, given rush hours already have the highest frequencies, and hence the shortest wait times. The T here isn't making the buses more usable for riders, when it chose to increase peak service rather than off peak service, when off peak service is more frustrating to use despite what I would assume is better ridership recovery during off peak hours than commuter hours.

Remember, many of the service cuts took place in Summer 2023, not pre-COVID. The 57 was scheduled to run 9-11 minute headways on Saturdays as late as the Spring 2023 schedule, before it was cut back to 13 - 20 minute headways due to operator shortages. This was something that was on the schedule deep well into the post-COVID era until Eng took over. (Graph below 2x, unannotated and annotated with the July 1st, 2023 schedule reductions)

This article is from October 2022, times change and situations change.

BNR was assigned a new timeline to begin in December 2024 way back in October 2023, very early on after the new contract was agreed upon. We are now 10 months later and the MBTA seems to have stuck with indications it wants to stick to this December 2024 timeline, even as the T gathers more data and makes improvements. The situation has evolved in the past 10 months, and the rate of the T's ability to hire bus operators seems to be a bottleneck, as it takes several, several years to fill in the disaster of hundreds and hundreds of vacancies and separations..

I'd feel like it'd make more sense for the MBTA to re-evaluate whether it still makes sense to start BNR in December 2024. The T's latest update about BNR indicates that the T will still be short of 150 - 200 operators of last year's FY24 budgeted 1,867 count by December 15th, 2024. The T may have enough operators by December 2024 to restore some off peak service on a few more of today's existing routes, but not necessarily enough to expand service on new routes. The T's decision to target 1,560 operators for BNR Phase 1 still remains concerning, given the context of the T having 1,819 operators pre-COVID, and it's desire to target 2,259 operators under a full rollout of BNR.

If the graph's X-axis was extended to April 2025, the T may be able to fill remaining vacancies and get much closer to its budgeted headcount (around 1,867 for FY25?). If BNR Phase 1 could be pushed back and delayed to April 6th, 2025 for implementation; providing an extra 4 months would allow the T to restore systemwide service a lot closer to pre-pandemic service with more off peak service with remaining vacancies filled. While it would be ideal to begin BNR service improvements earlier and on time, but the T should admit the amount of work they need to do just to restore existing service on existing routes. The T appears at a glance to seemingly be unable to hire back and fill their vacancies fast enough to restore frequencies on existing routes quick enough to begin BNR. How can the T hire enough operators to begin BNR in 16 months, but also be unable to hire enough operators to restore pre-COVID and 2022/23 off peak service on most existing routes in 13 months? Again, only a fraction of the summer 2023 service cuts were undone.

 

[Delvin4519]

GTFS for Fall 2024 is out, meaning a full analysis of Fall 2024 service changes is now possible. (scroll down for some good subway news)

MBTA removes more bus trips from the Fall 2024 schedule than new bus trips added, meaning a reduction of scheduled bus service this fall . Subway service recovering with restoration of rail service .

I'm not kidding when I say the MBTA removed more bus trips than bus trips added this fall. They actually did. I went through every single route in the new GTFS and compared every single one. The T did in fact remove more bus trips than they added this fall.

Bus frequency decreases for Fall 2024 (74 trips removed across 15 routes):

• SLW - 2 weekday trips removed (49 → 47 trips)
• SL5 - 3 weekday and 27 Saturday trips removed (131 → 128 wkdy; 134 → 107 Sat; 25% Saturday service cut - Saturday frequency decreases from every 9 - 10 minutes to every 11 - 14 minutes)
• 1 bus - 6 weekday trips removed (99 → 93 trips; 6% service cut - frequency decreases from every 12 - 13 minutes to every 13 - 16 minutes; mostly around midday)
• 9 bus - 2 weekday trips removed (89 → 87 trips; 2% service cut)
• 15 bus - 1 weekday trip removed (93 → 92 trips)
• 28 bus - 11 weekday trips removed (101 → 90 trips; 12% service cut - frequency decreases from every 10 - 13 minutes to every 13 - 20 minutes, mostly all day after AM peak)
• 29 bus - 6 weekday trips removed (23 → 17 trips; 35% service cut)
• 39 bus - 2 weekday trips removed (107 → 105 trips; 2% service cut)
• 43 bus - 2 weekday trips removed (30 → 28 trips; 7% service cut - frequency decreases from every 40 - 45 minutes to every 45 - 55 minutes)
• 70 bus - 5 weekday trips removed (77 → 72 trips; 7% service cut - frequency decreases from every 16 minutes to every 17 - 23 minutes, mostly around middays and PM peak)
• 104 bus - 1 weekday and 1 Sunday trip removed (60 → 59 wkdy, 31 → 30 Sun)
• 109 bus - 1 Sunday trip removed (32 → 31 trips)
• 116 bus - 1 Saturday trip removed (46 → 45 trips)
• 201 bus - 1 weekday and 1 Saturday trip removed (36 → 35 wkdy; 29 → 28 Sat)
• 351 bus - 1 weekday trip removed (7 → 6 trips)

Bus service added for Fall 2024 (58 trips added):

• SL3 - 15 weekday trips added (97 → 112 trips)
• SLW - 1 Saturday trip added (43 → 44 trips)
• SL4 - 4 weekday trips added (79 → 83 trips)
• 4 bus - 5 weekday trips added (12 → 17 trips)
• 7 bus - 5 weekday trips added to peak (64 → 69 trips)
• 10 bus - 1 weekday trip added (38 → 39 trips)
• 16 bus - 3 weekday trips added (87 → 90 trips)
• 19 bus - 1 weekday trip added (26 → 27 trips)
• 23 bus - 1 weekday trip added (113 → 114 trips)
• 34E - 3 weekday trips added (36 → 39 trips)
• 39 bus - 4 Saturday trips added (68 → 72 trips; Saturday frequency increases from every 18 - 23 minutes to every 17 - 21 minutes, mostly around the afternoon)
• 57 bus - 2 weekday trips added (102 → 104 trips)
• 65 bus - 1 weekday trip added to rush hour peak (38 → 39 trips)
• 66 bus - 1 weekday trip added (101 → 102 trips)
• 86 bus - 2 weekday trips added to midday (57 → 59 trips; weekday midday frequency increases from every 35 minutes to every 30 minutes)
• 110 bus - 5 weekday trips added (45 → 50 trips)
• 116 bus - 1 weekday trip added (59 → 60 trips)
• 117 bus - 1 weekday trip added (63 → 64 trips)
• 120 bus - 1 weekday trip added (32 → 33 trips)
• 354 bus - 1 weekday trip added (15 → 16 trips)

74 bus trips removed + 58 bus trips added = a net loss of 16 bus trips

• Weekdays have a net gain of 10 bus trips added
• Saturdays have a net loss of 24 bus trips removed
• Sundays have a net loss of 2 bus trips removed

Subway service changes:

Blue Line will see 18 more weekday trips (180 → 198), 15 more Saturday trips (112 → 127), and 14 more Sunday trips (108 → 122)

• Weekday service will be 106% of pre-COVID's 186 weekday trips, instead of 96%
• Weekday frequency increases from every 6 - 13 minutes to every 5 - 12 minutes
• Saturday frequency increases from every 11 minutes to every 9 - 10 minutes
• Sunday frequency increases from every 11 minutes to every 9 - 10 minutes

Orange Line will see 24 more weekday trips (141 → 165), 9 more Saturday trips (111 → 120), and 6 more Sunday trips (86 → 92)

• Weekday service will be 102% of pre-COVID's 161 weekday trips, instead of 87%
• Weekday frequency increases from every 8 - 12 minutes to every 6 - 11 minutes
• Saturday frequency increases from every 10 - 14 minutes to every 9 - 11 minutes
• Sunday frequency increases from every 13 - 15 minutes to every 12 - 14 minutes

Red Line trunk will see 18 more weekday trips (163 → 181), 26 more Saturday trips (125 → 151), and 22 more Sunday trips (121 → 143)

• Weekday branch frequency increases from every 14 - 20 minutes to every 13 - 18 minutes
  • On September 29th, an additional 8 weekday trips will be added to the trunk (181 → 189), increasing branch frequency to every 12 - 17 minutes
  • Weekday service will be 81% of pre-COVID's 223 weekday trips, increasing to 84% on September 29th; previously 73% prior to Fall 2024.
• Saturday branch frequency increases from every 18 - 22 minutes to every 15 - 19 minutes
• Sunday branch frequency increases from every 19 - 23 minutes to every 16 - 20 minutes

The Orange and Blue Lines will be running more weekday service than at any point since pre-COVID (In the case of Orange, slow zones may hamper performance slightly until Veterans Day, but after Veterans Day, Orange will also be running the most weekday service since pre-COVID).

The Red Line will be running the most weekday service since Summer 2022.

MBTA Frequency map changes:

Show up and go service returns to the Red Line trunk and Blue Line after 18 months

• Red Line trunk and Blue Line move from "Every 10 - 12 minutes" to "10 minutes or better" due to both lines exceeding 121 Sunday trips
• Red Line branches move from "Every 20 - 30 minutes" to "Every 15 - 20 minutes" due to both branches exceeding 61 Sunday trips

Old maps: 2023: Winter, Spring (Slow Zones), Summer, Fall; 2024: Winter, Spring, Summer (News)
Additional maps: Comparison with Amsterdam (frames)

https://imgur.com/a/kTZkHDL

 

[Java King]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but it's "General" MBTA topics.

So here it goes:

Interesting video from RM Transit on comparing the MBTA entire region to Toronto Region.

I don't think it's really a fair comparison as many have mentioned in the comments. Toronto and Chicago might have been a better comparison. Anyway, it's interesting, and he's NOT wrong that our region has NOT kept up with expansion and progress compared to other similar sized cities around the world.

 

[Delvin4519]

Orange Line shutdown from October 8th to 20th on the southside.

https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2024-08/TIP%20Update%20Full%20Board%2008.22.2024%20v2.pdf

 

[StreetsblogMASS]

A rider's guide to the MBTA's looming financial crisis, which could impose massive, unprecedented service cuts if state lawmakers don't take bold action in the next 8 months:

A Rider's Guide to the MBTA's Looming Financial Crisis - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The agency needs $700 million in new state funding to avoid draconian service cuts next year. Governor Healey promises "we're not going back, we're full steam ahead."

mass.streetsblog.org

 

[ritchiew]

A rider's guide to the MBTA's looming financial crisis, which could impose massive, unprecedented service cuts if state lawmakers don't take bold action in the next 8 months:

A Rider's Guide to the MBTA's Looming Financial Crisis - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The agency needs $700 million in new state funding to avoid draconian service cuts next year. Governor Healey promises "we're not going back, we're full steam ahead."

mass.streetsblog.org

From the Governor:

Governor Healey promises "we're not going back, we're full steam ahead."

Are we... Is the T bringing back steam locomotives? Has it gotten that bad?

 

[Teban54]

Orange and Blue lines will have service levels exceeding pre-Covid when fall schedule starts next week:

x.com

x.com

 

[cubbe8]

Shutdown extended to the 26th after multiple work trains crashed into each other last night.

Red Line Suspension between Kendall/MIT and JFK/UMass Will Be Extended One Day through Monday, August 26 | News | 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