General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[jklo]

B) Can you articulate why trying to coerece them to close by midnight is a societal good?

Get the College Students to go home, maybe study a little bit.

You're absolutely right about the restaurant workers; but they might be more interested in sleep than the College Students. The last train in all the subway branches is past 1 AM as it is.

 

[bakgwailo]

GBH Daily: Midnight train to Boston?

Why late-night service won’t happen

www.wgbh.org

The MBTA is going into overtime for the World Cup. For the inaugural June 13 game at Boston Stadium — we know it as Gillette Stadium Foxborough — trains will run as late as 4 a.m., ferrying spectators back to their homes and hotels.
That led GBH’s transportation reporter, Jeremy Siegel, to ask: if the MBTA can run late-night trains for the World Cup, could overnight service become more regular?
In short: No. “We have tried 24-hour overnight service over and over again,” said Brian Kane, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board. “And it’s failed every time, not because there’s not enough ridership, but because it’s too expensive.”
Kane also anticipates hearing from neighbors after the June 13 game. “I guarantee you the next day, my office will be flooded with phone calls of neighbors in these cities and towns who are woken up at 3 in the morning by a diesel train going by,” he told Siegel. “We have to think about this holistically before we start doing things like, ‘Let’s operate this 24/7.’ We’re just not there yet.”

I wish reporters would call them out on this and do some accountability to what the T claims and says. The last go about the numbers they released was that it cost about $10m a year to run the full (not cut back) service till 3am. The MBTA has a $3.24 billion dollar budget. The cost to run the full late night service was a fraction of a rounding error for the T's budget. I also refuse to believe, if the MBTA really wanted to, they couldn't find a coalition of private companies and institutions to further help pay for this. And before that the Night Owl bus service was truly half assed and the bus drivers themselves barely knew were the stop were supposed to be to mimic the subway lines on the street. It failed because the MBTA put almost nothing into it.

Also - didn't Eng just give an interview a few months back alluded to bringing back late night service as one of the things he wanted to do? Sounded like a sure deal if I recall.

 

[Longfellow]

Get the College Students to go home, maybe study a little bit.

You're absolutely right about the restaurant workers; but they might be more interested in sleep than the College Students. The last train in all the subway branches is past 1 AM as it is.

Do you think when college students get home from the bar they study?

 

[JeffDowntown]

Get the College Students to go home, maybe study a little bit.

You're absolutely right about the restaurant workers; but they might be more interested in sleep than the College Students. The last train in all the subway branches is past 1 AM as it is.

Final MBTA departures from downtown stations are between 12:20 and 12:50 AM.

It is not just restaurant workers, many service workers get off at 2 AM. For example office cleaning crews work a 6 PM to 2 AM standard shift. Those lights are not on in all the office buildings to make them look pretty. Those workers deserve a cost effective way to get home.

Also people arriving late by plane or train or trying to get to Logan for early morning flights deserve a transit option (we don't want cars clogging the airport, but offer no way to make a 5 AM flight other than car.)

 

[393b40]

Do you think when college students get home from the bar they study?

I definitely wrote some papers due the next day after drinking until closing time.

I dont think college kids drink the same way we did tho. Alcohol is historically unpopular right now.

 

[jklo]

Final MBTA departures from downtown stations are between 12:20 and 12:50 AM.

I looked it up and that's during the middle of the week, on Fri and Sat that's when it's in the 1 AM hour.

It is not just restaurant workers, many service workers get off at 2 AM. For example office cleaning crews work a 6 PM to 2 AM standard shift. Those lights are not on in all the office buildings to make them look pretty. Those workers deserve a cost effective way to get home.

Probably not enough of them to justify it, esp when the low frequency levels would make it unattractive.

 

[HenryAlan]

Probably not enough of them to justify it, esp when the low frequency levels would make it unattractive.

I guess it's a question of public transit's mission, but to me, it's very justified if there are low income workers commuting at 2AM, for us to give them a non-car ownership or non-expensive car share option.

 

[Charlie_mta]

I guess it's a question of public transit's mission, but to me, it's very justified if there are low income workers commuting at 2AM, for us to give them a non-car ownership or non-expensive car share option.

Also, I think the night owl bus service would create induced demand, wherein the usage would increase as more businesses stay open later, as enabled by the addition of later bus service.

 

[as02155]

For such a sleepy town, there's still life and activity at 1 or 2 in the morning all over the subway zone of metro Boston. Those who are out would be greatly benefitted by having safe, public transit over night, even if it's not the subway.

 

[StreetsblogMASS]

MBTA Seeks Vendor Input For Possible Platform Screen Door Pilot Program - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The platform barriers are primarily a safety measure, but they could also enable air-conditioning in increasingly sweltering subway stations.

mass.streetsblog.org

 

[BeansTheCat]

MBTA Seeks Vendor Input For Possible Platform Screen Door Pilot Program - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The platform barriers are primarily a safety measure, but they could also enable air-conditioning in increasingly sweltering subway stations.

mass.streetsblog.org

Some notes from the RFI:
- Considerations:

[...] the Blue and Orange lines operate one respective vehicle type, the Red Line has three separate vehicle models.

Not sure why the T would consider installing screen doors before moving the Red Line to a uniform fleet, and I doubt there will be any interest for Red Line stations until then.

The exact location at which trains stop at station platforms is controlled by the operator and is notconsistent (varying up to several feet).

- Info requested:

Station requirements and limitations for implementing the system, including platform structural capacity

Operational requirements and impacts to existing revenue and non-revenue operations, including signal system interoperability
Integration into existing and proposed operational systems, including passenger information systems, advertising, and signal systems

We'll see what happens, but I don't expect this to lead to platform screen doors any time soon. What's more likely is that the RFI is used to better inform future projects in order to remove barriers to screen door adoption. New Blue line trains, station rebuilds/remodels, and potentially new Blue line signals seem like the most obvious places where that consideration is needed.

 

[jklo]

For such a sleepy town, there's still life and activity at 1 or 2 in the morning all over the subway zone of metro Boston.

Obviously it would have to be something where the customer base (and the staff!) is walking to and/or willing to drive/Uber.

I was thinking about hotels and the Casino; but I suppose those could have the Graveyard Shift Workers shift end after the Subway reopens.

 

[as02155]

Some notes from the RFI:
- Considerations:

Not sure why the T would consider installing screen doors before moving the Red Line to a uniform fleet, and I doubt there will be any interest for Red Line stations until then.


- Info requested:



We'll see what happens, but I don't expect this to lead to platform screen doors any time soon. What's more likely is that the RFI is used to better inform future projects in order to remove barriers to screen door adoption. New Blue line trains, station rebuilds/remodels, and potentially new Blue line signals seem like the most obvious places where that consideration is needed.

don't need to have uniform fleets to have PSDs - if you go to any Asian country with a legacy railway - they run consists of different door numbers and lengths of trains. It's solvable for even the not very complicated Red Line.

 

[as02155]

Obviously it would have to be something where the customer base (and the staff!) is walking to and/or willing to drive/Uber.

I was thinking about hotels and the Casino; but I suppose those could have the Graveyard Shift Workers shift end after the Subway reopens.

all the untold workers doing overnight hours needing a reliable affordable ride - graveyarders, hospital, hotel, night life, generally any night owls. - folks just need some kind of overnight transportation as a lifeline.

 

[Stlin]

I will point out the MBTA has an interesting and barely public unique "early morning" service on some routes - if you look at say, the 39, 57, 89 or 116, the first trip of the day both begins before 5am and by footnote continue to Haymarket, despite those routes notionally ending at transfer stations Back Bay, Kenmore, Sullivan and Maverick. Those routes, theoretically, connect back to a 116, which despite being a Maverick to Wonderland route, operates a set of 5AM Haymarket-Logan trips only explained in the pdf schedule's footnotes.

There's also a similar set of routes routed through Dudley - The first trips of the 15 continue as early AM only 171 to Logan, the first trips of the 28 connect to it.

Also... Is the 28 the closest we get to a true 24hr route in boston, at least inbound? The last trip on weekdays starts at 2:09 - the first trip is at 3:10.

Edit to add... If the T is willing to support workers getting to early start jobs, it should also support them getting home in reverse. If you really wanted to limit it to workers, you could just do what they already do - barely publicized route variations that only those familiar with the commute would know about.

 

[Koopzilla24]

View attachment IMG_8934.jpeg
Tons of ties were unloaded at Norwood Central this morning. Not sure if this is for regular track and tie replacement or finally some more progress on double tracking.

 

[Delvin4519]

Nothing particularly exciting, sigh

Summer 2026 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

 

[The EGE]

I would assume that World Cup preparations are consuming all available service planning resources.

 

[MBTA DMA]

I would assume that World Cup preparations are consuming all available service planning resources.

I would agree. They cannot implement alot of Better Bus service changes and have additional resources for the World Cup at the same time.

 

[as02155]

In general it feels like the summer is not an season with major service changes, regardless of the latest international grift being in town.