MBTA Winter 2015: Failure and Recovery

Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

They shoveled out the "B" line stations quite early on this week, which has produced the odd scene of people waiting on a clear platform for a train that will never come on the snow-covered tracks.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

BussesAin'tTrains said:
There have been some embarrassing communication fails between the MBTA and the Governor's office since the snow began.
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Ya. Though it is interesting how the Massachusetts Senate and House passed a budget with 40 million dollars in cuts to the MBTA during this crisis.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/massachusetts_senate_reluctant.html

"Baker's proposal, which was passed by the Massachusetts House on Wednesday, cuts $40 million from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, including $14 million from the MBTA. The cuts are in line with the level of cuts Baker is making to other state agencies.

...

"I'm frustrated in the lack of leadership by the new governor," Lewis said. "The passage of that ballot question will cost the commonwealth more than $1 billion over the next decade. That's $1 billion that would otherwise have been available to improve our transportation infrastructure, including desperately needed repairs and maintenance at the MBTA."

But Republicans said there are things lawmakers can do other than raising taxes. State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, urged Democrats not to turn transportation into "a political football." He said Republicans have offered solutions that do not raise taxes, such as limiting expansion of the MBTA until maintenance needs are addressed."
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Seems they got relatively lucky -- only triple-length normal commute.

Maybe WHDH should try going from Washington Street in Brighton to Park Street tomorrow morning. Assuming it's the same as today.

I hope they like walking.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Matthew said:
Seems they got relatively lucky -- only triple-length normal commute.

Maybe WHDH should try going from Washington Street in Brighton to Park Street tomorrow morning. Assuming it's the same as today.

I hope they like walking.
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I know plenty of people who have given up on the T this past week and decided to simply drive to work.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

kevtron2000 said:
Ya. Though it is interesting how the Massachusetts Senate and House passed a budget with 40 million dollars in cuts to the MBTA during this crisis.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/massachusetts_senate_reluctant.html

"Baker's proposal, which was passed by the Massachusetts House on Wednesday, cuts $40 million from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, including $14 million from the MBTA. The cuts are in line with the level of cuts Baker is making to other state agencies.

...

"I'm frustrated in the lack of leadership by the new governor," Lewis said. "The passage of that ballot question will cost the commonwealth more than $1 billion over the next decade. That's $1 billion that would otherwise have been available to improve our transportation infrastructure, including desperately needed repairs and maintenance at the MBTA."

But Republicans said there are things lawmakers can do other than raising taxes. State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, urged Democrats not to turn transportation into "a political football." He said Republicans have offered solutions that do not raise taxes, such as limiting expansion of the MBTA until maintenance needs are addressed."
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This discussion is ridiculous -- there can't be any serious discussion about money without the T proving that it can begin to deliver any amount of service reliably without waiting for the Spring -- the Greenbush engine colliding with the snowbank should be the ultimate wake-up call to everyone!

Not only is the T apparently incapable of cleaning the snow -- they can't even honestly report on the real-time state of the system to the people standing on the platform waiting for service

I'd like to see everyone of the 1952 people who work for the T and make over $100k -- Each should pick a section of track by lottery and be responsible for clearing the snow and making it work -- for everyday it does not meet acceptable standards then their pay is docked -- if they can't get the workers then take a shovel and start digging
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

kevtron2000 said:
Ya. Though it is interesting how the Massachusetts Senate and House passed a budget with 40 million dollars in cuts to the MBTA during this crisis.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/massachusetts_senate_reluctant.html

"Baker's proposal, which was passed by the Massachusetts House on Wednesday, cuts $40 million from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, including $14 million from the MBTA. The cuts are in line with the level of cuts Baker is making to other state agencies.

...

"I'm frustrated in the lack of leadership by the new governor," Lewis said. "The passage of that ballot question will cost the commonwealth more than $1 billion over the next decade. That's $1 billion that would otherwise have been available to improve our transportation infrastructure, including desperately needed repairs and maintenance at the MBTA."

But Republicans said there are things lawmakers can do other than raising taxes. State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, urged Democrats not to turn transportation into "a political football." He said Republicans have offered solutions that do not raise taxes, such as limiting expansion of the MBTA until maintenance needs are addressed."
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It's pretty simple Kev. The outgoing administration left a $768M deficit so the bill had to be passed and was passed with near unanimous with cuts across the board. No matter what agency got snipped the whining would be there. It's more than a bit concerning how the deficit got so large so quick given that the end of the fiscal year is not until June. The cynic in me would suggest some shenanigans at the end of the lame duck term.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

HalcyonEra said:
It's pretty simple Kev. The outgoing administration left a $768M deficit so the bill had to be passed and was passed with near unanimous with cuts across the board. No matter what agency got snipped the whining would be there. It's more than a bit concerning how the deficit got so large so quick given that the end of the fiscal year is not until June. The cynic in me would suggest some shenanigans at the end of the lame duck term.
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Halcyon -- the dead ducks did their best to hide it from the voters in order to protect one of their own who was trying to do the phoenix move from dead duck Attorney General to Governor

Remember the last time there had been a Democrat in the Governor's Office -- that would be M. Stanley Dukakis and there was a similar Financial Crisis which Governor Weld faced
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

kevtron2000 said:
Ya. Though it is interesting how the Massachusetts Senate and House passed a budget with 40 million dollars in cuts to the MBTA during this crisis.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/02/massachusetts_senate_reluctant.html

"Baker's proposal, which was passed by the Massachusetts House on Wednesday, cuts $40 million from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, including $14 million from the MBTA. The cuts are in line with the level of cuts Baker is making to other state agencies.

...

"I'm frustrated in the lack of leadership by the new governor," Lewis said. "The passage of that ballot question will cost the commonwealth more than $1 billion over the next decade. That's $1 billion that would otherwise have been available to improve our transportation infrastructure, including desperately needed repairs and maintenance at the MBTA."

But Republicans said there are things lawmakers can do other than raising taxes. State Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, urged Democrats not to turn transportation into "a political football." He said Republicans have offered solutions that do not raise taxes, such as limiting expansion of the MBTA until maintenance needs are addressed."
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That's honestly just the 100% required closing of an enormous mid-year budget deficit that the government is constitutionally required to close. A democratic governor would have had to make similar cuts across all the agencies. The DOT/MBTA cuts are pretty much all unfilled open personnel spots and administrative largesse.

I'm waiting to pass judgement on the governor's intentions until he releases his own budget for the coming fiscal year.

My concern is more with the lack of communication between Scott, Pollack and Baker. Ultimately the onus falls on Baker to get information from his subordinates. It's a weird failure that just looks sloppy every time he says "I haven't heard..."


HalcyonEra said:
It's pretty simple Kev. The outgoing administration left a $768M deficit so the bill had to be passed and was passed with near unanimous with cuts across the board. No matter what agency got snipped the whining would be there. It's more than a bit concerning how the deficit got so large so quick given that the end of the fiscal year is not until June. The cynic in me would suggest some shenanigans at the end of the lame duck term.
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Seems like the outgoing administration chronically underestimated (whether willfully or not) the impact of the botched HealthConnector roll-out. Much of that deficit is from covering everyone who couldn't sign up before the deadline last spring on MassHealth. I definitely could see the true cost being slow-walked for political purposes during the election year.

whighlander said:
Halcyon -- the dead ducks did their best to hide it from the voters in order to protect one of their own who was trying to do the phoenix move from dead duck Attorney General to Governor

Remember the last time there had been a Democrat in the Governor's Office -- that would be M. Stanley Dukakis and there was a similar Financial Crisis which Governor Weld faced
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Has not pretty much every incoming governor had deficit issues for the last couple decades? Seems to me that it's a systematic problem that stems from tax cuts, which never translated to permanent cuts in the budget. The legislature has been too cowardly to deal with problem by refusing to structure reform as is needed to have a sane fiscal policy. They either need to axe a fair bit out of the budget for the medium term, or they need to find new sources of revenue (or some combo). They're also hamstrung by a voting populace that wants increasing services but doesn't want to pay for them. It's not just an MBTA issue, it's a general issue.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Our accounting office sent out an email to all employees today announcing that if we want to cancel our pre-tax monthly passes for March, we have until the 20th.

I'm keeping my Link, as I need the bus & BL no matter how delayed they may be; though most of the people that take the CR are planning to cancel. They all have cars and want to drive instead.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Ridership numbers for this month (probably year to be honest) are going to be fun. Once this is all over I'd love to see people try and quantify the economic cost of all this.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Previous estimates that were bandied about after the third storm were ~$250,000,000 lost economic activity per day.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

BussesAin'tTrains said:
Previous estimates that were bandied about after the third storm were ~$250,000,000 lost economic activity per day.
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And that's the grand irony of it all. Charlie Baker is supposed to be "the business guy." If he has any sense in him, he will act to fix the T solely on the premise of helping business profits, which I'd normally not be very excited about, but honestly, it doesn't matter what the motive is at this point.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Most recent picture of snow pile on "B":

IMG_20150217_160959.jpg
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

datadyne007 said:
And that's the grand irony of it all. Charlie Baker is supposed to be "the business guy." If he has any sense in him, he will act to fix the T solely on the premise of helping business profits, which I'd normally not be very excited about, but honestly, it doesn't matter what the motive is at this point.
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There have to be growing numbers of CEOs on the phone with each passing day telling him that "I don't care how you fix it, but you better fucking fix it." There are plenty of warmer climates for these companies to move to, regardless of Boston having the best young brains for the picking.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

omaja said:
What does Chicago do differently from Boston (excluding the newer rolling stock it has) to mitigate winter weather?
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Chicago has comparably little trench running (like the OL' SW Corridor) The beauty of Elevateds is that gravity and wind are your friend: once you (or the wind) knock the snow down it stays off.

Running mostly on Els, embankment and in tunnels the L (and its stations) are snow-shedding and snow resistant by byproduct of their design. A lot of CR is up on embankments in Chicagoland too. The Blue (to O'Hare) and Red (via the Dan Ryan) are in a freeway median but often slightly above the road and don't get drifted or plowed onto.

The drifting on RL on the South & the OL @ SW Corridor trench seem to be our big rolling stock killers. And the CTA has no street running like our GL. (CTA has a few (rare) grade cossings of streets like at the tippy end of Purple etc. but that is more like alley running not plow-and-lane fights.)

Suggestion: put a solar panel / snow shed roof over the SW corridor and Sullivan to Assembly.
 
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Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

If we get another big snowstorm, then chances are that we won't see the bare ground again until bloody April or May sometime! :eek:
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

I always thought it was a little weird that such a cold city has so much exposed platform, despite heaters, but I guess that is a bit of advantage.

I will note that while the "L" does not "street-run" the way the "E" branch does, the "L" has an awful lot of at-grade crossings of third-rail metro. If I recall correctly, I spotted at least one on each of the Brown (multiple actually), Pink, Purple and Skokie Swift (Yellow) lines. The outer ends of those three all descend to grade and are not separated. I don't remember seeing any at-grade crossings on the south side lines, for whatever reason.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

^ How do they manage a 3rd Rail at-grade crossing?
 
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