MBTA Winter 2015: Failure and Recovery

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

A little late in asking this, but– was bus service between Boston College and Packard's Corner not provided because of lack of busses? I heard that somewhere, and it makes sense, but I had just figured it was because Comm Ave has some sharp turns along that patch, and the snowbanks would prevent the busses from making the turns. Any thoughts?
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Might've been lack of buses. Hard to say. That excuse started falling apart when they had restored the Ashmont branch yet still no buses showed up on Comm Ave. Can't see why buses couldn't run. Other excuse I heard was that there was nowhere for the buses to stop and let off passengers. That's silly -- there's plenty of equipment that could scoop out the space if they wanted.

Anyway, it seems like they acted a bit sheepishly. Shuttle bus replacement service was not announced at the beginning of yesterday -- but it started quietly running at some point in the middle of the day after people started asking questions.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

underground said:
Ironic from a guy who made excuses for not talking to Scott for weeks, and who has no plan of his own.
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This is the kind of manager who takes pride in being "no nonsense...I push people hard...I don't care if they don't have resources, I want RESULTS." It's such a typical BS pose for managers who mask their inability to manage as "not wanting to hear excuses." It would be more convincing if we had any indication that Baker invested a chunk of time in doing a thorough analysis of the MBTA shortcomings with the most knowledgeable people in the room.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Charlie Baker has said that the excuses on top of excuses have gone on too far, and he's demanding that a much quicker solution to the continuous onslaught of weather problems with the transit agency be found sooner.

This IS getting more & more ridiculous and inexcusable for a transit system that is supposed to be so-called so modern, high-tech, sophisticated & up to date! :mad: :eek:
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Jahvon09 said:
This IS getting more & more ridiculous and inexcusable for a transit system that is supposed to be so-called so modern, high-tech, sophisticated & up to date! :mad: :eek:
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When have those terms ever been used to describe the T?

I'll settle for a simple 'dependable'.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Jahvon09 said:
… a transit system that is supposed to be so-called so modern, high-tech, sophisticated & up to date! :mad: :eek:
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Supposed to be? According to whom?
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

The T has never been described as modern, sophisticated nor high-tech. Sadly, if you want those qualities in a rapid transit system, you will have to look in Northern Europe or Asia.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

WormtownNative said:
Technically it's not privatized. Keolis runs the day to day ops for the MBTA and is responsible for the maintenance of the lines and rolling stock. Technically MBTA commuter rail personnel are employed by Keolis. They do not own the rolling stock, rail lines or stations. Those are owned entirely by the MBTA.
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I did say "operated". O_O. Yes, it is one of those semi-private semi-government owned.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Keolis apologizes:

February 19, 2015
A letter to our MBTA Commuter Rail passengers:
Since the beginning of the year, commuter rail passengers have faced delays, cancellations and overly crowded trains related primarily to weather and mechanical issues on MBTA Commuter Rail. And while the storms we faced were historic, service has deteriorated. Some of you are still experiencing on-time trains, but many of you have not.

To fix this, Keolis will work with our partners at the MBTA, Governor Baker's office and others to create a robust recovery plan aimed at getting service back to normal.

This new action plan includes bringing in additional workers to help clear snow and ice from our key maintenance facilities north and south of Boston, layover facilities, as well as at key switch points in the system. We also plan to bring in additional snow removal equipment from outside the system to not only plow rail lines but also remove the snow entirely.

Keolis has also set up a recovery maintenance plan to repair disabled locomotives and passenger cars and bring more equipment on-line. This should result in less canceled trains and shorter delays.

Finally, we recognize that communications with our passengers during this difficult period has fallen short and for that we sincerely apologize. One of our top priorities in the next few days is to improve customer communications to ensure we are providing accurate information in a timely manner to our passengers.

We are committed to taking these and other necessary steps to ensure reliability, safety and performance are part of your commute.

To contact MBTA Commuter Rail for more information, contact us at customerservice@keoliscs.com, follow us on Twitter for T-Alerts and updates @MBTA_CR, call our Customer Service Representatives at 617-222-3200, or look for Keolis customer service representatives in the purple vests at North Station and South Station.

The recovery schedule for all Commuter Rail lines can be found at www.mbta.com/winter. We will update you frequently on any changes to that schedule. The recovery schedule can also be found at all stations on all lines.
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Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

I've seen GL shuttle buses running to Kenmore now. However, that was after I had already walked most of the way to Kenmore. So yeah.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

I'm not sure the best thread for this, so I'll post here and on the other T thread.

from the Globe business section this morning:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...-operations/0FnoHmiriR5EDfhTsoxAmO/story.html

Good sample: Paul Guzzi, chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, described the business community’s collective sentiment as “frustration bordering on disgust.”

Pressure from the business community would go a long way.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

I'm not sure the best thread for this, so I'll post here and on the other T thread.

from the Globe business section this morning:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/busines...-operations/0FnoHmiriR5EDfhTsoxAmO/story.html

Good sample: Paul Guzzi, chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, described the business community’s collective sentiment as “frustration bordering on disgust.”

Pressure from the business community would go a long way.
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

Due to the parallel nature of these threads, I suggest a moderator merge the "snow shutdown" thread and the "Scott resigns" thread. Call it "MBTA Winter Fail 2015 & the Future" or something.

IMHO, service disruption/restoration information should go in the "Customer 'Service'' thread, and discussions about potential MBTA reform/restructuring should be in the merger of these two threads.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Due to the parallel nature of these threads, I suggest a moderator merge the "snow shutdown" thread and the "Scott resigns" thread. Call it "MBTA Winter Fail 2015 & the Future" or something.

IMHO, service disruption/restoration information should go in the "Customer 'Service'' thread, and discussions about potential MBTA reform/restructuring should be in the merger of these two threads.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Now that the Orange Line is somewhat operational (making all stops, and trips occurring every 12 minutes), I want to recap its recent woes. I thought this was an interesting exercise and really gives you an appreciation of how crazy things have been and how hard they have been on everyone (commuters and T employees). I hope you have as much fun/misery going through this as I did. Note, that today is the first day in 11 days with "full service" - service to every station on both tracks all day (god willing), albeit at reduced frequency:

 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

"Governor Charlie Baker said Thursday that he regretted not stepping in earlier to work with the MBTA, which has been stuggling to recover from one of the snowiest winters on record.

“Given the significant nature of what was going on and how big a deal this became, we probably should have gotten engaged” directly with the public transit system earlier, he said on the WGBH-FM show Boston Public Radio."

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...oubled-mbta/IDLV1r9m4bOdAkmI1gb4JJ/story.html

Wasn't Baker done with excuses yesterday? Why the sudden change that he should have addressed it earlier?
 
Re: Dr. Beverly Scott resigns

kevtron2000 said:
Wasn't Baker done with excuses yesterday? Why the sudden change that he should have addressed it earlier?
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He's been getting slammed by some in the media for seeming detached and defensive. He's covering his bases.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Given how many people depend on the MBTA to get to/from work, or just to get around their everyday lives, the state should have done whatever they could to get the system back up and running. Call this crazy, but why not pull people who are currently collecting unemployment out to start shoveling out stations and tracks? Traffic has been downright awful the last week as one would assume a large number of people opted to drive, instead of taking the T to work.
 
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