MBTA Winter 2015: Failure and Recovery

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

datadyne007 said:
All light, heavy, and commuter rail service ending at 7PM. Leave now.
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I think that decision probably stems from yet another unfortunate incident that has occurred this morning, in which about 48 or so MBTA commuters were stuck & stranded on a Red Line train when it lost its power supply from the third rail. No one was hurt at all.

They were stuck there for about a few hours, and when an emergency help train was summoned, it did not arrive, forcing the passengers to get off the train and walk alongside the tracks!

I thought that the third rail was heated to melt the snow & ice and keep it from forming there.

Oh. Found out a little while ago that yet another snowstorm is forecast for Thursday into Friday morning! :eek:
 
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Re: MBTA & Regualr Driving may be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Matthew said:
Dumping snow in the harbor has been illegal since 1997 because road-side snow is believed to contain too many toxic chemicals that seep out of motor vehicles (... yet nobody seems to mind that these chemicals are allowed to be spread in our neighborhood streets).
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At this point, we've had so much snow and so little driving over the last month that any bad stuff has been as fully diluted as it would be by 6" of rain. Megatons of pure snow.

The word was that Mayor Walsh was considering dumping snow in the harbor with Salem, Marblehead, Lawrence, and Lowell notifying the state that snow represents a public safety problem and intend to dump it.

Seems worth banning harbor dumping for "normal" snows of 5", 10" or 15", where the gunk-to-snow ratio would be high. But there's got to be a point...maybe at 40" in 15 days or 60" in a month...where there's enough snow in the gunk-to-snow denominator to make dumping the lesser threat compared to fires and accidents.
 
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Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

As mentioned on the news this morning, North Shore communities have received permission and begun dumping snow into waterways.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Honestly, when you melt the snow, where does the run-off go? Probably into the harbor.

I suppose it can be filtered first.

Melting snow is no picnic though. Water has a very high specific heat. It takes a lot of energy to change its temperature. They're using fossil fuels to do it, so that means air pollution. Pick your poison I suppose.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

datadyne007 said:
All light, heavy, and commuter rail service ending at 7PM. Leave now.
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A+ leadership from the new administration
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Dumped in the ocean or farmed on land, the great thing is that it's being melted by "solar". In farms, slow percolation into a brownfield site probably gets it decomposed ('cept the salt or oil) before it gets to aquifers or runoff.

Melting it with fossil fuels (in those truck thingies) is a huge waste of energy and money except in dire need, or remote locations (or at the airport where it it goes into dedicated sewers that can deal with spills and de-icer)
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

BREAKING: NO T SERVICE TOMORROW.

More at 5:30
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Just heard about it.

I knew that it was coming! I bet that regular street driving will be banned as well! :eek:
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

If this doesn't jumpstart a serious discussion and evaluation of transit spending and maintenance, nothing will. This is incredible.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

This needs to force the discussion. Apparently the politicians of this state need to experience how a broken transit system can instill a full on economic shut down. I agree that if this doesn't spark the overhaul, then nothing will. The sniping between the Governor and the General Manager today need to lead to collaboration instead of simply scapegoating. Come on people.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Downburst said:
If this doesn't jumpstart a serious discussion and evaluation of transit spending and maintenance, nothing will. This is incredible.
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Downburst -- CTRL -- ALT -- DEL

Time to reboot the T and that means booting out the door en-masse most of Deval's Affirmative Action for Idiots appointees

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_op...baker_slams_t_s_performance_as_not_acceptable

As Charley said today:
“It’s pretty clear that they need a new operating plan,” Baker said at mid-day press conference at a state facility in Dorchester. “And it’s pretty clear that a series of representations that were made to us and others over the course of the last few weeks have not born out.”

Asked if he felt T officials have mislead him, Baker said, “No, I think they told me exactly what they thought was to be the case. It just didn’t turn out to be true.”

The T has been plagued by problems since a series of snowstorms began pummeling the state last month, resulting in stalled trains, stranded riders and unreliable service.

Baker has called the issues “unacceptable,” but today stepped up his criticisms amid what he said has been a frustrating time.

“This is obviously a big issue. When the weather’s bad, as it has been lately, the public transportation system needs to work,” Baker said.

“All I can tell you it is been very difficult to count on the representations that have been made by the T over the last few weeks,” he later added. “The first time that happens, you can blame that on the weather but after a while it starts to feel like something more.”
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Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Downburst said:
If this doesn't jumpstart a serious discussion and evaluation of transit spending and maintenance, nothing will. This is incredible.
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Step 1) Add up total lost economic output from MBTA problems
Step 2) Compare with cost to fix MBTA problems
Step 3) Ignore data results and govern with gut feeling. Possibly cut taxes for rich and suspend toll collection as "good faith measure"


Also, can we find the idiot(s) responsible for not ordering new Orange Line cars when they bought Blue Line cars (ie, the exact same cars) and have them scrape the ice off the third rail with their tongues?
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

I'm fully convinced that we will see serious, new, dedicated funding sources for the MBTA. The time is now.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Events are certainly aligning but never underestimate the ability of the General Court to not give a fuck about the T.

The legislators who do care are not in positions of power, and the legislators in positions of power don't care or perhaps actively disdain anything Boston-related.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

bigeman312 said:
I'm fully convinced that we will see serious, new, dedicated funding sources for the MBTA. The time is now.
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According to Westie, just gut the labor budget by union busting and pension reform! Problem solved!

Seriously though - and as I said on the last page - investment in public transit has failed to meet infrastructure needs for decades. Everything will need to be on the table if the state is to find a political solution that will mend the T. That means audits. That means pension and union reforms. That means additional revenues. That means tax reform.

I think Baker is well positioned to navigate the political waters with the bureaucracy and Beacon Hill, but he also needs to be prepared to piss off his base with revenues. The T won't be fixed on the backs of the employees alone.

Additionally, if he plans on just scapegoating GM Scott he'll get no where fast.

Matthew said:
Events are certainly aligning but never underestimate the ability of the General Court to not give a fuck about the T.

The legislators who do care are not in positions of power, and the legislators in positions of power don't care or perhaps actively disdain anything Boston-related.
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Part of me wonders if this shutdown is part politics. Shut down the regional economy by suspending public transit. Angry corporations are better at getting the General Court's attention than angry commuters.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

More and better funding - while I am vastly in support of it - would not have prevented very much of this.

Unprecedented amounts of snow in a very compressed timescale - this is the highest 30-day accumulation recorded in the city - will overwhelm anyone. A vicious freeze-thaw cycle breaks metal things no matter how much care you put into them. Huge amounts of powdery snow will blow back on the tracks after being plowed or blown - you have to move it ten times instead of one.

If anyone is responsible for this, it is Governor Baker for every time he has told the T to stay open or blamed it for underperforming. Tomorrow will give the T an actual chance to deice, repair, and plow.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

BussesAin'tTrains said:
"Gov. Baker Rips the MBTA for Unacceptable Performance"

Click-bait headline aside (especially given that Scott is in agreement with Baker that the situation is unacceptable), I hope that this "long conversation" he's planning on having is the beginning of a Grand Bargain™ fix for MassDOT and the MBTA.
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Of course I agree. What I hope it's NOT the beginning of is the firing of Beverly Scott. I have no idea how competent she is as a manger, I've never met her. She is now, however, the only MBTA GM (or American transit CEO) in history to have dealt with an event like this, and with climate change this sort of thing will become more common. Tossing her experience out the window because one needs a scapegoat is irresponsible without knowing if she's learned anything. Fortunately, I don't think that's how Charlie Baker operates.

The EGE said:
More and better funding - while I am vastly in support of it - would not have prevented very much of this.

Unprecedented amounts of snow in a very compressed timescale - this is the highest 30-day accumulation recorded in the city - will overwhelm anyone. A vicious freeze-thaw cycle breaks metal things no matter how much care you put into them. Huge amounts of powdery snow will blow back on the tracks after being plowed or blown - you have to move it ten times instead of one.

If anyone is responsible for this, it is Governor Baker for every time he has told the T to stay open or blamed it for underperforming. Tomorrow will give the T an actual chance to deice, repair, and plow.
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You can make this argument about the shutdown tomorrow now that we have another 2 feet of snow on the ground. These problems started before that. The historic nature of today's storm and the overall total shouldn't cloud the poor performance and preparation across this whole month.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

The EGE said:
More and better funding - while I am vastly in support of it - would not have prevented very much of this.

Unprecedented amounts of snow in a very compressed timescale - this is the highest 30-day accumulation recorded in the city - will overwhelm anyone. A vicious freeze-thaw cycle breaks metal things no matter how much care you put into them. Huge amounts of powdery snow will blow back on the tracks after being plowed or blown - you have to move it ten times instead of one.
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True. Although has there been much of a "freeze/thaw" effect? We haven't seen temperatures above freezing since this weather started.

If anyone is responsible for this, it is Governor Baker for every time he has told the T to stay open or blamed it for underperforming. Tomorrow will give the T an actual chance to deice, repair, and plow.
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That's a bit overwrought.

Equilibria said:
Of course I agree. What I hope it's NOT the beginning of is the firing of Beverly Scott. I have no idea how competent she is as a manger, I've never met her. She is now, however, the only MBTA GM (or American transit CEO) in history to have dealt with an event like this, and with climate change this sort of thing will become more common. Tossing her experience out the window because one needs a scapegoat is irresponsible without knowing if she's learned anything. Fortunately, I don't think that's how Charlie Baker operates.
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Agreed. Honestly the governor sounded more magnanimous in the presser than the media was initially reporting. Honestly, I have some amount of faith that Baker is the right guy to navigate the political headwinds to work with the bureaucracy and the legislature to come up with a big reform package.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

The EGE said:
More and better funding - while I am vastly in support of it - would not have prevented very much of this.

Unprecedented amounts of snow in a very compressed timescale - this is the highest 30-day accumulation recorded in the city - will overwhelm anyone. A vicious freeze-thaw cycle breaks metal things no matter how much care you put into them. Huge amounts of powdery snow will blow back on the tracks after being plowed or blown - you have to move it ten times instead of one.

If anyone is responsible for this, it is Governor Baker for every time he has told the T to stay open or blamed it for underperforming. Tomorrow will give the T an actual chance to deice, repair, and plow.
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Whether or not this could have been avoided is secondary to the fact that people's eyes are currently open to the T being chronically under-funded, debt-riddled, and in need of serious upgrades before it can be considered a "world-class" public transit system. All of this while many attempt to sell our city on its ability to host an Olympics.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

The Democrats already invested using taxpayers money to help support developments like Fan Pier, Liberty Mutual developments instead of investing in transit infrastructure.

No vision for this state. all they want to do is enrich themselves and their family as the taxpayers suffer with an inefficient MBTA that is clearly a 3rd rate Piece of shit.

Congrads to the political assholes for swindling the taxpayers money.

The MBTA is the bloodline in what should make this city flow. But it clearly shows the TRANSIT is a joke.
They could careless if you sit in traffic for hours. Lets build a casino in the most congested area in outside 93.
 
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