MBTA Winter 2015: Failure and Recovery

The MBTA is offering free rides to EVERYONE today, to try to make amends for the extremely harsh bitterly cold snowstorm-dumped and unbearable winter that we had, long delays and equipment failures that had plagued the transit system, bringing it almost to a standstill.

The free service includes EVETYTHING that it operates. Also free food at some places like Dunkin Donuts & others. The agency says that it will be out about $5m for today. :cool:
 
Once anyone pays a fare, especially with a Charlie card, there is no getting the money back. That is why you must take advantage of the free ride(s) today, if you have something to do. :cool:
 
^ This is the classic "optics" problem in politics.

T scales back late night service (which only a few people see/use, but it is a huge benefit for those people who need it) -- net $4 M saved --

so it can spend $5 Million on a Free Fare Day which lots of people see/hear about (but it is a minimal benefit for the general ridership).

Net more positive PR than negative -- but they would never say that those were actually traded off against each other.
 
Is there an official article mentioning the $5 mil figure?
 
CBS

MBTA Offers Free Rides Friday

BOSTON (CBS/AP) — Boston’s embattled public transit agency is letting people ride for free for a day as a goodwill gesture following a winter of disastrous breakdowns.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority says riders can skip the fare Friday for all modes of transportation, including trolleys, buses and commuter rail trains.

...

The gesture will cost the agency an estimated $5 million in lost revenue.
Click to expand...

EDIT: statler beat me to the punch.
 
I thought I saw a breakdown that says the free day will cost $1.5M and the discounted passed around $3.5 for $5M total.
 
Impressive crowds on my joy ride tonight; the Lowell line inbound arriving at 8:09, then green to Haymarket and Orange back to NS, then out to Reading on the 8:40 to Haverhill line. at least one other person joy riding on first two legs (she said so). Overall, busy and a pretty decent cross section.
 
Last edited:
JeffDowntown said:
Interesting editorial in the NY Times about how New York is thinking about raising the monies needed to upgrade the MTA ($32 Billion needed).

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/opinion/new-yorks-subway-madness.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

If only we could get some thoughtful leadership like this out of Charlie Baker and the Great and General Court.
Click to expand...

Oh, God. Cuomo and the leadership (including the hardy few non-indicted members) of the NYS Legislature should never ever ever ever be in the conversation when it comes to progressive transit funding. Move NY is as populist as it is because it's a massive middle finger to Albany starving the MTA to death so upstate interests get paid. They have funding problems like any transit agency has funding problems, but this particular case of organized urgency is a reaction to a largely manufactured crisis.

Much as I'd love to see Massachusetts get mad as hell and not take it any more with the corruption in its Legislature, DeLeo's Cash Drawer is still only one-eighteenth as corrupt as Albany and our governors too structurally weak to be hand-in-hand as much part of the problem as Cuomo is. I'm not sure we really want to go there with how bad the smell would have to get before things start approaching the schism they are in New York right now.
 
"Free Fare Day" made me realize how truly stupid and bothersome the Commuter Rail's fare-collection system is. For the majority of CR riders, who use a monthly pass, a daily feature of your commute is having a conductor request that you withdraw your wallet/pass to be physically checked, at some random point in your commute. If you're someone who has a wallet in your jacket or your purse or something, that's really kind of mentally and even physically inconvenient.

On Friday, I could just board and sit down and read or work, and know that I wasn't going to be bothered. On a normal day, I'm not really "settled" until the conductor checks my pass, which, as we all know, is a process whose timing/methodology can vary greatly. It's nice that they've made the monthly CharlieCard program for the CR permanent, but any fare collection system which involves literally every single rider physically validating their pass with a human being in the middle of their trip is ultimately a ridiculous one.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Oh, God. Cuomo and the leadership (including the hardy few non-indicted members) of the NYS Legislature should never ever ever ever be in the conversation when it comes to progressive transit funding. Move NY is as populist as it is because it's a massive middle finger to Albany starving the MTA to death so upstate interests get paid. They have funding problems like any transit agency has funding problems, but this particular case of organized urgency is a reaction to a largely manufactured crisis.

Much as I'd love to see Massachusetts get mad as hell and not take it any more with the corruption in its Legislature, DeLeo's Cash Drawer is still only one-eighteenth as corrupt as Albany and our governors too structurally weak to be hand-in-hand as much part of the problem as Cuomo is. I'm not sure we really want to go there with how bad the smell would have to get before things start approaching the schism they are in New York right now.
Click to expand...

I was actually trying to suggest that a populist movement like Move NY is exactly what we need to push the T cleanup, because we do have an impotent Governor (not his fault -- it is structural in our government) and a historically corrupt Speaker (past three are convicted felons!) -- they are never going to get out of their own (special interests) way.
 
Finn said:
"Free Fare Day" made me realize how truly stupid and bothersome the Commuter Rail's fare-collection system is..., but any fare collection system which involves literally every single rider physically validating their pass with a human being in the middle of their trip is ultimately a ridiculous one.
Click to expand...
I had that experience on my trips too: considerably more relaxing to sit down and know that I was fully at rest.

Proof of Payment (POP) is a huge boon to riders (speed & convenience) that we all should be willing to pay more for if needed (if it resulted in higher costs or more violators...but it doesn't) Most POP systems have very low violations and considerably lower fare-collection costs--their systems end up being both better operationally and better financially.
 
How much is the maintance contract on the fare gates? Considering how often they're broken, just getting rid of them alone would probably make up for the cost difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top