55 replies to this topic

[atlrvr]

I'm starting a new topic to discuss future improvements to the Red, Green, Orange, Blue and Silver lines, as well as Commuter Rail.  If this thread picks up speed, I may break each line out into its own thread.

To start with, yesterday, the MBTA announced a $334M plan to upgrade service on the Red, Green, Orange, and Blue lines.  It will includes ADA compliance, parking lot addition and renovations, and track and electrical improvements.

These upgrades, once complete, will allow speed restrictions on each of the lines to be raised, and therefore increase the speed of service.

Article on MBTA website

[atlrvr]

Seems like the MBTA is playing hardball with Seimans, for the delivery of the long overdue Blue Line replacement cars.

per the Boston Globe

Quote

The MBTA's plan to replace its aging Blue Line fleet is nearly three years behind schedule because of repeated delays and problems with the first of 94 new cars, including leaking doors and smoking air-conditioning systems.

Yesterday, the T's top official sent a fiery letter to the manufacturer, Siemens Transportation Systems, demanding a firm schedule for delivery of the new cars and threatening to freeze payments on the $174 million contract.

Though I rarely ride the blue line...they NEED to replace those rolling rust buckets.

[UrbanLifter]

I wish the T would get the Orange Line up to speed.  It seems forever they have been upgrading the signals from Sullivan Square to Oak Grove which means the evening trains stop at Sullivan Squre or Wellington Circle around 9PM.  Then you  have to take a bus to Malden and Oak Grove.

Recently we entertained out of town friends at Harvard Square.  We would have taken the Orange Line to the Red Line; however, the return evening trip would have been a hassle so we drove instead.

[City_of_Lakes]

Great news about the upgrades!  I've been waiting patiently to see when that was going to happen.  This will only help to make connections easier and get people to their destination in a timely and comfortable manner.  Every little bit helps.

[atlrvr]

Has anyone boarded an inbound Green Line train at an above ground station in the past week?  The new CharlieTicket readers and fare collection machine is SO *$&%!@&^% slow.  I know they want people to start using the CharlieCard, but that's just not very realistic considering the large college population that pays cash.

The machines take at least 3-4 times as long per passenger to operate and it has slowed my evening inbound trip by 20 minutes!!!!!!

Worst idea, ever.

[TheBostonian]

atlrvr, on Dec 6 2006, 01:26 PM, said:

Has anyone boarded an inbound Green Line train at an above ground station in the past week?  The new CharlieTicket readers and fare collection machine is SO *$&%!@&^% slow.  I know they want people to start using the CharlieCard, but that's just not very realistic considering the large college population that pays cash.

The machines take at least 3-4 times as long per passenger to operate and it has slowed my evening inbound trip by 20 minutes!!!!!!

Worst idea, ever.

I sympathize with you.  Let's just hope that most people will use the card when it becomes more expensive not to.

[cloudship]

One of the quickest ways to kill mass transit is to make it more difficult and time consuming to use. I would rather they put the money they spent on this automated ticket system into improved stations and service. That would be a whole lot better at raising ridership.

[atlrvr]

Completely agree....I know this has to be driving everyone else crazy.  I rode the 39 bus this morning instead of taking the E line inbound, because I got sick of waiting in the cold for the now much less frequent service (due to much longer boarding times) and the disdain at sitting at each station for 5 minutes to let 20 people try to figure out the new, slower system.

IF people start using the new rechargable cards, it will speed things up, but I'm not hopeful.

[DoctorGonzo]

It's truly amazing how long it's taking for people to learn how to use the fareboxes.

Couple that with the "I'm not even going to think about where my pass/ticket is until I'm in front of the farebox" mentality, and you have a complete disaster.

I can't wait to see the B-Line completely fail under the stress of the end of Show-And-Go combined with the discontinuation of free outbound service on the surface.

The BU students will spend 20 minutes boarding the train (and standing directly in front of the only door that opens) so they can ride the train from BU Central to BU West.

Edited by DoctorGonzo, 10 December 2006 - 09:33 PM.

[Cotuit]

What's the problem with the trolleys exactly? I thought these were tap and go, i.e. you just need to wave the card infront of the sensor. In New York buses are a pain because you have to dip the cards, you slide it in a slot on the farebox and it sucks it in like an ATM then spits it back out at you. So everyone boarding the bus has to stand and wait to get thier pass spit back out at them. Plus it only goes in one certain way, so newbies are all the time putting it in wrong. And of course the same, "I've been standing at the bus stop for 15 minutes, it never dawned on me to use that time to get my pass out," mentality is rampant in New York.

[DoctorGonzo]

Cotuit, on Dec 10 2006, 11:00 PM, said:

What's the problem with the trolleys exactly? I thought these were tap and go, i.e. you just need to wave the card infront of the sensor.

Right now the usage breaks down to about 1% Charlie Card (tap-and-go), 90% Charlie Ticket (insert properly, wait, move along) and 9% cash (oh please no).

The Charlie Cards are going to become the defacto standard in January for stored value and passes, but the MBTA is not issuing students on the Semester Pass program Charlie Cards. Instead of issuing one card to each student with the entirety of their pre-paid time already on it, they are sticking with Charlie Tickets. With well over 100,000 college students in the city, and most of them on the Green Line (which uses the on-train fareboxes) they have effectively negated the entire potential time savings of the modernization.

Cotuit, on Dec 10 2006, 11:00 PM, said:

In New York buses are a pain because you have to dip the cards, you slide it in a slot on the farebox and it sucks it in like an ATM then spits it back out at you. So everyone boarding the bus has to stand and wait to get thier pass spit back out at them. Plus it only goes in one certain way, so newbies are all the time putting it in wrong. And of course the same, "I've been standing at the bus stop for 15 minutes, it never dawned on me to use that time to get my pass out," mentality is rampant in New York.

That's exactly how it is right now in Boston.

Edited by DoctorGonzo, 10 December 2006 - 10:31 PM.

[Cotuit]

Ugh, I'll remember to avoid the B line next time I'm in town, which might be before January.

[TheBostonian]

The CharlieCard can work from inside your wallet.  You can just tap your wallet against the sensor and DING.  I sure hope knowledge of this spreads.

[DoctorGonzo]

TheBostonian, on Dec 11 2006, 12:26 AM, said:

The CharlieCard can work from inside your wallet.  You can just tap your wallet against the sensor and DING.  I sure hope knowledge of this spreads.

I still see plenty of people trying to insert them in the faregates.  

[atlrvr]

It's a disaster....on the E, people get on, and stare blankly at the new fare box...I saw a guy trying to shove his CharlieTicket into the dollar bill slot.

I agree that the big problem in all of this is that College Students are the least likely portion of the riders to use new CharlieCard (paying with Cash or passes) and it takes it sooooooooo long with the new system.

The drivers cracked down the first couple of days to get everyone paying, but now some are back to the same old ways, just to get people on.  The line backs up so far at the stations that they can never close the doors, because it takes so long to load the train that a steady stream of riders keeps lining up to get on.

[cloudship]

If the world was perfect, and everyone always used the T and always was familliar with how things worked, and always had the money available to buy the card, and always had pleanty of time to get ready when boarding, it would work. But reality is that there are a lot of people who simply don't ride enough to get a card, who don't have the money to buy one or simply don't have the time. They may only ride the Green line every once in a blue moon, and they may always be rushing just to get on the train instead of getting their cards out.

Complexity is the cuplrit here. They made it too complex. Stick with simplicity. It's far more efficient.

[atlrvr]

The MBTA has completely updated their website.  It was launched today.

It seems better except for the fact that it takes FOREVER to load the pages on my computer (and I have T1)

http://www.mbta.com

[JJK5]

atlrvr, on Dec 15 2006, 10:57 AM, said:

The MBTA has completely updated their website.  It was launched today.

It seems better except for the fact that it takes FOREVER to load the pages on my computer (and I have T1)

http://www.mbta.com

They must be still getting the quirks out, site won't even load for me.

[DoctorGonzo]

JJK5, on Dec 15 2006, 11:48 AM, said:

They must be still getting the quirks out, site won't even load for me.

EDIT: The other URL died.

Edited by DoctorGonzo, 15 December 2006 - 11:57 PM.

[crispin]

For the record, the introduction of Charlie Card-style systems in many cities have significantly increased transit ridership. New York would be an easy example. I hope it does the same in Boston, once they get the initial kinks resolved.