Back on the Train Gang

I'm back! Due to a combination of late nights, work travel and vacation, I haven't ridden the commuter rail in nearly a month. But, I'm back on the train now .... and just in time for the fare increase!

News of the impending MBTA fare hike is all over the media, with a proposed 19.5% overall fare increase. Riders who have a Charlie ticket can expect a 50-cent increase, riders who have a Charlie card can expect their fares to increase by 30 cents. Here are the proposed fare increases by zone for the commuter rail: zone 1-3 will increase by 75 cents per trip and zones 4-8 will increase by $1.00 per trip.

Awesome, my zone 8 monthly pass is going to go from $250 to $280. This is in addition to the fact that I now pay $4 a day to park. It's so frustrating. Even though the sales tax is increasing in order to give the MBTA about $160 million, they're still going to raise fares and reduce service.

Here's what we can expect on the Worcester-Framingham line for service cuts: eliminate weekday service after 7:00 PM, eliminate all weekend trains. Unbelievable. There is no way I can take the train, I do not usually leave work now until 7:30, so I will definitely have to drive. I love how the MBTA wants to eliminate some redundant stations, but have no plans to close any of the Wellesley stops. Really, why does Wellesley need three stops? Isn't even one of those stops redundant?

Needless to say, I might consider van pooling or car pooling now, this totally stinks. Oh, we do have the ability to attend some public hearings to voice our concerns: Monday, August 10 at the State House from 4:00 - 7:00, Tuesday, August 18 in Framingham at the Town Hall from 6:00 - 8:00 PM and Wednesday, August 19 in Worcester at Union Station from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. (There are other times/dates as well).

A PDF "highlighting" all of these changes can be found here.

Breaking News ... Fare Increases of 15-20%

Again, I apologize for my lack of updates. I've been driving 2-3 days a week now because of my crazy schedule. I did take the p508 this morning, we were right on time to South Station at 8:23 AM.

Just saw this on Boston.com ... not happy about it ... maybe driving will become permanent?

The state's transportation secretary announced today that fare increases of 15 percent to 20 percent would be necessary on the MBTA this fall, even if the Legislature comes through with an expected $160 million -- likely from a sales tax increase -- to help plug the current deficit.

James Aloisi announced the fare increase at today's meeting of the MBTA board and said the public process would begin soon. It will include a menu of additional options, he said, including a variety of service cuts.

"We need to have a multi-year solution," Aloisi said. He's hoping this fare increase will prevent another one from being necessary for at least two to three years.

The Legislature has been contemplating a variety of solutions to help the MBTA and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, both of which are struggling financially. Officials had hope to avoid either a toll or fare increase by identifying another source of revenue.

Governor Deval Patrick has proposed a 19 cent increase in the gas tax, while the Legislature has proposed an increase in the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent.

TGIF!

I don't know about you, but sometimes the short work weeks seem longer than the regular work weeks! And speaking of work, my schedule has been so wacky lately it's impacting my ability to consistently update Train Stopping ... that and I have been driving in a fair bit because there's nothing worse than working a 12 hour day, waiting for the 8:20 PM or 10:20 PM train and not getting home until midnight ... then getting up at 5:45 AM to do it all again.

This morning's commute on the P508 was right on time, we arrived to South Station at 8:22 AM.

According to an article in yesterday's Globe, plans for toll increases on the Pike and fare hikes and service reductions on the MBTA are on target to be implemented, if the sales tax increase is not implemented. Last week, the House and Senate passed budgets that would increase the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent and devote about $275 million to transportation. The noteworthy thing about these budgets is that they are veto-proof.

Lawmakers appear committed to preventing the hefty toll increases that are otherwise set to take effect July 1. Lawmakers have made less of a public commitment to rescuing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from its $160 million deficit. The MBTA passed a budget earlier this year that presumes there will be a legislative bailout. But an advisory panel, which has the final word on the authority's budget, is expected to reject that plan at a meeting today. Instead, the MBTA Advisory Board will consider a budget that lays off about 1,200 MBTA employees - putting further pressure on the T to begin publicly planning service cuts and fare hikes.

In practice, the T would still have several months of public hearings to decide what combination of layoffs, service cuts or fare hikes it would impose to plug its budget gap. General manager Daniel A. Grabauskas said in an e-mail yesterday that he is "very much encouraged by the support in the House and Senate for transportation reform and new funding that is currently pending."

Assuming the Legislature keeps its transportation commitment at $275 million, there would be enough to avoid fee hikes on both the turnpike and the T for another year. But, that totally leaves out residents in Western Mass. who do not use public transportation, but should benefit from the money as well in order to repair roads or bridges.

Basically, this is a step in the right direction, but I doubt the MBTA will get all of the money it needs and we'll see a fare increase as a result. Blah.

Summer in the City

Hope everyone has a chance to get outside today ... it is gorgeous out. I work in the Seaport area and it's especially nice down here with the breeze coming off of the water.

Today's commute on the P508 was right on time again ... we arrived at 8:21 AM.

Not sure if you have heard about the massive power outage that impacted subway riders today. A system-wide power outage stopped MTBA service for upwards of 40 minutes, trapping riders in subway cars. The outage affected all four subway lines and caused delays across the system.

Apparently communication was poor regarding the cause of the outage and people were quite frustrated. I think that's the crux of the problem, we understand that there are delays, the problem is when you have no idea as to what is going on ... you're just left in the dark. All riders want is an update about the situation. If power was out and thus radios were not working, post handwritten signs or have T employees talk to passengers about the issue. It's just common sense.

For those of you taking off early for the holiday weekend ... enjoy!!!

On Time Today

The p508 rolled into South Station on time today, arriving at 8:21 AM. Then I hightailed it over to the ticket window to turn in reimbursements from late trains from the last few months. Always love that extra cash flow ... although not the reason behind it.

Over the weekend, I saw an article about the MBTA unions agreeing to a wage freeze. The unions are voluntarily agreeing to curtail a 4% wage increase. The unions represent about 500 administrative employees, electrical workers, engineers, and welders. Their one-year wage freeze will save the cash-strapped MBTA about $1.66 million - or 1 percent of the deficit. This is a good start, but other unions need to jump on board. Even with this wage freeze, MBTA officials acknowledged that commuters should still expect to see significant changes in service and possibly fare increases.

In the same article, I found it astounding that the MBTA has to negotiate with 24 separate unions. That is just insane. (And no wonder why there's so much bureaucracy in that agency). The article alluded also to the fact that the driver's union is protesting the new policy about no cellphones/pagers on buses/trains/subway cars. Passenger safety should be their utmost concern ... multi-tasking just doesn't work. You cannot text or talk and operate a multi-ton machine at the same time without consequences.

Delays on a Monday

More RailMail from the MBCR today ... but this wasn't good news, just an explanation for the lengthy delays this morning.

To Our Worcester Line Customers;

We would like to begin by apologizing for the very lengthy delays experienced by our Worcester line customers this morning.

Train P502 experienced a mechanical failure when departing the Worcester station this morning. In the interim, it was determined that train P504’s equipment would be brought into the station, tie on to train P502 making a double draft and proceed into Boston making all stops. However, when this attempt was made it became clear that that there was a CSX switching problem that prevented any trains from leaving the facility. We then had to wait for CSX maintainers to come to Worcester to restore the signal. The MBCR mechanical staff had by this time made the necessary repairs to the disabled first train (P502) and it was sent on its way making all stops. Quite naturally, this cascaded into multiple delays throughout the morning commute.

We realize that this made many passengers late for the start of their work day and wanted to take this opportunity to both apologize and provide you with an explanation for this morning’s events.

We thank you for your patience and thank you for riding the commuter rail.

Customer Service Massachusetts Bay Commuter Rail


My question is ... why is there not a mechanical crew out near Worcester? From the email, seems like they had to travel to get there?

Commuter Rail Schedule Update

Received some RailMail recently, advising of upcoming schedule changes.

On Monday May 18th, 2009, new schedules will go into effect on the Franklin, Middleborough/Lakeville, Framingham/Worcester, Needham and Providence Lines.

Changes to the Worcester Line will affect one inbound and one outbound weekend train ONLY.

Weekend – INBOUND

Train P552: the 09:35am departure from Worcester will leave 10 minutes earlier at 09:25am arriving in Boston 10 minutes earlier. This adjustment was made due to a schedule conflict with other trains along the line.

Weekend – OUTBOUND

Train P553: the 07:50am will leave Boston 10 minutes earlier at 07:40am arriving in Worcester 10 minutes earlier.

Additional schedule information and printable PDF copies of all schedules are available at the following link on our website: http://www.mbcr.net/schedules/Worcester_web.pdf

They will also be available on the MBTA website at the following link: www.mbta.com as of Monday, May 18th.

In our efforts to “Go-Green” we will be printing a limited number of pocket schedules and ask that you to print copies from one of the above links.

Commuter rail service information, including updated commuter rail advisories/alerts is available on the MBTA website at www.mbta.com, or by calling the MBTA’s Customer Support Services Center at 617-222-3200.

Thank you for riding commuter rail.
Customer ServiceMassachusetts Bay Commuter Rail
Operating the Commuter Rail on behalf of the MBTA

Monday, Monday

What is it about Mondays? I just can't seem to motivate myself in the mornings. That being said, I took the p512 this morning, and we were on time to South Station, arriving at 9:08 AM.

This past Saturday was the second annual National Train Day, which was started to commemorate the nation's first transcontinental railroad, which went into service on May 10, 1869. Amtrak sponsors this event which highlights the benefits of train travel, in addition to remembering how trains impacted the growth of our country.

In response to the Green Line accident/derailment on Friday, the MBTA has banned the possession of cellphones, pagers, etc. by all MBTA operators (prior to the latest incident, the MBTA banned usage, but operators were still allowed to have phones on them on the train). That accident caused upwards of $9.6 million in damages to the train cars involved. A representative from the National Transportation Safety Board commented "You should not be talking on your cellphone, texting, or operating a wireless device while you are operating a vehicle."