This is what NatickDweller had to say:
I have taken 18 trains so far in January, mostly P508 (the morning "express") and P531 (departing S. Station at "6:20 pm").Yikes!!
Here are the stats so far, and they aren't pretty:
13 trains late (5 minutes or more) out of 18, for an on-time performance of 28 percent. Total delay minutes: 188 (over three hours of my life gone forever...thanks to this joke of a system we call the commuter rail).
NatickDweller went on to comment that the MBTA/MBCR counts all the trains running on a particular line throughout the day, so what should really be a 28% on time performance record (based on mainly rush hour commutes), actually appears to be a lot higher.
I know that when I've taken the train during non-rush hour commute times, such as late morning or early afternoon trains, these trains "miraculously" run on time. Shocking.
Based on NatickDweller's comments and my own lousy commutes, I was thinking about on time performance this morning. Especially since this morning's inbound P508 train was about 8 to 10 minutes behind schedule AGAIN!
Obviously the non-rush hour trains and the weekend times help contribute to the uptick in on time performance. I wish MBCR was forced to track rush hour performance, because really, that's what matters to most of us commuter rail riders. They could provide two numbers - overall line performance and performance based solely on rush hour commutes.
Here is an update for last night's commute. I took took the 6:05 p.m. train last night (the P529) home. Got to Grafton around 7:10 p.m. (scheduled arrival time 7:04 p.m.).
As I mentioned earlier, this morning, I took the P508 which departs Grafton at 7:19 a.m. and got into Back Bay at 8:24 a.m. (for scheduled arrival time of 8:18 a.m.). Due to the cold weather, I got off at Back Bay Stationand took the Orange line to my office.
So ... at least the train is consistent this week in its lateness!!
I'm really wondering - have any of the rush hour trains on the Worcester-Framingham line arrived into their destination on-time (or within the 5 minutes "on time" window)?
NatickDweller . . . thanks for sharing your experiences this month. I just hope this isn't a long year.
Switching topics ever so slightly, yesterday Anonymous provided some great insight into how Amtrak's structure impacts Massachusetts-based commuter rail lines in a comment made to the "For the Sake of Commuter Rail Riders, Amtrak Can't Strike" post. This is why South Station-bound trains will be impacted by the strike:
The T owns all of the physical track over which the commuter rail runs except the Framingham-Worcester section (owned by CSX) and the Allston freight yard (owned by Harvard University). However, Amtrak handles the dispatching at South Station itself and along the Providence line. If Amtrak strikes there would be no dispatchers so no trains could enter South Station.Anonymous also mentioned how individual lines may operate.
NatickDweller and Anonymous - thanks for the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment