Mass Pike Driving

Train Rider drove to Boston today. I've heard from many people that this morning's commute was not a pleasant one for anyone who took the Mass Pike in from Central Mass/Metro West.

Since we're on the driving topic, for now, I wanted to pass along some information a friend of mine shared with me. This is about some additional changes to the Fast Lane transponder program:

As of January, you will no longer receive a Fast Lane paper statement. (For those of us trying to be greener, this is a good thing).

If you want to continue to receive one, it will be $2/mo for residential and $5/mo for commercial. You must log on the Fast Lane website to request this option.

And, they are no longer offering the "post paid" option. Anyone who had it is grandfathered in, but if you have any issues with your payment method and they can't collect, you'll lose it and get pushed to pre-paid.

This happened to me and now they're threatening to charge $50 if I use my Fast Lane tag before they process my "pre-paid" paperwork (won't let me do it online.)

You can log/set up an account at www.mtafastlane.com

I've read some articles about how the Mass Pike is going to charge a monthly fee for Fast Lane users (I believe $.50 per month per transponder), but I haven't heard the news my friend shared with me. The $.50 per month per transponder fee is a bit irking for those of us who have already paid a transponder fee. I get the fact that the state is in a financial crisis, heck it seems like the whole world is right now. But I don't understand why they can't grandfather those of us who have paid a fee for our transponder and start charging us when our transponder fee doesn't cover the the monthly fee anymore. Then again, I do "get" why they won't do this - most Fast Lane users have already paid the monthly fee, so there wouldn't be any revenue to collect.

In today's Boston Globe there is an article about the federal economic stimulus plan. Only 5% of the $819 billion plan is earmarked for infrastructure things such as rapid transit and roads: $12 billion for rapid transit/trains and $30 billion for roads. This means that funding for MBTA-related projects and road improvements could be difficult to obtain.

Transportation in Central Massachusetts Forum

Free hot chocolate can make you forget about things. Such as this, forwarded to Train Stopping by Susan at the My Southborough Blog.

The Northborough Democratic Town Committee is hosting a forum on Transportation in Central Massachusetts on February 4, 2009 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The forum will be held at Romaine's Wood Bar and Grill, located at 299 West Main Street in Northborough. Lt. Governor Tim Murray will be in attendance, speaking about the state of the commuter rail line. Visit the Southborough Democratic Town Committee site for more information.

Susan - thanks for the note on this event!

Worcester Bloggers and More Debate About Parking

I would like to give a big shout-out to Neil of the 4-Rilla is Real blog and Linnea of Real Worcester for last night's meet-up at the Worcester Shark's game. Commute-a-holic and I both participated. It was nice to meet other Worcester-area bloggers and blog readers and it was great to get out and support the Worcester Sharks. The Sharks beat the Norfolk Admirals 4 to 3.

This was a fun and an inexpensive event. What more can you ask for in such trying days? In case you're either a hockey fan or you're looking to do something fun and inexpensive, the Sharks have a program where you can purchase tickets to Wednesday night games for $5.00 a ticket for groups of 10 or more. You can't even go out and see a movie for that. So if you're looking for something to do, consider checking out a Sharks game on a Wednesday night this winter. The DCU Center is a safe and welcoming environment which has been renovated to remove any sign of the old "Centrum" orange seats.

I even took the P527 train all the way to Worcester and walked to the DCU. Commute-a-holic was kind enough to return me to the Grafton station after the game.

Now on to commuting news!

The P508 was on time. We arrived into South Station at 8:21 a.m. The parking lots still look like they're only 1/2 way filled in Grafton, Westborough, Southborough, and Ashland.

Though I haven't seen published MBCR/MBTA on-time performance stats in months, I did notice a sign in the far corners of South Station. For the month of October 2008, the Worcester-Framingham line had an on-time performance of 90.55% and a year-to-date performance of 87.67%. I, for one, think these stats are suspicious. But there doesn't seem to be any accountability for publishing the stats by an outside authority, so I guess we have to go with what they are telling us.

People are still fired up about the parking rates. We appreciate all comments made to the blog - even if we don't agree with them. Commute-a-holic and I love how the blogsphere generates dialogue, which is what we are trying to do.

If you're a commuter rail rider and you're looking to connect with other riders, feel free to use Train Stopping to make those connections. A comment by Raghu Saranathan for West Natick commuters yesterday made me realize that others may be looking to connect. Let's all try to work together.

I will say, I do get annoyed when I see references to people "cutting out lattes to pay for parking." I've actually made a lot of reductions in my life over the past 2 years. I'm single and I work in financial services, so there is a very strong probability I could lose my job if the market continues its downward slant (spiral). I'm glad I started to become a lot more environmentally aware over the past few years, because it has helped me cut down on my consumption. That being said, I'm still irritated when I see utter mismanagement of public funds and I am still incredibly upset about this parking increase. But we will work through this.

On to the news. Yesterday's Examiner.com contained a scathing commentary on what happens when we don't pay to ride buses or trains. It is really well written and I agree with the sentiments. It may not solve all the debt issues, but I have got to believe that these funds help the bottom line. If not, then why even bother with fares?

Today's The Boston Globe focuses on how Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi is now pushing for the gas tax to offset transportation costs. Also, there is an op-ed by Senate President Therese Murray and Senator Steven Baddour. The focus is about reforming the transportation system in the state. The state is certainly in for a long haul, so to speak.

Finally, the MBCR and MBTA have entered into a partnership with the Samaritans to increase awareness about suicide prevention and support services. The partnership will also provide support to transportation workers who may have been impacted by a suicide. The partnership includes:

• Creation and implementation of a public awareness campaign about suicide prevention services, including advertisement for the Samaritans’ Statewide Toll Free Helpline 877-870-HOPE (4673) that will be promoted in posters placed in T and Commuter Rail stations.
• Creation of a Samaritans education and information program that will be available to provide emotional support services to transportation employees who witness or handle suicides.
  
• Creation and implementation of an awareness campaign regarding Samaritans’ need for volunteers to increase their capacity to assist persons in need and families of those who have died by suicide.
  

How Long is Your Commute to Work?

The current poll on the Worcester Business Journal's homepage is all about commuting.

I just took the poll around 3:30 p.m. on 10/10/2008. So here is a snapshot of the most current responses:


The WBJ's readership is primarily Central Mass./MetroWest residents and businesses.

I did find it interesting that 67% of the poll's participants commute less than 25 miles to work, while only 3.9% take public transportation.

Interesting poll. Perhaps only a Commute-a-holic finds this interesting!

ABP Out for My Wage Works Commuter Rail Pass

My first commute for the month of October was fine this morning. The P508 was on-time to South Station, arriving around 8:24 a.m.

The big commuting news for me . . . I still haven't received my Zone 8 commuter rail pass from Wage Works. The conductors were very understanding this morning. They didn't make people who receive their passes from Wage Works pay an additional fare for today's commute. Maybe they heard that the distribution of passes was delayed. I did walk from South Station to my office, though, as I didn't want to deal with the super huge lines of people trying to buy a Charlie Card to get onto the Silver Line.

Walking to my office, I couldn't get over the fact that it is October 1st and still tropical. I'm tired of the humidity. I wish the weather would just be cool or warm, not the in-between that it is right now.

The whole Wage Works thing is a cluster. I'm not alone in sharing this sentiment - check out the comment made earlier this morning by Sarah. This is the third time that people in my company haven't received their commuter passes at the beginning of the month. A couple of us called yesterday and Wage Works assured us that they sent the passes on September 20th. When I got home last night, the T pass wasn't in my mail. So, one of my coworkers got back on the phone with them. My colleague was then told that an email was sent out around September 20th saying there was a processing error, so the October 2008 passes would be delayed. Again - no one at my firm received this mysterious email. Now Wage Works is telling us that we should have our passes today. I guess I'll just have to wait and see until I get home later this evening.

On the train news front, all is pretty quiet. The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles announced the roll out of a new vehicle inspection program, effective today.

To ensure that vehicles with faulty emissions control systems are identified and repaired more quickly than under the current program, RMV and MassDEP will require model year 1996 and newer passenger cars, trucks and SUVs, as well as 2008 and newer medium-duty vehicles, to undergo annual on-board diagnostic (OBD) emissions testing.

Commissioner Burt said OBD emissions testing will also be introduced for 1997 and newer light-duty diesel vehicles (weighing 8,500 pounds or less) and 2007 and newer medium-duty diesel vehicles (weighing 8,501 to 14,000 pounds). Beginning next April, diesel trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more but not subject to OBD testing will receive opacity tests that measure the density of the emissions they produce.

Cars, trucks and SUVs manufactured before 1996 - which, at less than 15 percent of the fleet, currently comprise a small and declining share of all vehicles registered in Massachusetts - are either not equipped with on-board computers or not uniformly compatible with the OBD test. These older vehicles will fail their safety tests if inspectors can see smoke coming from their tailpipes. Dynamometer tailpipe testing is ending for these vehicles because their declining numbers do not justify an investment of up to $80,000 per inspection station on required equipment and maintenance.

So, what happens if your vehicle fails this inspection?

As with the current inspection program, a motorist whose private passenger vehicle fails its Massachusetts Vehicle Check OBD emissions test will have 60 days from the initial inspection to get the vehicle repaired and bring it to the same station for a free re-test. When a vehicle is fixed by a state-registered emissions repair technician but fails again, the motorist may qualify for a one-year emissions waiver if repair costs exceed $750, $650 or $550, depending on the age of the vehicle. These financial thresholds will be adjusted annually based on changes in the Consumer Price Index.

Under the new program, a motorist facing major repairs of a private passenger vehicle that fails its emissions test - such as a transmission replacement or an engine overhaul - will also have the option of applying for an economic hardship extension. This will give the motorist a one-time, one-year sticker to continue operating the car, truck or SUV while deciding whether to fix or replace the vehicle.

MBTA/MBCR Greenbush Commuter Rail Line is Empty

Due to being busy at work, I didn't have time to post an article about the new Greenbush line that ran on the front page of the printed Boston Globe newspaper yesterday.

Why the Globe is writing about the underused Greenbush line instead of all the on-time performance issues plaguing other lines is beyond me. Perhaps the MBTA actually has a stellar staff of PR professionals that are good at pitching stories.

For $513 million, the Greenbush riders get to ride an empty train. How sweet for them! In December the MBTA said there were 1,368 rider. A third of the riders of this line weren't new to mass transit commuting. While the line was built to try to get more cars off of the traffic plagued South Shore highways (like Route 3 and Route 93), the riders seem to be converts who used to take the commuter boats out of Hingham.

Since the T is so fantastic at managing and initiating strategic planning, this didn't surprise me at all:

The line was projected to attract about 4,300 daily commuters within three to five years of opening, but the T says it never estimated how many riders the line would attract before that.

Fantastic!! Shouldn't they have estimated ridership before spending all the time and money trying to build a line no one really wanted in the first place?

The T doesn't want to be held accountable to any "conclusions" about the effectiveness of this line until 2010. Where can I get a job where I can launch a massive project and not be held accountable until 3 years after the projects go-live date?

Ultimately the Greenbush line's performance could impact whether communities like New Bedford and Fall River gain a commuter rail line. Honestly - the T and the state of Massachusetts should have launched a commuter rail line where (1) a line didn't exist before and (2) where the only commuting options really consist of driving a car into Boston.

MBTA GM Grabauskas Jets Away

Setting: Your the head of a large transit authority. One key component of your transit authority may be interrupted due to another entity's strike. What do you do?

Well, if your the MBTA's GM Daniel Grabauskas, you decided to NOT cancel your vacation plans, even when your boss (Governor Deval Patrick and the MBTA's Advisory Board) ask you to cancel your plans.

The Boston Herald is always good for exposing outrageous behavior made by public officials. Today's edition features an article about Grabauskas and his decision to go on vacation. "MBTA boss takes off on Boston" is pretty outrageous. As a commuter and a Massachusetts taxpayer, I can't believe that Grabauskas did not cancel his plans.

The MBTA, living in their la la land, had a spokesperson quoted as saying that "the strike appears 'very unlikely'," and that Grabauskas left "detailed contingency plans, including travel instructions for passengers on each rail line that could be impacted."

Grabauskas is vacationing in Thailand and he is supposedly coming back to Massachusetts before the targeted January 30th strike date.

I'm not sure if Grabauskas made the most professional move by going on vacation before the strike. He should have seen if he could have postponed his plans by a few weeks to make sure the strike isn't going to happen.

OR, perhaps, Grabauskas isn't really needed at the helm of the agency. If that is the case, maybe he should be cut free and his hefty salary should be used to fund other transportation entities.

Unreal!!

MBCR/MBTA Commuter Rail News Update

Time for some Train News updates from Train Stopping.

To help spread the word about the ongoing commuter rail issues faced by the riders of the MBTA/MBCR commuter rail lines, I've added links to the following blogs in the "Train News" section:

• Boston Now
• Bostonist
• The Franklin Line
• Universal Hub

In the spirit of trying to improve commuter rail service in Massachusetts, feel free to notify me about other relevant news sites and blogs.

Happy Commutes!

Train Rider

Boston Sunday Globe Cover Story

In yesterday's Boston Sunday Globe, there was a cover story about commuter rail service in Massachusetts.

In "Mass. rail cheaper, but less reliable," Globe reporters compared the reliability and cost of the MBTA/MBCR commuter rail service against Chicago's Metra, New York's Metro-North, New Jersey Transit's commuter rail, and the Long Island Rail Road. Commuter rail service in Massachusetts trails the service of these other major transit systems.

While other states experience an on-time performance rate of 94% or higher, commuter rail riders in Massachusetts are more likely to only get an 84.5% on-time performance rate.

The MBTA is expected to vote today on the long-term contract status to the MBCR, the private

"According to two sources familiar with the negotiations, the MBTA staff is prepared to recommend a three-year extension, two years less than the company is seeking but more than the minimum necessary to make the transition to a new operator.

Even if dissatisfied with the service, the MBTA board will have to extend the contract at least another two years, because it would take that long to solicit and evaluate competitive bids on a new pact and then turn over the complex operation to a new operator, according to MBTA general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas."

I love this quote. No doubt, the rider experiences the Worcester-Framingham line, albeit from one of the closer stops. I've experienced this many times in my attempt to commute on the commuter rail:

"They're going to give these guys an extended contract? It's unbelievable," said Ned Abelson, 51, a Wellesley resident who said he drove to work Tuesday after 25 frustrating minutes on the platform that included two different posted reasons for train delays and a train that sped by without stopping.

Of course, you get what you pay for (or in this case - what the MBTA will pay for), It costs 29 cents per passenger mile to run the commuter rail in Massachusetts, while the same cost per passenger mile in Chicago is 31 cents, NJ is 33 cents, NY Metro-North is 46 cents, and the LIRR is 49 cents.

The article noted that Boston, in comparison to other metro areas, also has a lower commuter rail ticket price. I hope this means that the MBTA/MBCR aren't going to raise fares yet again to try to "improve" performance. I'm paying more than I have ever paid, yet the performance continues to decrease.

Our regional commuter rail service, which carries 72,000 passengers round trip every day, is the largest US service run by a private company. The article discussed the political/personal ties between the MBTA and MBCR. The MBCR's general manager, James O'Leary, is quoted as saying:

"(The) Massachusetts Bay Commuter has performed well over the life of the contract, despite workforce problems and an old fleet of trains.

You need to look at what we've accomplished over the last 4 1/2 years," O'Leary said. "We basically have achieved what the T has asked for."

Wow! How do I get a job where a poor performance is considered a good performance. If the trains are old, Mr. O'Leary, then where is the plan to replace them?

As for the delays, they're blamed on the same revolving cast of characters - old trains, worker retaliation (i.e, the silent strike), the completion of the Greenbush line, CSX, and maintenance problems.

I found it interesting that the NJ Transit system must use tracks owned by Amtrak, yet on-time performance issues don't seem to occur with the frequency that they occur on the Worcester-Framingham line. I think the MBTA/MBCR needs to hire some of the NJ Transit leaders. NJ Transit was quoted as saying:

The key to keeping those trains on-time is slotting them correctly so they do not lose their spot in the order to an Amtrak train.

Wow! What a concept!!! On-time slotting. Wow!

The article closed by remarking that fares went up in January 2007, right when performance started to really hit the skids.

Come on train riders, let's start voicing our outrage. We are paying too much money (both in fares and in taxes) to have substandard service.

If you care to become involved in the discussion, Boston.com is running a message board focused on commuter rail performance. The message board can be found at http://boards.boston.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=bc-news&tid=22782.

Get involved - voice your opinions!!!

Wrong-way trend

There was an editorial in yesterday's Worcester Telegram & Gazette regarding the poor performance of the commuter rail line that services the Worcester area.

While I think the editorial could have been stronger, at least it was the lead editorial on yesterday's Commentary page.

The editorial highlighted the following:

• The decline in on-time performance for the Worcester-Framingham commuter rail line.
• CSX's maintenance work for the line concluded on October 10th, yet the November 2007 on-time performance was at 58
• The Worcester-Framingham commuter rail line is one of the most used lines in the system and that more commuters than ever are riding on this line.
• That the line needs more than 10 trips a day.

I thought this particular comment was very educating:

The state has conducted extended negotiations with CSX to acquire the right-of-way so that more trains can be added to the inadequate 10-train schedule that has prevailed for years. Officials familiar with the talks say liability is the sticking point because the freight hauler has insisted on being indemnified by the state for any accident, regardless of fault.

The editorial closed with this line:

But the slumping on-time record on the Worcester line underscores the need to wrap up the negotiations with all prudent speed.

Agreed. I hope the elected officials from Central Massachusetts can help expedite the negotiations. The Worcester-area is dependent upon a well performing mass transit system.