Stop the Pike Hike

I had to drive into the office this morning because I had an early morning meeting. There was lots of traffic on the Pike today. It took forever to get through the Newton tolls. You know it's a crazy traffic day when the cash lanes move faster than the Fast Lanes on the Mass Pike.

If you're concerned about the Mass Pike toll increases, listen up. According to today's The Boston Globe Mass lawmakers are scheduling hearings about the toll increases. WCVB-TV reported on a rally scheduled tomorrow by Michael Kelleher of East Boston to protest the proposed toll hikes. Michael is part of a group called Stop the Pike Hike. Tomorrow's rally will take place at 4 p.m. at the Ecco Restaurant & Martini Bar located on 107 Porter Street in East Boston. There is also an online petition and a listing of the public hearings scheduled across the state.

The toll increases directly impat East Boston. As Michael said in his interview with WCVB-TV, "it will actually be cheaper to drive to a Fenway game from the Bronx than from East Boston." Isn't that nuts?

Former Gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos wrote an op-ed about the Pike in today's The Boston Herald. Mihos thinks the Pike should be disbanded.

Now, onto train news.

Commute-a-holic and I have both been pretty busy at work. We have another update from Grafton Train Rider which we should hopefully be able to post later today.

Yet another article about the Salem garage, this time from WickedLocal Rockport. The Patriot Ledger reports on efforts by the town of Weymouth to have permanent signs installed near the new connector road near the Weymouth Landing MBTA commuter rail station. This has been a project that has been a year in the making. The town wants flashing lights installed to relieve rush hour traffic.

The Milford Daily News reported on how the Mass Highway Department will be closing an old bridge that runs over the MBTA/CSX tracks near the Franklin BJs. This bridge is a popular bypass into and out of the Franklin Forge Park commuter rail station.

Train Jumper

Was anyone on last night's P527 train? If you weren't, you missed a massive amount of excitement. The P527 departs South Station at 5:35 p.m. and it is an outbound train to Worcester. After the Wellesley Hills stop, the train started to leave the station when, all of a sudden, the emergency brakes came on and we jammed to a halt. It seems a passenger jumped off of the train as we were leaving.

Now, for the semi-comical part, there must have been at least 10 announcements that we were at the Wellesley Hills stop . . . so it's not like said passenger shouldn't have known we were at the station. I don't believe the passenger was hurt. According to the conductor, I know they refused medical attention and limped away. You know, the three Wellesley stops are not that far apart . . . is it worth it to risk serious injury JUMPING OFF OF A TRAIN to save 15-20 minutes? People are wacky!

Onto this morning's commute. I think the conductor on my car of the P508 was cranky. Either that or he had no patience for people who didn't have their passes out. I think his announcement was something like "Next stop West Natick . . . and here's an idea . . . have your passes or tickets ready." So, maybe he's glad it's Friday too. Anyhoo, we arrived outside of South Station at 8:20 a.m. and sat there for 6-8 minutes, with an official arrival time on the track of 8:28 a.m.

Now this is really weird. I never received an update from the MBCR's RailMail about the new MBTA schedule for the Worcester line. I know the updates were sent to riders on other lines. One of my coworkers rides the Plymouth line and received an update. Plus, yesterday the author of the Charlie on the Commuter Rail blog RAILED against the Franklin line's new schedule in a blog post. Even MySouthborough posted a Southborough-centric schedule. Yet I never received an email from RailMail. Who knows - maybe I'll receive it today.

In any event, my company sent out an announcement about the schedule changes going into effect this coming Monday, October 27, 2008. Here is the announcement:

Beginning Monday, October 27, 2008, changes will be made to the schedules on the following lines:

• Framingham/Worcester

• Franklin

• Greenbush

• Needham

• Old Colony

• Providence/Stoughton
  

No changes to the schedules on the following lines:

Lowell, Newburyport , Rockport, Fairmount, Fitchburg, Haverhill

Schedules are available to view, download and print online at
www.mbcr.net where you can also sign up to receive e-alerts when your schedule changes.

Finally, The Patriot Ledger published an article in today's paper about how South Shore commuters feel about the new MBTA parking increases. Here are some quotes:

“The money has to come from somewhere, but I think the state should be helping more,” said Elizabeth Stouhlsatz of the Wollaston. “It’s bad all around.”

Jim Cotter of Quincy said that although he does not frequently park in MBTA lots, over the past six months he has been taking the T more often.

“I can’t imagine there aren’t ways they can cut costs internally instead of putting it on the public” he said. “They should be enticing people to take the T.”

The article also noted that the T is the largest owner of paid off-street parking in New England, with 43,000 spaces in 150 locations. What a trivia stat! In 2007, the T claims that more than 9 million vehicles parked at T lots.

MBCR/MBTA Commuter Rail May 2008 Performance

Train Rider just sent me an email. Live from South Station. . . some May 2008 Performance Results for a few MBCR/MBTA Commuter Rail Lines:

• On-time performance for all of the South Division lines for May 2008: 84.75%
• Year-to-date on-time performance for the South Division: 81.08%
• The Greenbush and Plymouth lines met the "on-time service guarantee" with a 95.78% and 96.05% performance respectively.
• The Worcester line: 93.39%
• The worst performing line - Franklin: 56.83%
  

Muggy Monday Morning Commute

Here's to the first Heat Wave of 2008. It is another scorcha here in Boston. I can't believe it is only the 9th day of June and we're already in the hot, hot, hot weather. At least it hasn't been too hazy or too humid yet.

I had to mix things up this morning. Due to an early morning meeting at work, I took the P506 from Grafton today. We arrived to South Station at 8:13 a.m., about 8 minutes behind schedule (or 10 minutes ahead of the P508, depending on how you look at it).

Commute-a-holic told me that the SmartRoutes reports on WCVB-TV Channel 5 this morning reported that the Franklin Line was running 15-minutes behind. Yikes! I hope those commuter rail cars had working AC.

Here's an article about train passengers from Boston.com.

Since it is so hot outside, I'm actually glad to be in the office today.

TGIT for Me

TGIT!! Yes, I know it is normally TGIF, but I'm taking tomorrow off. So it is TGIT. Doesn't that look like a dirty word?

This morning's inbound commute on the P508 was fine. Geesh - I don't even know what time we arrived to Back Bay Station as I neglected to look at my watch. I took the Orange Line to my office.

Last night I received some MBTA text alerts that all the Worcester-Framingham trains were running 15-20 minutes late because of switch problems. But my train was right on time. Weird.

However, not all the trains are running smoothly on the Worcester-Framingham line. AJ was kind enough to add a comment to yesterday's blog post.

Also, things do not sound like they are running well on the Franklin Line. Charlie on the Commuter Rail had two posts from yesterday about incredibly hot cars and unprecedented issues on the Franklin #715 train. Yikes!

In other T-related news, Boston.com published a report today about how the MBTA Transit Police are practicing if the Homeland Security threat level rises from Yellow (where it currently remains) to Orange.

Have a good Thursday (and a good Friday too). Isn't this weather amazing?

New Blog About the MBTA/MBCR Commuter Rail Experience

We learned about another new blog written about the MBTA/MBCR commuter rail experience. The new blog's title is A Boston Commuter Speaks. We have a link to the blog in our Train News section.

A Boston Commuter Speaks is another blog about the Franklin line - the Franklin Forge 495 line to be exact. Wow - the Franklin line is definitely in the running for the "worst commuter rail line experience" competition with the Worcester-Framingham line.

Learn more in this post about why Boston Commuter started the A Boston Commuter Speaks. I think many MBTA/MBCR commuter rail riders would agree with her comments.

Thanks Boston Commuter for the heads-up about your blog.

Lucky St. Patrick's Day Commute

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Well, I hope it just wasn't the "Luck of the Irish" that made my inbound P508 commute pretty uneventful. This morning's train departed the Grafton station right on time at 7:09 a.m. and pulled into South Station a minute early at 8:22 a.m.

I thought it was kind of cold today. I was freezing walking from South Station to my office.

My apologies for Friday's date confusion. I know the track work began last week. Let's chalk that up to Friday-itis.

Yesterday's "Stops & Starts" column in The Boston Sunday Globe had an interesting story sent in from a Franklin line rider. Here is the piece it its entirety:

'Get on the train!'

After months of infuriating delays on the commuter trains, it's rare to hear from a rider who complains that the trains are running on time.

But Michael Medwar of Franklin wrote in about a semiharrowing trip home from a recent Celtics game.

Medwar waited about 15 minutes for an Orange Line train from North Station, leaving him no margin for error when he arrived at Back Bay in hopes of catching a 10:40 p.m. train home.

"I ran as fast as I could up the stairs [those trips to the gym have finally paid off], following three younger people in front of me who were also running," wrote Medwar, who is 37.

He didn't check which track; he just ran, and hoped. Finally, he saw the train pulling away. "The conductor was yelling 'Get on the train!' "

Medwar, no doubt gasping, made it. But what about the other basketball patrons, presumably less fit, who wanted to take the Franklin Line? Were they stranded for another 75 minutes, waiting for the last train? Medwar wants more people to take public transit to big events, but worries they won't if the subway and the train are not in better synch.

In fact, the T does make some effort for events. For example, managers scheduled an extra Lowell line train to ship people back up to Boston following last night's scheduled Dropkick Murphys concert at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena. But getting to the train station after an event by shuttle, bus, or subway can be tough when there is a big crowd or when the T is running fewer trips as part of its off-peak schedule.

Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said there is a balance when it comes to holding trains, noting that long delays can annoy people expecting an on-time departure.

But riders can request a train "hold" if they can find a subway official and tell him or her to call commuter rail dispatchers, he said.

Medwar said he understands that the T cannot hold commuter trains indefinitely, but how about a few more Orange Line trains after a game? "It just seemed to me that we were waiting on the platform for so long."

Wouldn't all of us love to see a coordinated transit system?

Monday Night's P527 Commuter Rail Train

Last night, the P527 outbound train on the Worcester-Framingham line was about 3 minutes behind schedule, as we arrived to Grafton around 7:22 p.m.

I did not commute in on the train this morning, as I have a post-work engagement in Needham.

I just read Commute-a-holic's post about last night's commuter rail extension discussion. I love this comment from State Rep. Betty Poirer (R) from North Attleboro:

"Let's fix what we have" before building new rail systems, she said.

NO KIDDING! The T cries poor, that they can't maintain the cars/lines they have, but then want to spend a billion dollars expanding a line no one wants? They're so out of touch w/reality, it's unbelievable.

I hope this doesn't turn into another Greenbush line. No one wanted the Greenbush area - the towns of Hingham, Cohasset and Scituate fought the extension of this line for years. First, the towns didn't need the extension because they have access to the Red Line, the Quincy Commuter rail line, and the ferry's. Second, the Greenbush line cuts very close to some historic buildings and homes. But the T literally bulldozed their way to a line extension. Since Greenbush is a new line, they have the best cars and their service seems to be amazing. And it sounds like the trains are relatively empty and no one seems to know whether Greenbush will see the ridership on lines like Worcester-Framingham and Franklin.

I know Worcester line riders would love new cars. It sounds like the riders of the Northern lines would like new cars. Heck, Worcester line and Franklin line riders would just like to get to Boston on-time with relatively easy schedules (not "new" schedules that cut out more hours from your life).

Watching the New Bedford/Fall River saga unfold is bound to be interesting.

First Daylight Savings Time Worcester Line Commuter Rail Commute On Time

The inbound P508 train was right on time this morning. We arrived to Back Bay station at 8:17 a.m. - the train's scheduled time. I got off and took the Orange Line to the office.

This is sort of more of the same news about the MBTA's plans to make improvements to the commuter rail line. The article appeared in today's Metro. Beginning this May, the T will begin replacing 2,000 windows on 75 south-side commuter rail coaches at a cost of $1.3 million. South-side commuter rail lines are those lines that go into South Station. Additionally, the T will spend $4.5 million overhauling the HVAC systems on 148 coaches. Many of these coaches, purchased between 12 to 20 years ago, have never had their HVAC system updated.

The replacement projects are expected to take 18-months because the MBCR needs to limit the number of coaches it takes out of service at once to avoid delays.

Call me crazy, but shouldn't the MBCR have a decent gauge on ridership and just remove extraneous cars from train lines that run during non-peak hours?

I still cannot find any on-time performance stats for February 2008 for the Worcester-Framingham line.

In other commuter rail news, things don't sound so great on the Franklin Line. As we know, the Franklin line via Fairmont had the worst on-time performance stats for February - a measely 46%. Both Dave at The Franklin Line and Quasit of Charlie on the Commuter Rail published posts this morning about the delayed 706 (which caused Dave to miss a meeting) and the 708 train. Apparently some of the Franklin trains are skipping the Ruggles Station stop, even though this is a scheduled stop. For Quasit, the Ruggles station IS his commuter rail stop.

According to Quasit, the MBCR/MBTA does not "think" that skipping the Ruggles station stop will be a regular occurrence.

According to their customer service rep, they don't expect it to be - it's just a signal problem. Now that I think of it, that's a little disturbing - I wonder what other problems there might be? I'd hate to find out by having my train run into another one at full speed!

And why haven't they been able to fix that signal over the last four days? It could have been two different problems, I suppose, but that seems unlikely.

Hmm, will Franklin Line riders soon be seeing a "new" schedule a la the Worcester-Framingham commuter rail line?

As Dave wrote in one post titled "Late! Late! Late!"

Why the hell did I think a 7:05 train would get me into Boston for an 8:00 meeting?!? Idiot, idiot, idiot. I should have slept under my desk last night.

Indeed, why should we expect the trains to get us to where we need to be on time?

Issues on the Haverhill Commuter Rail Line are Similar to the Worcester-Framingham and Franklin Lines

From last week's North edition of The Boston Globe, an article about the issues on the Haverhill commuter rail line.

Even though the Haverhill line goes into North Station, the issues sound really similar to the same ones that plague the Worcester-Framingham and Franklin lines. These issues include:

• Lack of consistent collection of fares.
• Difficulty in getting on/off the train - passengers are sometimes limited to only using a few of the train's doors.
  

What did the MBCR have to say in regards to the fare situation:

When notified of the complaint, Mass. Bay Commuter Rail spokesman Scott Farmelant said, "An operations manager has been alerted to the concern. The performance of the train crew will be observed to ensure that fare collection is completed."

Maybe the MBCR/MBTA needs to monitor all of the commuter rail trains. Revenue collection should be a priority.

Train Rider returns to the United States tomorrow. If all goes well, Train Rider should be back riding the rails this Friday.

MBTA/MBCR Commuter Rail News from the Websphere

Train Rider missed an article that ran in the January 31st issue of The Boston Globe about commuters who are using the real-time alerts to help them cope with late commuter rail trains.

I know Train Rider has mentioned this blog before, but Dave of The Franklin Line does a great job posting updates about late trains and other comical situations he encounters as a MBTA/MBCR commuter rail rider on the Franklin commuter rail train. Dave and fellow Franklin line commuters are even Twittering about their commutes. So if you ride the Franklin line, you may want to follow Dave and company's Tweets.

Another blog about the Franklin commuter rail line that is worth checking out is Charlie on the Commuter Rail. The Franklin line sounds about as much fun as the Worcester-Framingham line.

Train Stopping has received some great comments during Train Rider's absence.

AJ recommends that MBTA chief Dan Grabauskas get an apartment in the Worcester area and start commuting into Boston on the Worcester-Framingham line. Train Rider picked a good week to be away on an extended business trip. The P527 train on Monday night ran 20 minutes late and the P508 train on Tuesday morning didn't have heat.

Anonymous gave some props for Train Rider's response from the MBCR.

Anonymous (could be the same person or a different person) felt that the MBTA/MBCR conductors need to collect fares. Fare collection could be a way for the T to get out of their fiscal deficit.

Bon Voyage Train Rider, Train Vestible Photo

Train Rider is off on a business trip.

In Train Rider's absence, I will be posting news articles and comments from MBTA/MBCR commuter rail riders.

I received an image taken of the vestible of the 707 train from the p508 inbound commuter rail. This photograph was taken by Mike (usally a Franklin Line guy) this morning. He said that "there had to be 20 people standing in that tight space." That is probably way too close for comfort.

Mike also said "at least the train was on time." I guess we have to be thankful for the little things when riding the rails.

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