Bridge Work and Letters to the Editor

The ole commute on the P508 was fine this morning. I think we were at South Station around 8:25 a.m.

Today's The Boston Globe published a short article about a MBCR announcement that was made earlier in the week. Train traffic on the inbound track between Haverhill and Lawrence has been halted so work crews can work on the Merrimack River Bridge. All trains will run on the outbound track. This started Tuesday, so The Globe was a bit late to the game.

Two "Letters to the Editor" were also published in today's Globe. "This is no time to take on more debt" is a letter in opposition to the Silver Line III expansion project. "Transit project is a legal obligation" is in support of the Silver Line III expansion project.

As always, Commute-a-holic and I will keep our eyes and ears open to news regarding the state's budget crisis. Yesterday Governor Deval Patrick announced that $1.4 billion will be trimmed from the state's budgets. It is estimated that 1,000 state jobs will be eliminated and I think that the cuts will be coming from throughout the state. I'm sure you're thinking what I'm thinking "enough with the bad economic news," but I fear that bad news will be the only news for a while.

Now a bit of a shameless plug before I go. The town of Grafton was selected as one of the finalists in this year's WEEI "Friday Night Lights 2008" contest. Ryan Vulter, a GHS football co-capitan and the the brother of Kevin J. Vulter (who passed away after a tragic auto accident in September), wrote the essay to WEEI requesting that Grafton be entered into the contest. I know the competition will be fierce - especially since there are a lot of other towns along both the Worcester and other commuter rail lines - competing to win. If you don't have a connection to one of the other towns, Grafton would certainly appreciate the vote.

Graubauskas Reveals Raises Granted Since 2005

Today is the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. Our thoughts are with our nation today.

From today's The Boston Globe . . . MBTA GM Dan Graubauskas said he has granted 33 raises to employees since July 1, 2005. The raises, which averaged about $5,000, were either a merit raise or to bring an employee's salary in line with their peers. The vast majority of the 273 non-union employees did not receive raises or cost-of-living increases. The raises ranged from 3% to 19% of an employee's salary.

This is a relatively benign situation, especially since the raises go back three years to '05. And I'm sure most people in their own careers would like to avoid something to this effect:

At the same time, rescinding the cost-of-living adjustment raises at the T has caused some morale problems. There are now 46 managers who make less than their subordinates, according to MBTA records. The 153 subordinates who earn more than their bosses have higher salaries because they are part of a union and received the 9 percent pay raise as part of the recent arbitration.

Huh. Maybe you wouldn't want to be a manager at the T? The article noted that it is sometimes difficult to persuade T employees to accept promotions.

The Boston Herald also wrote about the raises. However, their article was much more pointed and it left out some information included in The Globe's article.

WickedLocal Hingham reported yesterday that there may be cuts to the MBTA commuter boat service.

The MBTA’s “Preliminary 2008 Service Plan” was released recently for public comment. It includes proposals to eliminate the last round trip and reduce or eliminate service on certain holidays on the Hingham/Boston commuter boat.

For Hingham this would mean eliminating the 7:40 p.m. trip from Hingham Shipyard and the 8:30 p.m. trip from Rowe’s Wharf. It is also proposed there be no service on Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day. A reduced holiday schedule is proposed for Patriot’s Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving.

Several schedule changes are also proposed for the Quincy/Hull/Boston/Logan Airport commuter boat, including reducing the number of trips operating during off-peak periods on weekdays and weekends and to eliminate the second stop at Logan Airport on weekends.

The Greenbush commuter rail extension combined with the MBTA's debt are the factors leading to the commuter boat service reduction. Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth was quoted with the following comments:

Hedlund finds the situation ironic. “The T is paying off a huge debt service on Greenbush and looking at making service cuts elsewhere,” he said. “And it’s not just the boats. There’s also a strain on bus and train service.”

The MBTA had “the most aggressive capital expansion program of any transit agency in the country during past decades,” Hedlund said. “They are now $8 billion in debt, $3 million of which is debt service alone. The T also has huge personnel costs — health insurance and retirement benefits.”

The article also said that the T had "assured commuter boat advocates that the Greenbush restoration would not impact boat service." That's a good one, huh?

Drivers in the MetroWest towns of Ashland and Sherborn take note. A bridge connecting Ashland to Sherborn at Eliot Street to Whitney Streete is being shut down for repairs. Read all about it in this article from The MetroWest Daily News. The bridge is closed indefinitely.

I sure hope it gets fixed faster than some bridges in The Blackstone Valley. There is a bridge in Grafton on Pleasant Street that has been closed for years - for so long I can't remember the last time it was open. I want to say it has been closed for at least 3 to 4 years. And this bridge closed while a second bridge on Depot Street in South Grafton was closed. If you have to drive through Grafton, the closed Pleasant Street bridge becomes a giant PIA.

Finally, as a graduate of Providence College, I had to share this WickedLocal Roxbury endorsement of State Rep Mike Rush's re-election campaign. While I do not live in the communities Mike represents, I do know he's a great Rep and he's a big advocate for Needham commuter rail users. Good luck Mike in your run-off against your Democratic Party challenger. Go Friars!!!

Traffic Gridlock in Central Mass

On the front page of today's Telegram & Gazette there was an article about gridlock in the Central Mass region, especially around Interstate 495. Two planning agencies, the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission and the Metropolitan Are Planning Council, are joining forces on a study to determine what the future growth for the 495 area will be.

About 100,000 cars travel every day on some parts of the Central Mass stretches of 495.

Well getting into Boston yesterday on the commuter rail wasn't just a tough trip for riders on the Worcester line. North Shore residents got stuck when that dreaded bridge between Beverly and Salem was closed to traffic yesterday between 10:05 a.m. and 11 a.m. The bridge, which had a bunch of operational problems earlier this year, was stuck in an open position. Gosh, not a good time for something like that to happen. You can get the full scope in this article from today's Gloucester Daily Times.

There was yet another article about the increase in ridership across the T. South Coast Today published an article yesterday, written with an emphasis on Middleboro/Lakeville commuters.

Finally, the MBTA continues to garner publicity about their new promotional efforts aimed at getting more people to use public transportation. The DMNews, a publication geared towards the marketing community, wrote an article about the campaign.

Editorial: Beverly-Salem Commuter Rail Bridge

There was an editorial this morning about the Beverly-Salem commuter rail bridge that ran in a number of dailies in cities and towns north of Boston.

MBTA Board Votes on Commuter Rail Improvements

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Board of Directors meet today. On the docket - plans by the T to replace the aging single-level cars with new bi-level cars. The T is requesting 75 of the double-decker cars, to be placed into full service by 2012 at a cost of $190 million. Read more about this in today's BostonNOW.

The Salem News is reporting that the MBTA will spend $1.6-1.8 million to fix the railroad bridge that links Beverly to Salem on the Newburyport and Rockport lines.

Finally, this article from The Ipswich Chronicle details how the poor performance of the commuter rail can impact people dependent on commuter rail riders to purchase goods and services.

MBTA/MBCR January 2008 On Time Performance: Worcester-Framingham Line 2nd Worst Performing in System

Yesterday BostonNOW published the on-time performance stats for January 2008 for the MBTA/MBCR commuter rail lines.

Franklin via Fairmont was the worst performing line with an on-time performance rate of 57.1%.

Worcester-Framingham was the 2nd worst performing line with an on-time performance rate of 69.3%.

Overall, the commuter rail system generated a 77% on-time performance rate in January 2008. That seems pretty surprising, especially with all the bridge issues that plagued the Newburyport/Rockport lines. Newburyport had a 75.1% on-time performance while Rockport's was 75.8%.

Maybe Train Rider should move to an area where bridges break, yet the on-time performance rate is only 2 points lower than the entire systems!

The MBTA/MBCR Blame Game

Both BostonNOW and The Boston Globe ran articles over the past 24 hours about the broken bridge that connects Beverly and Salem together on the Newburyport-Rockport commuter rail line.

I particularly enjoyed BostonNOW's snarky title: "It takes a train to cry." The BostonNOW article cut to the chase - instead of working together in a professional manner to try to fix the bridge and restore service, the inbred MBTA and MBCR (the agencies charged with public transportation and the commuter rail system) are just pointing fingers at each other. Sure, as Americans, this is what we've become used to in terms of what the Democratic and Republican parties based in Washington, DC do. But is it so wrong to expect a bit more out of two public-serving agencies?

To quote a quote, this is what BostonNOW highlighted:

Scott Farmelant, spokesman for the MBCR, says the fleet is just old. The MBTA has ordered 75 new coaches, but they take years to manufacture and won’t be up and running until 2011.

And then there are the locomotives. Farmelant says the average age of the MBTA’s locomotives is 18 years. Most locomotives have a shelf life of 12-13 years before they need a major overhaul to keep them in service for a while longer. And that work just hasn’t been done.

But MBTA spokesman Pesaturo says if that’s the MBCR’s story, it’s just nonsense. Pesaturo says they knew exactly what they were getting when they signed their $1 billion contract.

Nice! Obviously these people never watched Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and they don't know diddly abut cooperation.

The article published today on The Boston Globe/Boston.com is more "just about the facts." But this quote, from commuter Jason Rose, is outstanding:

"I just can't understand why the fares keep going up when service just hasn't improved and the T still complains about losing money," Rose said.

Well said!

Tough Times on the Newburyport-Rockport Commuter Rail Line

While watching the news on WHDH Channel 7 this morning, I heard that the 6:30 a.m. inbound train on the Newburyport-Rockport commuter rail line was going to be cancelled this morning due to the ongoing issues with the bridge linking Salem and Beverly. The rest of the trains on this line are supposed to be running, albeit with 15 minute delays.

I wonder if the delays were "only" 15 minutes or if they were longer.

As a rider on the delayed-plagued Worcester-Framingham line, I feel for the Newburyport-Rockport commuters.