"Grafton Train Rider" Submits a Concern to the MBCR

"Grafton Train Rider," who I wrote a post about last week, just submitted a "concern" to the MBCR this morning. The concern involved the fact that fares were not collected the outbound P533 train last evening.

Here is what "Grafton Train Rider" wrote:

Concern Information:
Concern #: 1971-5790515
Date Created: 2/29/2008 10:59 AM EDT
Date of Incident: 2/28/2008
Line: Worcester
Station: South Station
Departure Time AM/PM: 7:15 PM
Train Number: P533
Subject: Conductors did not collect fares
Details: Again, I experienced lack of fare collection - this time on P533 outbound 2/28/08. Your new schedule added 12 minutes to the arrival time to Grafton yet the conductor doesn't seem to have time to check passes and collect tickets on a half empty train?! I validated lack of fare collection with another passenger while departing in Grafton. He commented "Yeah, that is why I don't buy a monthly pass. I priced it out and it's cheaper for me to buy a 12-ride when half the time, the conductors don't collect fares."

I was on the same train as Grafton Train Rider last night. I actually don't know who Grafton Train Rider is, even though we depart from the same station. I know the conductor on the car I rode on did collect fares last night. Nonetheless this is such a frustrating issue - the lack of consistency in regards to fare collection. I would think that every dollar would count when you are a transit system running with a budget deficit.

It would be interesting to see statistics on the number of riders compared to the number of dollars collected.

Thanks for sharing, Grafton Train Rider.

Kudos to the Feb. 28th P533 Conductor and My Leap Day Commute

I want to commend the conductor on the Worcester-Framingham line's P533 outbound train that left South Station at 7:15 p.m. train last night. Apparently one of the supervisors wanted to cancel the 7:15 p.m. train (it was late getting to the station), but the conductor really pushed to have the train run on time since there are about 400-600 people who take it. I thought that was great of her to stand up for us passengers like that. She's a great conductor.

I wish there was a way to recognize great performance on the MBTA/MBCR commuter rail lines. More often than not, most of us just have complaints ready to be filed (such as the following).

Now my complaint for my commute last night: when I got to the Grafton station, the parking lot was icy. Someone slipped in front of me, but didn't fall. Well I wasn't as lucky. I went right down and banged up my knee. I was lucky in that I wasn't seriously inured, but I'm concerned for other people who might not fare so well. Whomever is responsible for that parking lot needs to do a better job of sanding. The Grafton station is isolated and fairly desolate at night. If someone were to be injured, it could be a scary situation.

This morning, the P508 inbound was 10 minutes late getting to Grafton, but we arrived at Back Bay at 8:17 a.m., which is the scheduled time. Looks like the new schedule is right on target. (ha ha). Either that, or maybe Leap Year has an impact on the commuter rail's performance. Perhaps since today is Leap Day (February 29th), the train was able to "leap" a few extra minutes.

The on-time performance reports for the commuter rail lines should be published sometime over the next few days. We'll have to wait and see what the Worcester-Framingham line's performance was.

Happy Leap Day!