Frosty Commute

Hello! Did everyone stay up to watch last night's Academy Awards telecast? I actually watched the Oscars with Commute-a-holic. Good times.

Last week was a blur. I was off on Monday for the holiday, was sick, went to work, and the was off on Friday. At least today's commute was good - the P508 rolled into South Station around 8:24 a.m., even though the train was late departing Grafton.

Somehow I missed this story reported by The BostonChannel.com on Thursday. Shocking . . . the MBTA is over budget and behind delivery on multiple construction projects, WCVB-TV Channel 5's investigative team learned. Of the 19 current projects only 3 are on time/on budget!!

I personally love how they started the report by mentioning the Kenmore Station - I curse the T every time I have to drive through Kenmore Square. What a blight!! As a professional project manager, I concur very heartily with this statement:

"There's obviously an issue with project management if they're so far behind like this," said another commuter.

Indeed, I do agree, there is an issue with the T's project managers. Are they even PMP certified?

Of course, the T "stands behind" the delayed projects. Sure - why not - it isn't like T employees have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut due to the inept deliverability cycles. Can you say unnecessary "scope creep"?

I received a nice note from Grafton Train Rider who shared some interesting feedback on Friday. Grafton Train Rider is referencing Thursday, February 19th:

I was feeling ill yesterday and a nice coworker gave me a ride back to the Grafton station last night. We noticed a Transit Police vehicle parked in the rear corner of the lot about 4:45 PM - good to see some police presence after last year's vandalism.

Some not so good news about MBTA police: I watched the I-Team report last night about the MBTA employee's scam to collect for training which he did not attend with his assigned canine dog. Fortunately, the employee resigned and may face criminal charges.

Lastly, I am pleased to report that I have accepted a volunteer position on the MBTA Rider Oversight Committee. Our first meeting is this Monday evening from 5-7 PM so I will keep you informed about developments.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their comments on last Thursday's reimbursement post. I'm glad everyone found the information to be helpful. I also found the comments helpful, so thanks for sharing.

Take Your Bike to the Train

Everyone who commutes on the MBTA/MBCR commuter rail trains is riled up about this coming Saturday's parking lot increase. This includes our own Grafton Train Rider.

This is how Grafton Train Rider will be dealing with the parking lot increase:

Dear Train Rider,

I only live 2.5 miles from the Grafton station, but I don't want to leave a bike locked there. I noticed that the bicycle rack is woefully inadequate anyway. So, I kept checking Craiglist for folding bikes and ended up purchasing a nearly new version of this model

http://www.citizenbike.com/catalog.asp?product_category_id=1&product_id=7

I plan on riding most days (weather permitting), bringing the bike on the train and riding over to my workplace in Cambridge as well. I don't mind being a bit chilly to save $4/day, and my car will be safely locked in my garage rather than worrying about potential vandalism at the station.

Feel free to post.

Grafton Train Rider

Grafton Train Rider found a great way to accomplish a few really wonderful things:

1. Avoid giving the MBTA more hard earned money.
2. Work in some exercise and commute at the same time.
3. Lower a carbon foot print by not using a car and saving some gas money to boot.

I wish I lived closer to the Grafton train station. I'm too far to bike to it and I live way too far away to walk. But I do encourage anyone who can walk, bike or carpool to their respective train station to do it. This is not the way for the MBTA to build their budget.

As Grafton Train Rider pointed out, if the MBTA is in such dire financial straits, why do they still serve catered lunches at their board meetings? This isn't private industry. Heck - most private or publicly traded companies that used to serve food have either cut down or stopped that perk. And these are companies that do not have the deficit that the T has.

In fact, thanks to Grafton Train Rider's sharp eyes, the WBZ I-Team report on the MBTA's Board lunches was filmed on the same day that they voted in the parking lot increase. I could say some words that would be like #&$% @&$&. Well, you know what I mean.

Seeing the deficit the state is in and noting the Governor's mandate, you think Dan Grabauskas would have the backbone as the HEAD of the MBTA to tell the board "no free lunch." Or is it that Dan is scared to do the right thing, make an unpopular decision because the board ultimately decides if he gets to keep his job? Dan - your no leader - a leader would be willing to stick their neck out on the line. It really does seem that you do a fantastic job managing your budget. If you're in such a deficit, doesn't every budget cut help?

All About the Tolls

It is close to the end of the day and I'll be heading out on my own (thankfully toll free) commute. But I wanted to share this article from today's MetroWest Daily News about the recent toll discussion. In the catchy-titled "MetroWest: For whom the commute tolls" the bane of MetroWest (and West) drivers is addressed.

Yup, those of us who live West of Boston are footing the bill for the Big Dig project. I don't think the I-93 drivers who live North and South of the city are thanking us. We're not martyrs, but maybe we should be.

The announcement comes to the chagrin of people like Mary Z. Connaughton, who has served on the Mass. Turnpike Authority's toll equity working group since last fall.

Connaughton, who lives in Framingham, sees the Mass. Pike tolls as an unfair fee structure that places a disproportionate fiscal burden on MetroWest commuters. Expanding the tolls to I-93, both north and south of Boston, is a proposal she would like to see fleshed out.

Through tolls, MetroWest commuters have shouldered the brunt of projects like the Big Dig and supported Turnpike infrastructure outside of the region for too long, Connaughton said.

The article noted that someone driving from Framingham to Boston during the work week could incur toll costs of $1,400.00 annually. Of course, MetroWest commuters could take the commuter rail, but it isn't an option that works for everyone. And not every commuting using the Pike is taking it all the way into downtown Boston. A lot of people have the unfortunate circumstances of working for companies located along Route 9 (TJX anyone) or 128. If you work along 128, it is either drive or try to telecommute.

In a May letter to the Turnpike Authority, Paul Matthews, executive director of the Westborough-based 495/MetroWest Corridor Partnership, wrote Pike tolling options should be reviewed and tolling strategies should be developed where daily commuting cost is "more equitable from all directions."

I don't buy the North Shore's seemingly powerful or motivated reps who feel that adding tolls on I-93 would require federal approval. Why? Because, when you get to the heart of it, the Mass Pike IS a federal road. I-90 is part of the great Interstate Highway. And have these same public officials been up to New Hampshire anytime in the past 25 or so years? Guess what - as soon as you cross over into New Hampshire, on Federal roads, you hit a toll booth.

This is a good time for state reps and senators representing Central Mass and Metro West to step up and demand equal parity for transportation costs!

To make matters worse, for those of us who live West of the city, in today's Mass Pike meeting the authority decided to eliminate discounts for Fast Lane users, according to WBZ. Yup, the one discount that benefited MetroWest / West drivers the most is going away. Really, the "discount" was only $.25 at the Allston-Brighton booth and $.50 at the tunnels.

Eliminating this discount will generate an extra $18 million to the cash-strapped Pike.

I suppose it could be worse - the Pike could have raised tolls across the system.

With that, I need to leave the office and drive home.

Totally Tubular Tuesday Commute

The hardest thing about blogging is coming up with a title for the post!

My commute on the P508 this morning was fine. We got in around 8:20 a.m. I'm not sure of the exact time because I didn't check my watch.

Saw this news story from WBZ-TV Channel 4 this morning. "MBTA Gets Failing Grade For Financial Efficiency." This is a follow-up to the report WBZ aired last week. Like last week's report, this story focused mainly on underutilized buses.

Boston Phoenix Runs Series on MBTA

Lately the media has been pretty quiet in regards to stories about the MBTA. Well that changed yesterday. The Phoenix, Boston's reigning alternative paper, has broken the silence with a special report about the MBTA.

We thought the six articles might be of interest to Train Stopping readers:

• Is the MBTA on Track?
• The Trolley Svengali
  
• State of Hock
  
• Trouble 'Round the Bend?
• Seven Should-Be Habits of Highly Effective T-Riding People
• The T and the Tube

So why did The Phoenix go through the trouble of publishing a special report? This excerpt from the article "Is the MBTA on Track?" says it all:

The special report in this edition of the Phoenix is rooted in that assumption, and looks at issues both large and small. In some cases the articles are analytical; in other cases whimsical. But if there is a bottom line to be found in the Phoenix survey, it is this: all things considered, the MBTA is doing a pretty good job. The question is: how can it do better?

For the MBTA continually to improve its service and expand its reach, it must be given two key things: resources and freedom from political meddling. Neither is ever easy to find on Beacon Hill.

That is the real problem with the T — not the workers, not the managers, not the public support, but the dysfunction of our state government, whose leaders have yet to find an agency, department, or public authority they will not strangle of funds, bloat with patronage, subvert for misuse, or stymie in some petty power play.

Sadly, as our need for public transportation rose over the past 30 years, our leaders’ interest in it devolved and deteriorated. Massachusetts went from having a T-riding governor in Michael Dukakis, to Mitt Romney, who could not tell you what it cost to ride the Red Line. Radio talk-show hosts continue to lampoon Governor Deval Patrick’s Cadillac, but Patrick is committed to public transportation. Appointing Grabauskas as T chief was one of a scant handful of memorably good things Romney did. Let’s hope that in 2010, when Grabauskas’s current term expires, his work is appreciated, he wants to stay on, he is re-appointed, and, most important, the Patrick administration can fight the urge to play politics with the MBTA.

This is an interesting series that hits a lot of notes. The tone ranges from adoration (of the work Dan Grabauskas is doing - yes, I'm scratching my head on this one) to serious (the amount of debt the MBTA has) to stirring the pot (in terms of contract negotiations between the T and its union-member employees) to downright comical (yes, we have all encountered one of the seven "non-effective" habits of T riders).

In other T-related news, WBZ-TV ran an investigative report last night on the lack of riders on some MBTA buses. Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation was quoted as saying: "the T cannot afford to underwrite lines that are severely, seriously underutilized."

Some buses average only 83 passengers spread out throughout the day.

Here are the highlights:

At a time when the T is facing increased rider ship due to high gas prices, and they say they can't increase service because of their dire financial situation, we analyzed the usage on several other bus routes as well.

We asked MATA General Manager Dan Grabauskas if it wouldn't actually be cheaper to put these people in cabs instead of running entire buses. "Well, I can absolutely tell you that we do do a cost benefit analysis and, and in some cases we do discontinue routes."

Some taxpayers might think that this doesn't affect them because they don't ride an MBTA bus. But every time someone pays the state sales tax, the MBTA automatically gets 20 percent of that money, regardless of where that transaction took place.

When told of these empty buses, one taxpayer in Sudbury, a community without MBTA service, said "there's a problem there, that's an issue."

Another responded "I'm not happy about it, my money going to it because I don't use it."

Grabauskas told us that they routinely re-evaluate the use of all bus lines every two years, but that now they will take an immediate look at the three lines we analyzed. That would be good news for taxpayers.

Lovely Spring Day, Lovely Morning Commute

TGIF!! Boy, this weather definitely causes me to have some "spring fever."

I didn't post yesterday because I missed my train and had to drive into Boston. The traffic on the Mass Pike was horrendous. Totally awful. When I was stuck in traffic, inching my way towards Boston, I wished I had been riding on the train instead.

This morning's commute was drama free. I arrived to the Grafton train station on time and took the P508 train into the city. We arrived to Back Bay Station at 8:15 a.m. and I jumped off to take the Orange Line to my office.

I am hoping to be able to spring out of work early today. If all goes well, I want to be on an early train home.

In MBTA-related news, read this article about a Concord town meeting that was attended by the MBTA-Fitchburg line project manager.

The Boston Herald reports that the MBTA is suing CSX for last month's accident in Canton.

Finally, WBZ ran a story about how MBTA buses are using more environmentally friendly gas.

Even though Monday is a Massachusetts holiday, the MBTA will be operating on a regular schedule due to the 112th running of the Boston Marathon!!

My First MBTA/MBCR Commuter Rail Commute for March 2008

Wow. Who says "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb?" On a beautiful March morning, I had a totally normal inbound commute on the P508 train.

The train arrived at Grafton at 7:08 a.m., one minute ahead of schedule. We maintain the fast pace and arrived one minute ahead of schedule to Back Bay Station at 8:16 a.m.. Out train then got into South Station at either 8:23 a.m. or 8:24 a.m. So, right on schedule (or 1 minute behind).

The train was packed again this morning.

"Grafton Train Rider" sent me another update over the weekend.

I stayed in Cambridge Friday night and took P557 outbound home on Saturday afternoon. The train departed 13 minutes late since no conductors were available due to the tardiness of an arriving train. Of course, no announcements were made on the train since no conductors were on board. I didn't bother to submit a complaint, though.

Fortunately, the Grafton lot was actually cleared of snow by the afternoon and my car wasn't plowed in like the poor woman two months ago.

Thanks for the update "Grafton Train Rider." Sorry to hear the trains run late even on the weekend. At least the parking lot was clear of snow. It was snowing until mid-afternoon in most of Central Massachusetts. Thanks for sharing the article from WBZ-TV's website. Commute-a-holic and I somehow missed that story.