Charlie's Mailbag - February 7th - T refunds and commuter rail woes

from the mailbag at charlieonthembta@gmail.com

Kelly wonders why the T gave her too much money back

Charlie:

And we wonder why the T is bankrupt?

About two months ago (before the new fare increase,) I filed an on-time complaint about a D-Line inbound train during morning rush hour. I got my refunded fare in the mail yesterday, and it was … $5. Isn’t this a little much to be refunding? Not that I’m complaining, but … all I needed was my $3 fare back. If they are giving everyone more than they deserve, isn’t it a waste of money?

Also, a side note: during all the fury and madness on 1/31/07, I tried to log onto the new MBTA website to find out if my commuter rail train was going to be delayed. Surprise, surprise, I couldn’t load the webpage. And my internet was working just fine. Are they ever going to be able to handle many hits at once?

Love your site! Thank you for always watching out for us!

Hi Kelly and thanks for the nice words.

You are not the first person I have heard say this. I wonder if the refund department is simply sending out minimum refunds of $5. I have heard of some riders getting back CharlieTickets for their trouble. Does anybody else have a similar tale?

Why the T doesn't have a way of quickly adjusting their website to a text only when there is a high load factor I don't know. I know of many websites and message boards that do this regularly. It wasn't a good sign when boston.com announced the new website and 15 minutes later it crashed back in December and then what happened during the emergency last week shows they need to do something in peak times.

Peter wrote in on Monday morning about the Commuter Rail that day and I missed the email.

normally take the 8:21AM train from Swampscott. Due to the weather
this morning my wife gave me a ride to the station. We were sitting
in the car when all the sudden a train rolls in at 8:16. I quickly
hop out of the car and run to the platform and on to the train. What
I discovered resembled something that you would normally see in a
documentary on 3rd world country railway systems. People were packed
into the train worse then a 5PM E Green line car. I wound up standing
in the vestibule between cars packed with others unable to even turn
around. Others were in the space directly over the coupler. The
conductor did not even lower the stair cover and close the door. We
rode to Lynn with the door open and people hanging on for dear life.
When the train stopped we were finally able to get the stair cover
down and door closed for the rest of the trip. A dozen more people
tried to cram at Lynn in our door. All we needed was a few people
riding on the roof and hanging on the side and the 3rd world
transformation would have been complete.

I can only imagine the people waiting in the frigid temperatures this
AM for trains that never came or already passed (nobody really knows
which).

Sadly like death and taxes you know the Commuter Rail falls apart when it gets cold. You would think the T would be prepared for this after all these years but it continues to happen. We all know the information signs are useless but the T "promises" they are working on a new system.

In any event service has gotten worse since MBCR took over the operation of the Commuter Rail from Amtrak. Keep in mind the T didn't fire Amtrak, they walked away from bidding on the new contract.

MBCR's website proudly says

MBCR is a partnership among three leading transportation companies: Veolia Transportation, Bombardier and Alternate Concepts, Inc. It was chosen by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to manage and operate the Boston commuter rail system, effective July 1, 2003.

What it fails to mention is how members of this partnership have lost rail contracts in Europe over poor performance.

It should be very interesting at South Station this summer when the Greenbush line starts operation. While the T has put out a bid for new locomotives and passenger cars they won't be here for years and MBCR had trouble last summer keeping enough locomotives and cars in service.

Greenbush line is completed testing to begin in April

The long delayed 497 million dollar restoration of the Greenbush Commuter Rail line will soon be up and running. T and State officials today celebrated the end of construction on the line.

The Greenbush Project will restore commuter rail service on the 18-mile long Greenbush rail line through the towns of Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate, Massachusetts.

Mac Daniel has details

T Press Release

METRO: Don’t toss those CharlieTickets after all

A month ago we posted an entry about people discarding CharlieTickets that still had value on them and one of our readers decided to check for himself. Today Christina Wallace writes about him the METRO.

Ron Newman has a new hobby.

In the past several weeks, the Red Line commuter has noticed a pile up of CharlieTickets scattered on the ground of MBTA stations. Instead of chucking them in the trash, he decided to check to see if they still had value. What he found was that riders frequently ditch their tickets without tapping their value.

Newman began a mission: Collect as many tickets as possible.

As of late last week, the Somerville resident had 30 tickets worth $55.

“People don’t understand you can add value to a ticket,” said Newman, who commutes from Davis Square in Somerville.

His next step: Deposit the value onto one CharlieCard and donate it to a charity for someone in need.

Today at South Station I picked up a ticket that had an original value of $10 and when I checked it there was $8 on it.

some transit notes from New York

I noticed a couple of transit items in the New York Post yesterday that may be of interest to Boston riders.

WAIT FOR BUS GPS IS OVER

Every bus at Manhattan's 126th Street depot has been equipped with global-positioning hardware, allowing its exact location to be monitored from a command center in East New York, Brooklyn, officials said.

Electronic signs will be installed at some bus shelters, relaying the expected wait time for the next bus. This information will also be made available on the MTA's Web site.

Maybe someday this dream will become a reality in Boston....

and the Post got the training manual for their Customer Service Agents


RAIL RULE #1: NOD & SMILE
INSIDE STATION-AGENT MANUAL

Relations between straphangers and the MTA are strained at best, according to the Customer Service Plus manual obtained by The Post.

Despite this, the agency's advice to the former token-booth clerks for handling angry riders is essentially to do nothing.

"Learn to 'zip your lip,' the manual advises. "Nod your head frequently and say, 'Uhh-huh' from time to time."

And, the guide warns, "Don't tap your feet."

Wonder what the Boston one says....

Charlie's Mailbag February 6th more on North Station

from the mailbag at charlieonthembta@gmail.com
Joseph looks at the improved North Station

I also would like to voice my opinion a little on the renovations at North Station.

My few points would be

1. LARGE monitors should be mounted inside the new area at each or every other doorway to the trains..The 13 inch monitors outside the station DO NOT cut it anymore..

2. The platforms outside the new area connecting the tracks SHOULD be permanent. There is nothing worse than trying to fight your way through pedestrian traffic to get to your train.

3. How about a couple of Kiosk vendors to at least give us the option to buy something to read or to drink.. There is plenty of room and not everyone likes MacDonald's.

4. All of this should have been in the budget since we all have gotten our tickets increased twice within the last 2 years. One would have thought the architects would have thought of these improvements during the planning period.

Any feedback would be great..


Joe

Delaware North says retail locations are coming.

A second phase in the upcoming months will introduce a variety of retail options geared to commuters and Garden guests including food and beverage retail locations, ATMs and other service providers.

DELAWARE NORTH COMPANIES – BOSTON AND MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANSIT AUTHORITY (MBTA) OPEN NORTH STATION CONCOURSE EXPANSION

Rest of your suggestions make sense.

Greg from San Francisco who writes a transit blog says hello

Hi

I read about your blog at the Christian Science Monitor (via Yahoo
News) and took a look....I like it very much! I've always had an
interest in Boston's system since a) I spent a summer there a few
years ago and liked the city very much and b) Boston used to have the
infamous Boeing cars we did.

I have been doing a similar site, since 2005, at http://
www.njudahchronicles.com . I mostly focus on the N-line since it's
the only one that covers a cross section of the city (and it's the
one I ride the most) but I do other issues too.

Anyway, looks like you're doing great, keep up the good work!

GSD

Thanks for the kind words. Yes MUNI and the T did share the wonderful Boeing cars and now we both have Bredas. I know the N line well as I have taken it out the beach several times. The line really is a melting pot. Thanks for visiting.

T gets $630,396 from Turner Broadcasting

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today that Massachusetts state and local officials have reached a settlement with Turner Broadcasting and Interference, Inc., by which the companies will pay $2 million in restitution and other compensation to the communities and agencies affected by last week’s scare.

Here is a breakdown of where the money will go.

MBTA
OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES $182,426

ADDITIONAL RESTITUTION FUNDS $132,772

HOMELAND SECURITY
& COMMUNITY INITIATIVE FUNDS $315,198

TOTAL $630,396

Charlie's Mailbag - Feb 5th Somerville bus woes, Charlie issues

from the mailbag at charlieonthembta@blogspot.com

Rob in Somerville writes about what should be an easy bus trip

Dear Charlie,

I thought you might be interested in my rant about the unbelievable poor quality of weekend bus service, which many shoppers and workers attempt to rely upon.

It was Saturday night, and I was having a hard time mashing potatoes with a meat tenderizer. So I decided to go to the shiny Kmart in Assembly Square and get a real masher.

Now, I work from home and choose not to to own a car. That shouldn't be a problem, because the MBTA's No. 90 bus literally runs door to door, from my home to the shops at Assembly Square. The beleaguered agency's $466,000 new website announce that on this Saturday evening, the 90 bus would pick me up outside my home at about 7:35pm and then retrieve me from Kmart at about 9:05.

Nope. Even though the 90 runs across Somerville (the most densely populated city in New England, with almost 80,000 residents on four square miles), to the Sullivan Square transit hub, to the shops at Assembly Square, to the Wellington transit hub, it only runs once an hour on Saturdays. It doesn't run at all on Sunday. And even when it's supposed to run, it doesn't run. So whether you're one of the hundreds who work in the big boxes or a normal person who works on weekdays and shops on weekends, you can't get there from here. Sorry, buy a car.

When I saw the schedule last night, I thought I was experiencing a rare case of luck. I went outside at 7:30. The bus came by, at 7:43, going the wrong direction. I waited another twelve minutes for the bus to go to Davis Square, turn around, and come back. It was about 20 minutes late, but I could live with that. Sure, it was 30 degrees out, but like a first-class citizen of America, I was basking in the glow from a Dunkin Donuts and reading American Psycho.

can read the rest at Rob's blog

Rob I couldn't agree more. Nights and weekends bus service is just too spotty in many areas

Gabe has another CharlieCard issue

Hey, I'm Gabe, I live in Lexington, and I use the T pretty regularly. I don't know if other people have been having this problem with Charliecards, but here's the story.

I was in Andrew station on Saturday, going home after volunteering at the red cross food pantry on mass ave., i tapped my charliecard, but instead of opening up, the faregate honked loudly and flashed a SEE AGENT message at me. Assuming that, as in past experience, that simply meant "sorry, you didn't tap right" i simply tapped again and went through. however, looking at the screen on the gate, i realized that it had already charged the card the first time. now thanks to the genius' at the T, i need to somehow make it all the way to downtown crossing to get my 1.70 back. that sort of transaction ought to be able to be handled by any CSA and any fare vending machine in the system. grrr....

Again I couldn't agree more. The CSA's should be able to fix minor problems on the spot without sending people downtown.

Linda wonders if the T is starting a Fast Lane type of boarding

Here's something new to me. I'm a daily Commuter Rail rider with a monthly
pass on CharlieTicket, and don't ride the subway that often.

Entering the Redline at Porter Square this morning the gate slot wouldn't
accept my CharlieTicket. Then i noticed (this is pre-coffee, of course)
that several of the gates read "SmartCard Only." So now they're apparently
restricting some of the gates to "fast lane"? Sounds like a good idea
except--sour grapes--we commuter railers don't have that option (yet?).

Is this the beginning of "fast lane" CharlieCard-Only fare gates, or just
an anomaly?

Linda of Lynn

I haven't heard that they are officially doing this but it is something done in other cities ( example Chicago ) But Porter wouldn't be the station I would pick for the roll out if they are. As you mentioned the Commuter Rail folks still have CharlieTickets and the biggest crunch time at Porter happens when the inbound Commuter Rail stops there. Taking out gates for CharlieTickets is not going to help with the crunch.

I have heard from a conductor on the Commuter Rail that it maybe a another few months before CharlieCards roll out on the rail service as the T needs to find away to keep the hand held validators the conductors use from running out of battery power. As anyone with a laptop knows, outlets on the Commuter Rail are few and far between. I have heard that the validators on the Green Line need to be recharged after about 3 hours.

PATRIOT LEDGER - T pays some to sit and do little

The weekend edition of the Patriot Ledger brings a front page story about one worker complaining about her workload at the T. Not too much work, too little. So she filed a complaint that the T wasn't given her any work because of her age ( she is 75 )The state dismissed the complaint but wait until you read why.

complaint Mendeleyev filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination was dismissed in September, but the agency did not dispute her estimate of her workload.

Instead, a commission investigator found that there was no discrimination because most of her colleagues were given the same number of assignments, if not fewer.

One of the other engineers received no projects to work on in 2003 and 2004 and another had one assignment, the investigator reported.

T spokesman Joseph Pesaturo declined to provide information on Mendeleyev’s salary and the engineering payroll.

read the entire article here

Charlie's Mailbag - Feb 4th - stupid is as stupid does

Another edition of the mailbag which can be reached at charlieonthembta@gmail.com

Gwen from Waltham noticed something odd about the Silver Line-Waterfront bus maps. They don't show the Silver Line.

Hey Charlie love your blog.
I work down in the Seaport District and usually catch the Silver Line at what they call "Silver Line Way". Yesterday I saw a couple of tourists looking at the bus map there and I offered to help.

They were looking for the Black Falcon Terminal and which bus to take and by mistake they had taken the bus to the Airport and were now trying to figure out which other Silver Line bus to take.

Charlie the map in the bus shelter doesn't have the Silver Line on it. It has all the other bus routes but nothing for SL1, SL2 or SL3. I read last week that the trip planner lost the Orange Line and now it looks like they lost a bus line as well!!

I got this letter about a week ago and I decided to check this out myself as I couldn't believe the T could lose a bus line.

I was wrong.

I went to the Silver Line Way station this morning and there is absolutly no mention of the SL Waterfront Lines on the map in the bus shelter. What makes this stranger is the bus shelter never existed until the Silver Line opened so it should not be a case of a map they never updated. Throw in the fact that the line has been running now for over two years one would think this oversight would have been corrected by now.

Now who exactly is at fault here I can't be sure. The shelters are maintained by WALL USA which was selected by the City of Boston to install 'street furniture' which includes automatic public toilets, newsstands, bus shelters, and information kiosks. They are probably the people responsible for the maps in the shelters but does the T print the maps or does WALL do so.

In any event the maps are out of date and it is pretty useless to have a bus map that doesn't show the bus you are waiting for.

Jeff from Abington had a run in with MBTA Police on Sunday morning

I enjoy your blog and badtransit.com very much as it shows me I am not alone at thinking the T could be a lot better. This morning I had occasion to be confronted by MBTA Police Officers because I was reading a newspaper.

I had missed my train from Abington this morning so I drove to Braintree to catch the Red Line to Boston. Outside Braintree station I picked up a newspaper in a box right outside the ststion entrance for something to read going in town.

As we left North Quincy 2 MBTA officers approached me and told me I was reading pornography on the train and that is not allowed. What I was reading is a newspaper called Barstool Sports which can be a little racy but nothing that is outlandish in todays society. They even demanded to see my ID.

I have never even gotten as much as a parking ticket in my life and I am being harrassed for reading a newspaper I picked up at a T station?

-Jeff-
Abington, MA

Jeff this report leaves me speechless. I know the paper you were reading and yes they are known for covers with beautiful women wearing as little as possible but it certainly in no way comes close to being pornography.

This has to be brought to the attention of the Transit Police because from what you report this really makes one wonder about the judgement abilty of these officers.

Here is the person to contact

Joseph C. Carter
Chief of MBTA Transit Police
617-222-1100
MBTA Transit Police Department
240 Southampton Street Boston, MA 02118

You can also check out their website at http://transitpolice.us/

which informs us that


Please let us know what happens with this

Comuter Rail signs to be fixed

Things must be getting better with Charlie as Mac Daniel's Sunday column in the Globe has no mention of CharlieCards or CharlieTickets this week.

But he does talk about the infamous information signs on the Commuter Rail and the T is about to revamp the system.....again

Some of the signs can handle 99 characters; others on the same rail line can handle 1,600 characters. Should a dispatcher enter more than 99 characters on a rail line that also has signs that can handle 1,600 the signs go blank or begin issuing garbled blips and bloops.

Then there's the chain of command. Dispatchers at South Station send messages for display on the signs to an MBTA router at High Street, which sends them to a phone line, which transmits them to individual computers at each station. That process involves three computers and along that line, there's a lot that can go wrong.

There have also been software crashes galore on the system. When the vendor recently performed an upgrade, the problems got worse.

Once again, the system is headed for an upgrade, T officials said last week.

The T has recently received proposals for a new satellite-based sign system that is hoped to streamline the process.

"It's going to be a straight communication line" from the dispatcher to the station, said Stephen Jones, the T's deputy director of railroad operations.

A contractor could be selected by the end of the month, he said.

In addition, and don't hold your breath, Jones said there's the potential to do arrival countdowns routinely , meaning the signs could tell passengers how far away the next train is from the station.

Sounds like the same system we talked about last week