Even with almost all the new power-leaking Orange Line cars fixed and back on the rails, MBTA begins to study bringing back some remaining rolling rec rooms

On days I go into the office, I have been asking myself should I take the 39 bus or take the over crowded train to Forest Hills. I generally wait for the next train if my anxiety is getting to me but they are all super crowded lately. I have been taking the 39, while slower but less crowded.

The T and feds have blamed lack of dispatchers and surely that's part of the reason. But given the T's lack of transparency and general hardware problems it wouldn't be surprising if the real reason for the long headways is simply because they don't have enough working trains coupled with speed restrictions.

The longer the region goes with long headways, the more likely it becomes the agency target as if it's always been that way.

The T has a habit of making "Temporary service changes" permanent.

SHNS via NBC Boston December 7, 2022: MBTA Makes Hiring Progress, But Still Needs Dispatchers

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/mbta-makes-hiring-progress-but-stil...

The MBTA is getting close to a fully staffed slate of subway dispatchers

there are 27 dispatchers working in the operations control center, and six prospective workers are in a training program to become dispatchers.

Officials would like to bulk up that critical office to about 32 dispatchers, Ester said, though he added that he would "put an asterisk by it" until the T completes a full workforce assessment required by the Federal Transit Administration.

As of April 29, the FTA found, the T had only 14 heavy rail dispatchers

So as of about one month ago, the T has nearly doubled their dispatch staff from when the FTA report came out, and has 6 more in training to get to the needed 32 total, and then maybe they will hire more once the full workforce assessment is completed?

Unfortunately, the MBTA's woes are not only due to our former governor Charlie Baker. The MBTA, including the Orange Line, and the Green, which has always been the world's worst, has been a mess for years. Unfortunately, I don't see it getting better anytime soon.

I’m all for nostalgia, where it belongs…in Kennebunkport, next to the Northampton el station at the Seashore Trolley Museum.

They've only been out of service for a few months now.

I'm not sure if there's anyone at the T who actually manages bus headway, or if it's just up to drivers in the field to figure it out themselves. But it's gotten way worse recently, and it has nothing to do with the rail operations center. On major routes like the #1 or 77, you'll see next bus arrival times like "18 min, 19 min" or "24 min, 26 min". Really? Why is no one managing the spacing of those buses - maybe hold one, express another ahead to a midroute point. It seems like no one at the T thinks about how to manage the reliability of these heavily-travelled bus lines.

That's not the least big surprising. You did the wise thing by going to your destination on foot, because you reached where you were going a lot faster. Public transportation, not only here in the Boston area, but in NY, Chicago, Detroit, to mention afew places here in the United States is rather inefficient, overall.

My Dad used to have an email address of lrvvspcc. He started on the green line working for the T after he got out of Vietnam.

right? This is on MA Dems as much as Baker.

If you go back in time, and look at the data in the RFP responses, the track records of the bidders, etc., the right company was awarded the contract. If there is a manufacturer problem, it's because that company no longer exists. Shortly after the contract was signed, CNR merged with CSR to form CRRC. The successor company has proven to perhaps be less reliable than the one to which we awarded the bid. But then again, there are a lot of external factors such as supply chain difficulties that are the likely real culprit for the troubled manufacturing history.

Finding a new contractor is one thing--and is probably the best way to go.

Turning the entire MBTA system into a bus line----forget it--Boston would cease to function as a real city if the MBTA system were turned into a bus line.

It's one thing to have temporary bus service when repairs to the MBTA system must be made, but turning the whole MBTA system, or even part of the MBTA system into a permanent bus line---forget that--it would be a complete fiasco!

All along the big wigs in the transportation building have wanted to have the entire T leased to another company while they sit in the transportation building and manage them. That is when under utilized bus routes will disappear, because money won't be made on those routes and prices would go through the roof. No no no no no leasing of the T out.

Back in the early 1970's, when I visited my younger sister, who was then attending undergraduate school at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, I remember taking the metro system to go somewhere. Not only were the subway stations much cleaner, better lit, and safer, but so were the Metro trains, which ran every 2 minutes. There was a huge difference there.