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Turtles once again passing the Red Line by
By adamg on Mon, 09/11/2023 - 12:03pm
Chris Friend points us to Transit Matter's Red Line slow-zone chart, which shows the Red Line now has more delays from slow zones than it did when the MBTA announced speed delays across all the subway lines due to slow zones.
But wait, it's even worse, because that's just for the past year. What Friend actually pointed to was the chart going back to 2016, but you don't want to look at that unless you want to get really depresed.
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Comments
To misquote Carville, It's the opacity, stupid.
We know that the redline the Healey regime inherited was in terrible shape. Thanks to the report they finally released, we know some of the reason why. Philip Eng seems to say the right things in public, but what we don't know is what the MBTA is planning to do to fix this and how long it will take.
Why is no one in the state government communicating their plan? Why is no one in the state government treating this like the emergency it very obviously is? This is democratic malpractice by everyone from the legislators on Beacon Hill to the MBTA Board of Governors to the Governor herself.
Despite the lack of transparency.
It's pretty clear to me that the T is involved in a slow, comprehensive evaluation of all tracks in the system while training track inspectors at the same time. Let's hope this is the beginning of some true focus and care to maintenance that will bring the system back to peak operating service.
I call BS
This clusterfvck is a gravy train for track walkers (notorious political hack job), consultants, etc.
And yes, why is the governor so subdued on this extremely serious issue?
Let's Say You're Correct
And they are involved in a slow, comprehensive evaluation. That means someone has made a decision they are ok with the pace and don't need to ask for more money to hire more workers or provide more training to speed up the pace.
That is something we, as taxpayers and riders, should know. We can't hold our elected officials accountable if we have no information.
If this were, say, the mass pike being reduced to one lane, we'd have a comprehensive plan, schedule, and all the money in the world to make sure it got fixed.
You're arguing against a point I didn't make.
I'm making a guess as to what they are actually doing. I'm not excusing the lack of transparency. This place would be so much more fun if people actually read and responded to comments made.
Sorry, No.
I'm not arguing with anything you said. I'm building off your response assuming what you say is "pretty clear," as a starting point and saying why I think, even if true, this is not nearly enough. Isn't that reading and responding?
Hiring/training isn't fast if you want work done right
We don't know they aren't trying to hire more people. However, hiring qualified people doesn't happen overnight and then it takes time to train those people. In addition, from what I've read elsewhere, a large part of the problem was past work being done (or claimed to be done, but not actually done) by people who were unqualified and did crap. This mess didn't occur overnight and can't be solved more quickly just by throwing random bodies at it.
To his credit, Eng lives on the Green Line and takes it to work. He is affected by T conditions plus riders can talk to him without making an appointment.
Sure.
There's that American can't-do attitude when it comes to public transportation, but somehow they managed to rebuild the elevated portion of I-95 in downtown Philly in 2 weeks.
But my main bone of contention here is... you and I don't know what they're doing and whether they're doing everything they can. If they hired more people or paid for more contractors would the work go faster? We just don't know. Instead, the message is "just trust us," while the redline literally slows to a crawl.
Nice work by Chris Friend and TransitMatters.
Thank you for your efforts and continued diligence.
Agreed, while working I
Agreed, while working I regularly hear the Transit Matters folks interviewed on the radio; they are the most knowledgeable about the current state of the T and bring some constructive solutions to the table.
Having educated and level headed people keeping the transit issues on the front burner is not a glamorous job but it's one of the most useful task for the city.