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Until the MBTA stops having a crisis a day, it needs to hire crisis managers
By adamg on Thu, 09/17/2009 - 2:33pm
Gabrielle Gurley says that needs to be Jeff Mullan's top priority as new transportation secretary:
... Those managers should receive a new mandate: the introduction of fail-safe procedures that ensure that all passengers (especially those stranded in tunnels between stations) receive timely and accurate information about incidents; that employees are deployed in affected areas with technologies that allow them to communicate with large numbers of people, that shuttle services become dependable modes of transport to be used instead of avoided; and that the MBTA website, rather than Universal Hub or Boston.com, becomes the go-to source for real time news about system failures. ...
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Comments
Seriously!
I seem to remember noting that other transit systems have plans in place for bypassing stations and shutting down segments ... and signs for evacuation and shuttles ... and places people can get shuttles, etc. that the T doesn't have.
Interesting how those transit systems don't seem to have a daily crisis, either. I wonder if the sort of advance planning for isolating stations, signs pointing people to assembly areas, and training and drills for workers goes hand-in-hand with not operating in continuous FAIL?
Is it UHub or is the T really falling apart?
I do not pose this question facetiously! My awareness of T issues has skyrocketed since I started visiting and posting to UH. My sense is that this a system at or reaching a breaking point, but then I have to step back and realize that my impressions may have been fed by the T-centric commentary on this blog. I wonder if folks with more concrete knowledge of the T's workings might want to comment.
Good question
Same issue with violent crime in East Boston.
Even if you take away all the run-of-the-mill stuff (trains break down everywhere, not just in Boston), the fact remains that just this week we had three major safety/ridiculousness incidents in a row: The near head-on crash at Back Bay, the bumper buster at South Station and the fires on the Red and Orange Lines.
The near miss and the fires would concern me the most, because they are indicative of potential systemic problems: How the hell did two trains going in opposite directions wind up on the same track? Just how old is the wiring along the Red Line that it bursts into flames? And, as somebody here pointed out (Roadman?), how is it that an easily extinguished fire (in the case of the moron dumping trash on the Orange Line third rail) is enough to shut the whole line down for an extended period?
But, yes, somebody jump in with more than just anecdotes!