The evening commute: If you're reading this, you're probably not in it

To get from Hynes to Brookline Hills. While stuck at Kenmore they brought a news crew, people proceeded to sling insults directed towards the Mayor and the MBTA. Absolutely awful day of service.

2:15 here...

By mrugh
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 7:33pm

from Brighton to Braintree via car. I guess I should be happy?

Its time for an audit of equipment

By anon
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 7:39pm

Please tell us Bev
How many snow blowers are missing?
How many generators are missing?
How many shovels are missing?
How many plows are missing?
How many ice scrapers are missing?

Same question for Keolis?

Does anyone believe the answer will be zero!

Except for the shovels it seems unlikely any of this stuff is walking off the job within the last three weeks. More likely all the stuff has the same level of maintenance as everything else and it's failing. It's all part of the big shitshow which is the MBTA now days. Nothing is working, everyone is annoyed, no one feels responsible.

I'm just glad that finally it seems like Baker is sending out the National Guard and MassPike to help clear the tracks. Just wish they had started weeks ago.

Why isn't the press asking

By differentanon
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 8:24pm

Why isn't the press asking this? Why isn't the MBTA reporting specifics on what is broken, why, and how many?

So...

By lbb
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 9:00pm

...you want someone, or several someones, to run around compiling a list of equipment, why it is broken, and how many are broken, DOWN TO THE SHOVEL. You want someone to do this, so that there will be a nice document to rant about...instead of having that someone, or those several someones, do something that would actually help the situation.

Look, I'm all in favor of accountability, but this isn't going to result in that. Not at this stage in the game. It's going to result in wasted time and fewer problems fixed. After everything's melted, maybe, but now this seems like much worse than simply doing nothing.

Management should have been

By differentanon
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 9:36pm

Management should have been doing this in the first place BEFORE the storms. It's a sign of incompetence or carelessness on their part.

The press has been asking. MBTA doesn't know

By Markk02474
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 2:50am

Not since the 2009 audit was there any clue on was in the $13 Billion in asset inventory and what needed fixing. Why would the MBTA want to hire mechanics and fix more stuff when customers don't talk to mechanics, they call, text, and tweet customer service reps to give them a warm feeling while not being able to fix broken stuff.

The MBTA's plan has been to lure more customers into relying on the T, so when it fails and riders get screwed, more political pressure will be applied to get more funding.

Maintenance is like the kitchen staff in a restaurant. Customers don't see them, so they get paid as little as possible, worked hard, and given the minimum space and tools to do the job.

Transit advocates are the new believers of Bush's Trickle Down economics. Throw enough money at the MBTA and some will eventually reach the bottom - maintenance.

Solution

By Ziggles McGee
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 8:21pm

So my solution to a peepee problem today stuck in 3 hours of traffic was....wait for it....ADULT DIAPERS. In situations like this it totally worked - tough to pee into a bottle in my civic. Don't knock it until you try it.

Peace.

Pepsi Big Mouth

By cybah
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 7:46am

Back when I used to instruct winter camping courses (yes big old Mary me used to do that). Big Mouth Pepsi bottles were very popular. We used to tell the guys to get them before we left. Not for the pepsi but for the bottle. The big mouth made it very easy to take a leak in your sleeping bag without ever getting out of it. (of course, there was always someone who missed the bottle and spilled it everywhere..)

I always felt bad for the girls who had to pee at 2am in the woods. Not fun.

The Good News!

By Cuzidotrumpet
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 8:33pm

The good news?

The T finally has the chance to remember those days when it tried to convince people to STOP taking the train...

Except back then it was because they were too popular, whilst now its because everybody can't pile up into their cars today.

And even better news from Keolis...

By octr202
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 8:38pm

...they're sticking with the schedules that didn't work today for Wednesday.

They still seem to have cancelled 10-15% of the trains on the already reduced schedule today on the north side. Maybe tomorrow they can inch closer to running the reduced schedule that can barely cope with the crowds?

on Twitter,someone was asking re commuter rail schedule for tmrw

By M
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 8:50pm

And I just wanted to be like "does it matter? You're def gonna be late, 50/50 on your train getting cancelled, and it's gonna be cold." I couldn't come up with a 140-character way to say that without sounding bitchy to the OP, tho.

Actually...

By octr202
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 8:53pm

...after I posted this, they sent a T Alert saying the reduced commuter rail schedules would last through Friday.

Subway looks like it stays the same as it ended today. Full Blue, Orange Sullivan-Forest Hills, Green tunnel and D line only, and the Red Line Ashmont-Alewife only.

t alerts

By M
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 9:25pm

There was just one on Twitter that the providence line is running 120-130 delays. Two or more hours! It's so surreal that this is now our new normal.

one term mayor

By ed
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 9:24pm

Snow Marty
One Term Mayor

How many Orange Line trains were running?

By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 9:26pm

As far as I could tell there were only 4 trains running during evening rush hour...

It's been like that for a

By anon
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 12:05am

It's been like that for a week or two. Half the cars that normally run are apparently inoperable, I don't even know how that happens - even if you account for the weather.

The scary part...

By octr202
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 7:21am

...is that we heard from the T that their capacity for rebuilding traction motors is eight per week. Per WEEK. Each car has four, and while not all four may fail at one time, I bet there are multiple cars with two or more blown motors. And with these cold temps and snow everywhere, the more they run, the more they're going to burn through motors. We're not going to get any real relief until the weather warms up and the snow melts/compacts down and stops blowing around. At this rate, it could take months to work off the motor backlog. I wonder if the T can contract with outside electrical shops to rebuild motors. This has got to be beyond the capacity of their own shops to keep up.

These tales from Chicago's CTA in the blizzard of 1979 sound a lot like what I suspect is going on at the T right now:

http://www.chicago-l.org/mishaps/blizzard79.html

wow

By cybah
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 7:29am

that's almost verbatim to what is happening with the T. Great link.

Since now Chicago is a model for transit in the snow, does this mean we may have the same in a few years?

I can only hope...

By octr202
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 7:59am

The CTA has been doing a heck of a job over the last 10-20 years of rebuilding their system. I think Metra's had some rough years (lots of management scandals in particular), but they seem to be keeping things moving now.

The Globe article this morning has some more details on the fleet situation. The T did say they are working with three contractors to rebuild traction motors, so at least that helps up the count a little faster.

Meanwhile, over in Keolis land, they admit they are only able to field about 40 working locomotives - they need a minimum of 63 to cover the full schedule. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anywhere they could get 13-15 reliable, working passenger diesels in short order. And to build in reliability in this weather, they probably need to start double-heading some trains. Not going to happen.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/02/18/detail...

Great link!

By CopleyScott17
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 7:36am

Baker and Walsh, et. al., should pay particular attention to the final paragraph:

"The disruption of the transit system (and many other city services) caused much criticism and finger-pointing. Much of the controversy surrounded the suspension of service to inner-city stations. Popular wisdom attributes the February 27 electoral defeat of Mayor Bilandic to the difficulties the city had in dealing with the storm."

Timing is Everything

By R Hookup
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 9:47am

Was the election that winter? It's understandable that the electorate would remember it. Unfortunately, voters seem to have short memories.

We lived in Chioago back then....

By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 10:14am

... and while I was never a big Bilandic fan, I felt he got blamed unfairly for what happened in the aftermath of the blizzard (unfortunately he was out of town on vacation on the weekend of the blizzard). His biggest fault was lack of a "bedside manner" -- but even so, his performance was not nearly so inept (and disengaged) as Baker (especially) and Walsh.

my god

By cybah
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 2:31pm

and I thought i was a gypsy.. you've lived everywhere Kerpan, haven't you? :)

Nah, not THAT many places....

By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 02/18/2015 - 3:02pm

Just Tulsa, OK (18 yrs); Cambridge, MA (4 years); Chicago, IL (15 years); Stone Mountain, GA (just under 8 years); and Boston, MA (going on 18 years).

;-}

So, transit systems everywhere learned what?

By Markk02474
Thu, 02/19/2015 - 2:20am

So with all those conferences MBTA heads attend, the lesson learned from CTA woes 35 years ago is what?

1. Make train plow blades out of plywood in the shop.
2. Elevate train lines to foil snow problems.
3. Keep riders informed (MBTA just started this today with projected restoration dates).
4. Expect most every traction motor to fail in the next 12 months.

Better if people learned from history and then tried not to repeat it.

#1

By Felicity
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 10:28pm

Half hour wait for the #1 from Cambridge during rush, then it blew past Hynes and didn't stop until Christian Science. Sidewalks on Mass Ave were atrocious.