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Boston has built up quite the collection of traffic cones as it rushes to figure out how to deal with the Orange Line shutdown
By adamg on Mon, 08/08/2022 - 10:39am
All aboard! At least, until 9 p.m. on Aug. 19.
Boston Street Chief Jascha Franklin-Hodge reports this morning that the city is still trying to figure out exactly how to deal with the impending Orange Line shutdown and the arrival of giant-sized charter buses that are supposed to relieve some of the stress of setting 100,000 daily Orange Line riders loose on the streets, but that things are in the works, including:
We’ve secured access to >1,000 traffic cones, hundreds of flexposts, and LED message boards. We're not sure yet exactly what we’ll use, but we are gathering the equipment so it’s on-hand if we need it.
All those cones and flexposts and message boards could come in handy for the traffic changes that will be needed to make the shuttle-bus system work as well as it can in a city with roads not designed for large numbers of big buses:
We’re helping MBTA finalize shuttle routes and stops. In some cases, the best route can only happen if the City provides dedicated space for the shuttles to operate, and our planners are working on these road changes.
Franklin-Hodge says that Boston and Transit Police and BTD have been asked to step up with staffing to keep the buses, and the rest of traffic moving. And Bluebike stations along the Orange Line will be beefed up with extra bikes - while the city goes looking for ways to subsidize free or discount passes for would-be bike riders.
He adds that officials in Boston and the other cities served by the Orange Line will be meeting this week to coordinate traffic planning.
And, he says, no, Boston has not forgotten what the shutdown of one of the city's four subway lines means for all those public-school students and teachers who will lose their main way to and from school for a month starting Aug. 19:
We are working with @BostonSchhols, @Boston_ONS and @EquityCabinet to make sure students, teachers, and residents will get the information they need in different languages to make travel plans during the shutdown.
Free tagging:
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Comments
So the City of Boston found out when we did??
The first tweet in Franklin-Hodge's thread this morning says
So The City of Boston only started working on this since the announcement? They had no advance warning or collaboration with the T?
WTF?? Is this for real??
https://twitter.com/jfh/status/1556644254092611584
There's a lot of things to be
There's a lot of things to be mad at the MBTA, but even if the Mayor's office and the MBTA has daily meetings (they don't), every development we've witnessed implies even the GM and the Board did not know they were shutting down.
One datapoint of evidence, the MBTA up to July 27 (one week before last week's announcement and 2-days before it was suppose to start) were still planning to follow their original plan of just shutting down only the north-side of the Orange line. A plan that was brewing for months and relatively less impactful due to parallels roads.
But they cancelled it 2 days before and the week after is well what we just witnessed.
There's no advanced warning because the T essentially decided to do a full line shutdown at most 1-2 days before.
I believe the theory is
The Feds ordered the shutdown.
Therefore, the T found out the day before the announcement and started scrambling to line up buses.
I also have a theory that the shutdown, though will be beneficial with the work to be done on the line, is also related to the train fire. Poftak noted that after the shutdown the Orange Line will be only new trains. It's like the FTA thinks that the 1979 stock shouldn't be on the line anymore.
Of course, for those of us who wants headways decreased, I'd take the outside possibility of a piece of metal striking the third rail over 10 minutes between trains.
If so...
Why the secrecy?
I'm not saying your theory is impossible with how effed up our state government is these days, but why would the feds allow Poftak to hem and haw and pretend this isn't being ordered by the FTA? Shouldn't the public have a right to know what's going on here?
That's on my mind too
That's on my mind too. It seems very possible the FTA plans to mandate a bunch of issues that would have meant shutting down the MBTA anyways. It is "face saving" if the MBTA makes it "their idea", but why would the Feds allow them that?
On the other hand, the full report is coming later this month. If the finding and mandates may stipulates exactly what the MBTA is doing, that would look, suspicious at least. Maybe they just don't care the MBTA is making it look like its their idea as long the MBTA just executes the mandates?
Federal agencies like the FTA
Federal agencies like the FTA, FDA, OSHA, etc, generally are more in the business of getting shit done and fixed than they are with playing PR games. Ultimately they don't care whether they take the blame/credit for the shutdown or the MBTA does, as long as the problems get fixed.
I don’t think anyone is being secretive
I would guess that the FTA is being very careful about making statements until their investigation is complete. That said, I don’t think there’s anything shady or unexplained going on here: FTA special directive 22-4 specifically orders the following to happen immediately:
There is no way to do this without closing the track. So the FTA didn’t have to “order a shutdown” - they (publicly) ordered the MBTA to take drastic actions that necessarily require a service shutdown. I am not sure why people think Poftak/Baker are being evasive about this.
Huh?
Lets see: give 2 weeks notice to shut down an entire subway line, knowing that at least half the time students are going to be going back to school, then decide to shut down the brand new GLX at the exact same time without notice? All without the MBTA warning Boston and surrounding towns involved so they can have plans in place instead of rushing to figure out what's going on from the media.
Then gaslight everybody in a single press conference that this is all very normal, nothing to see here.
I would say, yes, this is very shady behavior, not to mention utterly incompetent.
I am still confused as to what your complaint is
The FTA made it very clear that the Orange Line track issue is life-threatening and presents an emergency. It needs to be fixed, right now. The FTA is not concerned about kids making it to school on time. It is deeply concerned about kids being trapped on a train that caught on fire - which already happened! Likewise, the Green Line delay is partially blamed on the Government Center collapse - another life-threatening emergency.
As far as I can tell your complaint is that the MBTA was unable to make emergency repairs to critical infrastructure without disrupting service. This is impossible without a time machine. You can say the MBTA should have seen this coming. But bad planning for an emergency is no excuse to ignore the emergency, which seems to be what you are calling for.
Alternatively, maybe you think that a few more people should get killed, or forced to evacuate a burning train, so that the bulk of Greater Boston has a normal commute. I’m really glad the FTA disagrees with you.
Reading is Essential
My complaint is the obfuscation at the top as to reason for the immediate shutdown. If the FTA has ordered it, it has not been communicated by the MBTA. Nor has the MBTA called it an emergency.
You, somehow thinking a call for transparency means I think “a few more people should get killed” is as puzzling as it is offensive.
The MBTA and Baker are
The MBTA and Baker are absolutely being shady and trying to pretend this is all according to plan.
The FTA cares about literally one thing: are people going to die on these trains. They don't care if kids are going to school, if traffic becomes a nightmare, if the city sues the MBTA for not enough warning and they're trapped in court for years, etc. They identified a threat to life and safety and have said "fix it NOW." That's their job as a safety organization.
If the state wasn't such a shitshow, complying with that order wouldn't have required a shutdown and a bunch of dog and pony show. But that's on the state for fucking around for 20 years, not on the FTA for issuing the order.
I not only think the Feds ordered the shutdown
but that they wanted to do it immediately.
Something like this:
Feds: This system is unsafe and you have to close it down now because people are going to get killed.
Charlie: But ... we can't do that without some time to prepare alternatives!
Feds: Fine. You have two weeks.
Charlie: OK.
(to aides) Start working on setting up a task force to consider and prepare methods of formulating T alternative plans!
Great thinking.
Truly, a well thought out response.
The main thoery is that the
The main thoery is that the Governor ordered the shut-down rather than ask the Feds to delay the slow-zone repair timeline until they had enough dispatchers available to handle operating partially shut-down service (the original plan)
They also only said it will "mostly" be new cars. There are 78 out of 152 new cars here, but four of those are damaged (last year's derailment for two, the exploding battery for the other two). That leaves 74 cars, and CRRC can only deliver four per month (and any unaccepted car needs 500 non-revenue "burn-in" miles put on it first).. The Saturday schedule requires 60 cars (10 trains) while the restoring the full weekday schedule needs 96 cars (16 trains. There are not enough CRRC cars to run the full schedule, and not even enough to run the reduced Saturday if you assume 20% of the fleet is out of service at any time for planned/required inspections and routine repairs.
There won't be enough dispatchers
To operate full weekday service for months, if not until some time next year. So the issue of "not enough new cars" is a bit of a red herring. If CRRC continues to deliver four new cars per month, there should likely be well over 100 new cars in the fleet, even excluding the damaged ones, by the time the T can safely return to full weekday service.
And in any event, even with enough new cars to operate twelve trains, I don't think I have ever seen the T operating more than six at once on the new train tracker. It's as if something else is keeping them from running the new trains. Are the operators just not trained on the new equipment? Is it a seniority thing?
Is anyone doing a FOIA
Is anyone doing a FOIA request to see what the feds' involvement is here? They may not be publicizing that they shut it down, but they can't keep it secret if people start demanding answers.
We Are Screwed
if we are relying on the BPD for any assistance. #uselessgangofselfservingthugs
Planning stage
Kudos to the MBTA for putting this plan into action and trusting their leadership to adopt an "agile" approach which will give the T the flexibility to respond to newly-discovered concerns and situations as they become apparent.
While they're getting prepared, I think all of us citizens can help move the process forward by making suggestions. City residents know their neighborhoods better than anyone, and can provide crucial insights in the best way to distribute these new traffic-management resources.
In that spirit, I suggest that the T could make use of this new hardware like so:
You're welcome.
Put one electronic message
HUGE waste of resources when static signs will do just as well.
Whoosh?
Whoosh?
Ha
You almost got me, you bastard. I thought you were going to do sincerity.
IOW rather than temporary
IOW rather than temporary cones they should've invested in bricks and mortar to wall up the station entrances like something out of a Poe novel.
I repeat myself but...WTF
Where is the outrage from the state house? I know Ron Mariano and Karen Spilka are just starting their annual 5 month vacation now, but it seems like someone at the state level should be demanding transparency from the MBTA on their panicky decisions and how we go to this level of clusterf*ckery.
Uh oh, I think I just answered my own question. Ron Mariano and Karen Spilka HATE transparency and hate to upset the status quo. We need to vote every single one of these legacy hacks in state government out of office ASAP.
Green line
Lost in the shuffle (shuttle?) seems to be the green line shutdown from Govt Center north, from 8/22 - 9/18. Those who normally use the northern OL who will use the commuter rail instead, will end up at North Station with no green or orange line (as best I can tell). I haven't seen any word on whether they will have shuttles from North Station.
For the commuter rail lines that stop at Porter, one could transfer to the red line there, though at rush hour that will be quite crowded.
I live equidistant between
I live equidistant between Sullivan and Union squares and work in Roxbury. If I didn’t have a car I would lose my job over this, and I assume many if not most of the people affected by this shutdown don’t have that luxury. Bustitution on this scale is an insulting joke, as anyone who’s had to rely on the B line knows.
Bring in the electric scooters
Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, and Malden should invite Bird, Lime, Spin, and all other dockless electric scooter rental companies to flood the area during the Orange and Green Line shutdowns. Bring the dockless e-bikes and pedal bikes too, if they still have any. This won't solve all the problems that the shutdown causes, but it will certainly help. There aren't enough Blue Bikes in the whole system to really make a dent.
What could possibly go wrong?
A bunch of people who haven't operated a two-wheeled vehicle since they were fourteen years old, negotiating city traffic. I'm sure it will go seamlessly.
(fwiw I'm not really dissing your idea -- I think having these alternatives is a great idea and I hope a lot of people use them. But the "flood the area" phrase is giving me nightmare visions)
A bunch of people who haven't
Along with a bunch of people who haven't driven in rush hour traffic since they were 23 years old, trying to negotiate city streets so they don't have to wait an hour for a shuttle bus.
Put decking on top of the rails!
Let us use scooters in the tunnels, forget fixing the system, turn it into a giant "rail trail" system, problem solved.
Just go to Southie
and confiscate every space saver.
And park and ride the Red
And park and ride the Red Line.
The closing of the Orange Line for repairs is necessary, but
had they made repairs and done necessary maintenance and repairs on the Orange Line (and other parts of the MTA as well, while the problems were relatively small, we wouldn't be in this mess right now. The closing down of the Orange Line for a month wouldn't have been necessary.
We can only hope that the people who run the MBTA and the people responsible for the MBTA's maintenance learn an important lesson from this whole fiasco.
And don't forget
The $37 million spent on bustitution.
https://www.universalhub.com/2022/mbta-spend-37-million-hire-buses-month...
$37 freaking million dollars that could have been spent to fix and upgrade the MBTA that is now blown on renting buses. This is the thing that really disgusts me.
37m / around an estimated
37m / around an estimated 1200-1600 buses daily = only about $1030 / $770 per bus per day. seems reasonable quite honestly... you'll never be able to rent a bus for $1030 a day let alone $770 a day.
Your numbers are off
it's 160-200 buses per day.
The cost is more than $6000 per bus, or about 4x what the T normally pays.
Costs include:
I don't really envy Yankee for having to wrangle all of these buses, drivers and logistics, and expect it to be a royal mess. And even though we're paying through the nose (the T will be paying as much for these charter buses as it does for the entire operation of the rest of the bus fleet) the service level, using drivers who are unfamiliar with the region and buses which barely fit on the streets, will be atrocious.
Good job, Charlie.
Of course, if the replacement
Of course, if the replacement service worked too well there would be a chorus of chucklers suggesting we get rid of the OL and make the bustitution permanent. It's a delicate balance.
The lesson is "Penny Wise, Pound Foolish"...
...and I don't think the legislature or governor has learned it yet.
Unfortunately, it is we, the
Unfortunately, it is we, the voters, who have not learned it yet.
Our Hero, Captain Hindsight!
n/t
And never is heard a discouraging word
From WBZ's Karyn Regal's Twitter account:
I asked @MayorWu how planning meetings were going with
@MBTA, especially after the announcement after parts of the #greenline will be closed, overlapping with the #orangeline closure. “How do you avoid chaos?” I asked.
“There will be chaos,” she replied. #mapoli #bospoli #mbta
https://twitter.com/Karynregal/status/1556708536717041666
can we get a bid from Canobie Lake Park
They could set up a temporary gondola system right down the Southwest Corridor to Chinatown. The rides at Canobie are well-maintained and don't break down. Duck boats can handle the run from North Station up the Mystic. Just send all the tourists home. Sorry. We're closed so we can fix two generations worth of neglect.
You're joking but honestly
You're joking but honestly the duck boats would do a better job than a bunch of giant buses with drivers imported up from Texas. They don't even have to take the bridge to cross the charles.
You all complain when the price goes up .05,
I can't imagine the crying if we projected Canobie pricing on the T.
Had you been willing to pay for a well maintained system, you wouldn't be paying to mop it up.
When...
When did the price ever go up by a mere .05?
When...
When did the price ever go up by a mere .05?
If User Fees Were Supposed to Pay for Transportation
Why are the pike tolls so low?
DTX
Given my work schedule, I will be taking the red line to Downtown Crossing 6 days a week, and most days it will be two trips in.
Do we have any idea how they will be handling entrances and exits for RED LINE passengers at that station? I'm thinking it could be a nightmare, if they're trying to close off the Orange Line entrances effectively. (Since you have to enter at the Orange Line level to get downstairs to the Red Line.)
As I like to note
This happens in a certain city to the southwest of Boston all the time. Probably cones and staff. It also was going on in the spring, so they have plans already.