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To all the hacks who say Grabauskas was doing a fine job at the T
By adamg on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 10:03am
The Outraged Liberal poses a challenge:
Get out of your cars and try relying on the T for one month for all your transportation needs and check back with us. ...
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Comments
I do it all the time
Overall, the T does a great job serving my needs. My concern is that I can see it NOT doing so in the near future.
Also, let's lay the blame where it's fucking due, the legislature that broke the T's funding and budget, and refuses to clean up their mistakes. Maybe Therese "Irrelevant" Murray and Bob DeLeo could find some courage and pass that gas tax that's overdue.
A bit overboard
This post is a rant about the frustrations and unpleasantries of relying on public transportation, but we can't dump it all at the feet of the GM.
I'm agnostic as to whether Grabaukas was a good or bad manager of the T. He's no hack -- he came in with a very good track record in public management. Maybe it proved to be a no-win situation.
I agree with some of the complaints, but I can't hold the T fully responsible. If people use the subway cars as garbage cans or have chosen not to bath since the Flynn Administration, that says more about the populace than the agency.
A bit of a rant? Yes
And if that clouded my main point, I'm to blame. And that point is the people who are calling this a political move by and large have no experience with the MBTA on a regular basis. I'm suggesting that knowledge is crucial before they go off with political crusades of their own.
more than one reason
Oh c'mon, nothing here is done without "political" considerations. Think about all the hacks who are NOT being shown the door.
Maybe I'd feel better about the motivations behind this if, as others have pointed out on this blog, there was a superstar, fix-it person waiting in the wings, to be appointed as soon as the Grabauskas situation was resolved.
But let's also remember that before he took the job, Grabaukas was legitimately touted by some as being that fix-it guy based on what he did with the license registry.
From the way this is being handled, I just don't have faith that the situation will get better. After a bit of meandering, I guess THAT'S my point!
He did an awesome job at the
He did an awesome job at the registries and to be honest the quality of service has slipped since he left.
This reminds me of the Romney VS Bulger affair of 2003. A governor comes in and wants to "shake up the system" so they find a high profile guy from the other party in charge of some public agency that is having some issues and they raise him up as the cog ruining the whole system. Forget about the fact that it is almost always the executive and legislative governments fault because of budget cuts and crazy expectations. This way you manage to do two things: Shift the blame to the other party and scape goat someone who would never be a funder/voter anyway. All the while you get points (if you do it right, rarely works) for fixing the problem.
Bulger was a crook, and had to be removed ASAP...
Romney didn't want to "shake up the system" with Bulger, he wanted to remove a crook ASAP, and it took years as Bulger's (Democrat) buddies in the legislature were still protecting him. Look up MBM, 75 State St, and UMB, then connect the dots. I just realized how ironic it was that Bulger ended up as head of U-Mass.
Grabauskas has been doing his job. Has he had an impact on the MBTA? Very little. He should have been more outspoken, he could have fought the unions rather than capitulate to them at negotiation time.
The biggest problem with the "T" is it has been subsidized since the 1920's, and covers only 28% of it's operating costs from fares. That means the fares need to triple just for the "T" to break even, that's assuming the increases don't drive customers to their driveways.
Bulger also managed to bring
Bulger also managed to bring in more money they any other president ever did and was multiplying his salary by multiples in terms of how much he cash he brought into the system over the previous and post administrations.
I will not get into the he said she said of whatever else happened in his life. Pure and simple he was doing a great job at Umass and was flushed out because someone wanted to run for president and he was easy pickings.
Are there any superstars left?
Grabaukas did a bang-up job at the RMV, but couldn't make that translate to the MBTA.
David Gunn brought the NYC subway back (so you come back!), but didn't do much for Amtrak.
What white knight would we even hope for?
David Gunn
Gunn wasn't allowed to do anything to help Amtrak. He was given a mandate by GWB to dismantle Amtrak, refused to carry it out, then got shitcanned.
So tell us exactly how you
So tell us exactly how you think riding on a trolly every weekday would make a person competent to judge the work being done by the general manager of the organization. Please be specific in telling us how a daily trip on the Red Line would help you distinguish between the general manager's competence and, say, existing labor agreements, generations=long corporate culture, Legislative interference, national social trends, etc.
When the GM has the agency install message boards and
monitoring cameras, wires the tunnels for cell phone service, puts wi-fi on the commuter trains, and takes all the other superflous actions to provide all the NON-ESSENTIAL amenities that they have during Danny's reign of power instead of running more trains that they ALREADY HAVE AVAILABLE in rush hour service and maintaining track and signals. That tells me the GM is totally out of touch with the core mission of the MBTA, that is getting the passenger from Point A to Point B in a speedy, reliable, and efficient manner. Perhaps if the top people actually rode the system day in and day out, they would begin to understand what their mission really should be.
And I'll point out that all the operating decisions the T has made for the past four years, such as adopting the "no net change" attitute regarding bus route assignments and splitting two car Green Line trains into two separate runs "to keep the schedules properly adjusted"; and Danny's failure to get tough with the unions on basic work issues (BTW, the CELL PHONE policy is not one of them), have NOTHING to do with the Legislatures's inability to address the larger issues of equitable transportation funding.
Well if I were a long
Well if I were a long distance commuter and the commuter rail was an option the presence of wi-fi would be a major selling point over driving all the way in from Newburyport everyday for instance.
Well....now that you ask...
I don't drive, and have never driven. I have taken the T as a mode of transport exclusively for most of my life. I ensure that I work and live within a 10 minute walking distance to any given T stop. I use the T to get to work, visit family, bring my son to school, to camp, and to the doctor. I use it to run errands, go to the market, etc.
So, is it on time 100%? No. Is my son late for camp, or appointments when I take him on the train? Maybe once in the last four years. Want to know why? PLANNING. This is no different than driving from point A to point B and allowing for traffic, parking, etc. I really don't see what the big deal is.
I am not going to say the T is perfect, but it gets me to where I need to be as a professional (I am a technologist and work in Cambridge) as a father, and just going out and spending time at the better attractions of the Boston area. Have I noticed a decline in service quality as of late? Yes. Have I had somewhat longer waits? Yes. Has it been a real pain? No. I just plan my life, and my time a certain way.
You can decry the T all you like, but for someone like me, who is legally blind, and cannot drive or bike, if there was no T, I don't think I would have the freedoom that I enjoy now. So keep that in mind that the T is public transit, not a public utility like water, electricity, gas, etc.
I've been riding the T for the better part of the last 20 years, and am happy to debate pros and cons. Danny G made some blunders, but if you look at the jokers who run the turnpike authority, the big dig etc, you can see that the biggest drawback to MA politics is not hiring the right people.
Please post planning tips
As one who cannot adequately predict how long it will take me to get from point A to point B using the T, I would honestly appreciate any tips you have for planning T trips.
Karen Zgoda
http://www.karenzgoda.org
http://www.fussy-eater.com
http://editmymanuscript.com
planning
The secret is to leave a lot earlier, and then convince yourself that you're having a real urban experience standing around with a bunch of frustrated people while you change lines.
That's the main secret I've found
For appointments with hard start times, that secret means sometimes being more than half an hour early and on occasion *still* being late.
Location, time, knowledge
- If you're in a part of Boston where bus service is far more frequent, or you're steps away from a T station, you're in much better shape than those who have only one bus line and are about a mile away from a T stop. Hyde Park has four bus lines and two commuter rail lines, and the bus stops right in front of my work in Watertown.
- I try to avoid the crush between 8am and 9am, where the T operates the heaviest and people seem to come unglued. I also tend to leave later from my job to avoid rush hour, or find "back routes" to avoid the rapid transit lines altogether.
- I have memorized the schedules to the point where I know when a bus or train is late or delayed. If a train is delayed for various reasons (some legitimate, others sketchy) I can get off and seek a bus. If a bus is running severely late, I can get off at the most convenient stop and take the train. If both are bollixed up...then luck may come in and save the day.
T tips
1. If a short walk means avoiding having to transfer from one line to another, consider it. It reduces the risk that a delay on your first short leg of a trip will mess your journey.
2. Yup, like others have said, know your T/bus lines and leave early if it's important.
3. Take work or a magazine/book with you, something that can be read while standing up and having only one hand free. That way, a slight delay isn't necessary wasted time. (I will never take the T without some decent reading material.)
4. Especially on lines where work is being done, check the T website for weekend adjustments. (Just had a flashback to those endless weekends of Orange Line switch work service changes...)
5. The T's online trip planner actually can be quite helpful.
6. When all else fails, remember that those who drive in the city have their own tales of horrific delays and late arrivals. So it's not just us T dwellers who must deal with transportation delays. In fact, sometimes we do better.
7. And finally, MOST IMPORTANTLY, if you've had a long day, you're absolutely exhausted, and you're waiting at Copley Square for the 39 bus to JP, do not space out and get on a bus that takes you somewhere in Newton. Like I did.
I guess I would not mind the
I guess I would not mind the MBTA as much if it was just not crowded like it always is. I would accept a longer more variable commute if the T was not hell on earth on most days. When I do take the T it is so crowded that I can not even manage to move my hand enough to change the song on my Ipod forget about attempting to read a book.
No matter where I stand on the platforms people seem to want to get behind me or next to me or in front of me or they chose that spot to light up an illicit cigarette etc. I have never been able to read more then a page while traveling the T.
don't use the Tsite trip planner!
I live near Symphony and was going to Lynn. Put in origin and destination adresses and recieved the following directions; walk to Kenmore (right past Hynes), take the greenline to north sta. (which has to go back through Hynes, plus goes through Haymarket), transfer to the orange line inbound at North sta. and get off at Haymarket where I can get on a bus to Lynn! Unbelievable! So what did I do? Instead of walking to Kenmore, I walked a few blocks in the opposite direction and got on the orange line at Mass. ave. which took me straight to Haymarket and shaved about an hour's time off of the trip to boot.
Driven by Customer Service!
What about the T employees who actually interact with the riding public? With rare exceptions I've found them to be horrible, living illustrations of the Peter Principle. I've attempted to complain about several bus drivers only to have the T somehow fail to follow up on getting back to me. Every T employee I deal with seems to have a chip on their shoulder, they cant be fired but they hate their jobs. I know the T has money and infrastructure problems but you cant overlook their labor issues.
I've dealt with lots of good T employees
Even many who I sense aren't having a blast at their jobs. (But who is, nowadays?)
The MBTA also has a lot of other people who need to be treated like professionals and to be held to that standard.
If you've ever run into a CSA who compensates for thought with attitude, that's one of the things that will not be permitted under the new standard.
Customer service is not the MBTA's only problem, but it's one of them, and I think it also reflects more general problems of management.
Re: lots of good T employees
In particualr, the bus operators I deal with are reasonably friendly and courteous. And their patience is admirable -- I mean, I'm sure I'd turn into a flaming Masshole behind the wheel of an MBTA bus. (Driving a 40-foot behemoth in Boston traffic? Are you kidding me?)
The experience that stood
The experience that stood out for me was trying to determine when a bus would leave Forest Hills. The bus pulled up, since the first bus never showed at all a lot of us wanted to know when this one would leave. The driver exited the bus and I asked her "Excuse me when does this bus go out again" she rolled her eyes and said "you can go get a schedule". I replied "you cant just tell me"? She said she no, she was "goin on break and didnt hafta" she then added if I had a brain I could go look for myself. Maybe I could have gotten lucky and found the right schedule, doubtful but why be so sullen and refuse to answer a simple question?
I called the T and left a complaint, a week later with no follow up I called back and they claimed to have no record of my first call so I repeated everything again, a week goes by with no follow up so again I call. This time they say that "well you know its hard cause somebody has to be scheduled to cover for the driver while she meets with her supervisor and shop steward and times are tight blah blah..." After that they promised this time they really would follow up, this time for real. That was about 2 months ago, never heard from them. Yes I might be making a big deal of a small thing but thats how it goes with this agency. The cranky driver was protected by layers of bureaucracy, all but impossible to even get through.
Imagine an MBTA General Manager who actually used the system
Accidental secret shopper.
Everyone who'd been made late for the umpteenth time would at least have some entertainment and a story to tell.
I find this happens quite
I find this happens quite often with small companies or organizations that utilize boards of directors that are local. Its amazing how fast things change when a board member gets told to go fly a kite.
I once spent time working
I once spent time working with but not for an organization where people "could not get fired". Its the funniest thing everyone hated their jobs and here I was out there, could get canned at anytime and I was happy.
So I ask one of the people who I got to know well and he explained it to me in pretty simple terms. The first problem was that nobody could get fired. That takes a second to settle in until he explained that this means that bosses can be jerks to whoever they want and there was really nothing you could do about it. Sure you could ignore them and not get fired yourself but they had the power to make your life hell. So that leads to point number two and that is they do make a little more then the average person does in the same exact job. So if you were to just leave, which is what you normally do when you hate your job, you would be out that extra cash.
A T for Our Times: It's Getting Hilarious
Hillary Chabot reports in the Herald that the interim GM will be T general counsel William Mitchell:
LOL. OMG. WTF.
For Chabot's article: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?...
Regardless of the internal state of the MBTA,
I think it's good that the Governor has implicitly taken ownership. Now, in theory, there is some accountability to the public.
that WAS meant as humor, right?
like he owns my property tax relief..
Not humor
I wrote a bunch of specifics on strategy and on pushing things forward despite any latent corruption. Then decided that it was up to the citizens to decide what was most important to them and figure out how to create goal alignment. So I deleted before posting, and said something vague instead.
Or, if enough savvy citizens care enough about property tax relief, they could probably make *that* happen.
Maybe look to other systems that work
I have lived in the metro Boston area for over
15 years. I have low vision and travel exclusively by public transit
all my life. I have traveled on a bunch of the transit system in US
and Canada. This includes Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Washington
DC,Boston,and The best one yet, Trimet of Portland Oregon.
http://trimet.org
They even have rail expansion projects that come in 4 months early and 20 million
under budget! Imagine if the T did this.
Over the years I have seen both good and bad transit. Trimet seems to
have found a way to build new lines fast efficiently with less public
funds. They have made deals with business that helps fun these
expansions and also lets them come in under budget with great
features. They consistently keep riders up to date on where trains
and busses are!. you can track them within 20 feet with a web
countdown even. They manage to handle fairs with an open and honor
system. NO big budget charlie card roll out. They instead have
transit police and fair inspectors that will go on trains and busses
as they travel and check for ticket slips and or passes. This Very
visible presence makes fair evasion very very low. And there are NO
delays on boarding vehicles. Their fleet is modern very clean very
well maintained. They wash ever train and bus in the morning and clean
them as they are serviced during the overnight shutdown. They manage
their budget well and also provide timely and accurate information to
the public of any diversions and changes via automated announcements
(that you can actually hear clearly) and drivers / signage. Also they
have a very very very well done web presence and automated system for
both next bus / train arrivals online with countdown for each stop
with gps tracking!. (ones that employees cant disable) They run so
efficiently time wise that if a bus is late or off route for more then
a few mins they will assume a problem and send the transit police to
see if they are disabled! this means that trains and buses are
on-time all the time. Instead of trying to put a band-aid on the T's
functioning Instead look to other places in the US and the world where
they are doing it cheaper better and with more customer oriented
service. Now more then ever with a bad economy and global warming.
Public transit needs to be more efficent cleaner better run and MUCH
MORE USABLE then it has in the past. Time to look outside of the MA
area for solutions rather then trying the same things that got us here
in this messed up situation to start with. A for the bitchy workforce issues
with contracts and working less for more money while management wants more
work for less money keep in mind I am sure lots of folks out there in this bad
economy would love a state job. No one is replaceable. This is something
that i rely on day to day with no other choice. Who better then
myself to know how transit impacts day to day life and with experience
of riding transit through out us and canada. I have a fairly good idea
of what does and does not work Customer service end of things.
I have also sent this to both the Governor's office as well as to Mr.
Aloisi's office. Let us hope that by examining what DOES work that we
can repair our transit to the level that we deserve for the
21st century.