MBCR Comedy

On January 6th I got one of the funnier emails that the MBCR has created so far. It included the following gem:

"Please enter and exit only through a door that is attended by a crewmember."

Apparently whoever writes those emails has never actually ridden the commuter rail. Because if that rule were ever enforced, every train in the entire system would be consistently 20 minutes late, or more, every day. Why? Because each train would have only one working door.

There AREN'T conductors at most doors - ever. I haven't exited a door on the evening train once since I got that letter that had a conductor within two coachlengths. Today I looked around, out of curiousity. For the five-coach train (three singles, two doubles) there was exactly ONE conductor visible.

If they're providing enough conductors to be at each pair of doors on each train, I don't know where those conductors are disappearing to! But it seems more likely that MBCR management is shorting the trains and the public of the staff needed to carry their own rules. This way, when something goes horribly wrong, they can point to this email and say "See? We told people not to use unsupervised doors!".

New Survey

The MBTA has been handing out a survey on the commuter rail this week. You can fill it out online, if you feel like taking it. NOTE: You must have a unique survey number (printed on the upper right-hand corner of the first page) in order to submit the survey. So if you don't have a hard copy, I'm afraid you're out of luck.

Another gouge at the public from the MBTA

Some time in the last few weeks the MBTA did it again. Just as they quietly took away the option of bringing a free guest on the T on Sundays, they've now taken away free parking on weekends and holidays:



I wonder how many people will fail to see that sign and end up having to pay the 75¢ penalty surcharge?

Maybe none, if you believe that sign. On the other hand, who believes the MBTA these days?



Just one more little gouge at passengers pocketbooks, courtesy of the MBTA. Oddly enough, they don't seem to have announced the change, and as far as I can tell it hasn't been in the news at all. A search of mbta.com hasn't turned up anything about the change either.

I'm reminded of an old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie. Moriarty strapped him to a hospital bed, stuck a needle in his arm, and proceeded to slowly bleed him to death, one drop at a time. Unfortunately we in the public don't have a Doctor Watson to rescue us at the last minute!

An Unexpected Turn of Events (Problem Solved?)

The vestibules had been packed for weeks. So on Friday I brought my digital camera; it was time to get video proving that people were being forced to ride in the vestibules and being packed in the aisle, a massive safety hazard for hundreds of paying passengers every day.

I don't believe in fate. But I have to admit that it's pretty ironic that on Friday, for the first time in quite a while, the Franklin #715 train wasn't just five single-level coaches; it was several double-level coaches, as well as at least one or two single-level ones.

There were still quite a few standees, but no one had to ride in the vestibules that I saw. And the aisle were relatively uncrowded. So I had nothing to photograph.

On Monday, same story. Double-level coaches, and adequate seating capacity. I'd brought my camera, but had no call to use it.

On Tuesday afternoon, I received an email from the MBCR. It said, in part:

I have spoken with the manager responsible for train consists and understand that your train has finally been returned to its proper number of coaches.

This confused me a bit; "proper" number of coaches? "Returned"? I've been riding the #715 for years now, and it has never had double-level coaches on a regular basis before! We had them perhaps three times a year, on average, and it always meant that the regular train had broken down.

Being perplexed, I wrote back:

Thank you. I am a bit confused by your response, however.

For the several days leading up to Thursday, April 24, the #715 consisted of five single-level coaches - one less than usual. On Friday the 25th and Monday the 28th the #715 included at least three double-level coaches, as well as at least two single-level ones (if memory serves). Is this the new status quo? We have not seen this many coaches on the #715 on a regular basis for the past three years at least.

There are still many people who have to stand, even with the double-level coaches - but at least we don't have to ride in the vestibule. At this point, however, many of the regular riders on the #715 don't know what to expect. Will the expanded seat capacity which has been provided over the past two weekdays continue?

I haven't received a response yet, but when the #715 pulled into Ruggles this afternoon, it consisted of four double-level coaches and one single-level one. And to my utter amazement, I got a seat - not at Norwood Central, nor even at Dedham/128, but at Ruggles itself! Some people were still standing, and I expect that I'll still have to stand more often than not - at least for part of the trip - but at least we won't have to ride in the "crumple zones".

Or so I hope. Of course, it could all change back again at any time, I suppose. And I can't help but wonder what other train or trains lost the double-sided coaches that have been put on the #715 run. But for now, it seems, the Franklin #715 train is no longer a large-scale accident waiting to happen.

Don't think for a minute that I plan to retire this blog or anything like that, though! I'm hopeful about the new added capacity, but after 20-odd years of dealing with the MBTA I'm sure that there will be new things to write about. Still, it's nice to see that the T finally did respond and fix
the problem. And it may be hubris on my part, but I'd like to think I might have played a small part in getting them to take action.

I never heard back from the Globe or the Herald, incidentally. And from what a friend has told me, they probably never will get back to me. My next step would have been to contact the Metro, the Boston Phoenix, and the Weekly Dig. Instead, I can relax and deal with other issues.

Oh, one more thing: it doesn't seem likely that the Franklin #715 train was the only one having problems. And I'm sure there will be hot cars aplenty, as well as lots of other problems; the sad truth is that the commuter rail system is under considerable strain, and will be for some time to come. So please, if you hear or see anything of interest, post a comment here - or email me.

Ride safe!

No Break for Franklin Riders!

It turned out that a few days of having an extra coach on the Franklin #715 train was NOT a harbinger of good things to come. Instead, it was the harbinger of doom.

Not only is the train back to six single-level coaches (at most), but they've put the worst conductor in the entire system back onto that run. He's the angry, rage-filled conductor; the rudest conductor I've ever seen. We'd all hoped that we'd seen the last of him when he disappeared about two years ago, but he's back.

The MBCR has, of course, been having a lot of problems lately. The conductor's union has reportedly been engaging in an unofficial slowdown, "working to the rules" in order to reduce the timeliness of the entire system to 84%. That's the worst performance of any commuter rail system in American, apparently.

I've certainly seen a difference. On almost every train one of the two doors and stairwells is now closed and unusable. I haven't seen any conductors complain if a passenger opens a closed stairwell, though, so at least that's a positive thing.

There was an article recently reporting that South Station trains have the worst record in the system. It's nice to have confirmation of what I suspected, although I wish that wasn't necessary.

Trains have been late more often than usual, and the Franklin #715 continues to be jam-packed every evening. There are, as always, ten or more standees per coach, and they stand for 25 minutes or longer.

In fact, for several days I took the extra time to go to South Station and board the train there rather than at Ruggles, just to be able to get a seat. I had a long-term medical test done (the results came in and I'm fine), and standing for long periods was extremely uncomfortable. I've also been going home at different times thanks to the weather and other circumstances of the season; most other Franklin trains that I've taken have considerably more capacity than the #715, for some reason, so I haven't had much to report.

But I've heard a number of stories from other passengers about terrible service on the line. It would seem that things just won't change under the MBCR. And since the MBTA just re-signed the MBCR to a three-year management contract, the future does not look bright.

The worst service in the nation (I got four free tickets recently for trains that were more than half an hour late), undoubtedly thousands of passenger complaints...and the MBTA rewards the MBCR.

Talk about taxation without representation! At this point, I have to wonder if passengers will just have to rise up and throw the management of both the MBCR and the MBTA into Boston Harbor.