I have taken three rides on the new Green Line Type-9 cars. I believe there is a design flaw with these cars that significantly increases dwell time at stations.
In 1959, Riverside patrons could make it to Park Steet in 35 minutes. In 2019, the scheduled time from Riverside to Park Street is now 46 minutes, 30% longer than 1959. It is my estimationi that the new Type-9 cars will add an additional three minutes to that time making it 49 minutes, 40% longer than sixty years ago.
The Type 9s-come with a new feature: a mirror on the right-front door that folds flat against the car when the doors are closed. When the train comes to a stop and the operator hits the switch to open the doors, the mirror takes 4-to-5 seconds to unfold. Only after the mirror has unfolded, does the front door begin to open. Now, I can hear some of you saying something sarcastic, like "What's the big deal with 4-to-5 seconds". Oh, did I mention that it also takes 4-to-5 seconds to fold up after the doors are completely closed.
THE TRAIN WILL NOT MOVE UNTIL THE MIRROR IS FOLDED FLAT AGAINST THE DOOR. So that's nine additonal seconds at each stop. There are 18 stops between Park Street and Riverside, and all those seconds add up to about three minutes. On Monday, 28-JAN-19, car 3900 left Park Street at 11:08 and arrived at Riverside at 11:57, 49 minutes later. That's 14 minutes longer than the old PCCs back in 1959. If we put that into dollars, at 28 minutes a day, even at minimum wage, that's $25 worth of peoples time ever week.
I invite you to read this article about New York's subways that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on 22-SEP-18. NYCTA goes out of its way to shave seconds from every subway ride. My criticism is that the MBTA doesn't care about minutes, let alone seconds.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-c ... 1537544194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
