Keolis to introduce new schedules by 11/1/15

The MBTA and Keolis have postponed the new schedules until "spring", after a period of public feedback on the topic.
http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news_eve ... nth=&year=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In December, the MBTA will release in draft form proposed new schedules for both North Side and South Side services, along with specific plans for extensive public engagement. Following the period of public engagement, MassDOT and the MBTA will make changes based on the feedback received and then implement the new schedules for the entire Commuter Rail system in spring 2016.

Seems like they have gotten plenty of feedback already. :\

One word (ok, maybe two): utter incompetence.

The trick now will be to organize good, constructive feedback to make better schedules. Getting everyone to scream "NO" is the easy part.

Glad I grabbed them when I could. In case you want them for reference, the schedules that were rescinded are all in my archive:

http://www.dbperry.net/MBTA/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I see they're going to look for "feedback". What a novel idea: ask the people who use the service.

BostonUrbEx wrote:

Rockingham Racer wrote:Connecticut has a group of commuters who act as some sort of feedback entity. I think they make some noise about issues, as well.
I'm willing to bet the T has no such thing, and if it doesn't, it should.

I believe the T Riders Union would be the MBTA equivalent if I'm following you here.

I googled the group; they have a website and a Facebook page. However, it seems to be an advocacy group for minority transit riders in Boston.
There's no indication that they have a voice in any authoritative way with the T, but perhaps they do. That's the Connecticut model.

I received this email today from MA Sen. McGee's office:

Dear Diverging Route:
I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for your email to our office regarding the commuter rail schedule changes. After reviewing those changes, hearing from constituents, and collaborating with colleagues to voice concern, Senator McGee is pleased to let you know that the MBTA has announced they will not be implementing the schedule changes until the Spring. The Senator spoke directly with Transportation Secretary Pollack about the matter and our office worked closely with MBTA staff to advocate for this hold on implementation due to the ramifications it would have on our constituents. The MBTA and Keolis will be incorporating feedback they have, and continue to, receive from legislators and customers before releasing in draft form proposed new schedules, along with plans for extensive public engagement prior to final adjustments and Spring 2016 implementation. It is important that you continue to be engaged in this process. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office in the future.

The Ridership Oversight Council, which was formed about a decade ago to consolidate the T's meetings with certain advocacy groups, has some responsibility as well. We're officially MBTA sanctioned and have the ability to call most MBTA employees to a meeting to answer questions, and some departments like Marketing actually do listen to us. Public comment is accepted at monthly meetings, and if we find an issue pressing then we'll take up the cause. In this case, the blowback over the schedules reached the tipping point before we needed to do anything.

Interesting. Are there minutes of meetings? If so, is there a place we could read them?

Never mind. I found the website.

A colleague suggested that part of public input be to include early getaway service on days such as holiday eves. Great idea. NY MTA does it very well.

Diverging Route wrote:A colleague suggested that part of public input be to include early getaway service on days such as holiday eves. Great idea. NY MTA does it very well.

Metra did it yesterday, as well.

It comes down to an earlier comment on this thread: the schedule should match times when people ride. Not rocket science.

Okay a couple of things to consider here:

1) Boston is neither NYC nor Chicago. Both in terms of population and dynamics. So just how much of a market would there be for a form of early getaway service for those who take the commuter rail? And yes Shore Line East has 1-2 getaway trains, but those might as well be bundled in with MNR given the overlaps in ridership patterns on both services.

2) "The Hub" is in many ways a small town by nature so (to add somewhat to point #1) would there be a market for commuters who pretty much have a routine? They'd probably just either not go into work that day or if they have to just "wing it". The routine part would appear to be the main reason why so many commuters are loudly crying foul over these new schedules. If a significant schedule change were to happen on say the New Haven Line folks wouldn't like it, but they'd take it in stride since the NHL schedule has a large number of options to begin with.

3) Could one reason for the lack of true service enhancements on certain lines at certain times in the day be due to equipment and capacity limitations?

4) With the T's finances being what they are and with the daunting task they have to fix and replace one thing or another perhaps these changes are meant to make (financially) better use of their resources? In a perfect world they'd get a blank check and add a ton of zeros to the total, but... well...

5) This would be a great opportunity for everyone who uses the T to petition that control of the MBTA be handed over completely to the commuters themselves; a "commuters supreme court" of sorts. Who else better to have final say on schedule changes and fare hikes than the taxpaying folks who would be directly affected? This would make the T a true example of TRUE public transportation; transportation funded AND controlled by the people.

Re: "Early Getaway" My personal experience over years of commuting showed much larger loads on mid-afternoon outbounds (1500-ish to Haverhill, comparable Newburyport schedule) on Fridays and the day before a holiday. I don't know if management paid attention; I never saw one of those trains reach standing room only like the 1700-ish schedules regularly do. But it's simple enough to study, possibly without even spending $250K on consultants.

Re: punting the new schedules. Once upon a time, when schedules were locally generated by staff, it would be simple to sort out the changes made to satisfy budget demands from those made to use available track better. It probably would have even been doable in two weeks. The current Haverhill timetable could really use a few of the latter, the Eastern Route also but probably not as bad (more thought about the Salem Tunnel, mostly).

artman wrote:This smacks of straightforward data driven scheduling, period

The problem is what data is used.

That is increased by people who want to run a service "like a business" but have never actually run a customer-facing business in their life and don't even understand that.

End result is a spreadhseet showing trains sorted by "profit" and all those under an arbitrary line get cut. Zero thought about the network effect and zero thought about all the secondary benefits.

Diverging Route wrote:A colleague suggested that part of public input be to include early getaway service on days such as holiday eves. Great idea. NY MTA does it very well.

NJ Transit does this, but badly. All they say is "early gateway service to begin at 3pm on Friday" and then give zero actual details on the schedule :/