MA Proposed Transportation Reform(Service Cuts/Impact)

mxdata wrote:Meanwhile they are on their 5th or 6th multi-million dollar "study" of commuter rail service expansion to New Bedford and Fall River

Great, another useless study........

City streets will be even more cluttered, parking lots in the city will fill up and the list goes on. In my opinion this would be a disaster in so many aspects for the city and the surrounding communities.

It's a disgusting tactic.

The changes described, combined with increasing fares, would reduce actual commuter rail use drastically, not nearly enough to pay for it. NO CSA's in stations? Fare evasion would skyrocket far beyond what it does now!

This is a despicable ploy to get the legislature to step in and give them money. With so many suburbanite legislatures and Tim Murray as proponents of public transportation, it just shows how USELESS our current government has become that this is the method the MBTA has to use in order to get results.

The reality is that where I live now, I depend on public transportation for my job and I need the hours it currents runs (well actually, I'd prefer later hours, but that is "impossible"). I need to find a new job where I can drive to, or a home closer to where I work, outside of Massachusetts if necessary. I can't live in a state and depend on a public transportation system that is used as a bargaining chip to afford generous benefit packages to state employees.

The state has touted "transportation-oriented development" which as we all know was one gigantic joke. We fell for it. Now we pay the price.

This is getting to crazy. They need to reform!!!

http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/career_o ... b_lottery/

"The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority invites you to learn more
about the upcoming 2009 Job Lottery, which will open in August 2009,
by completing the pre-job lottery form below.

* Part-Time Motorperson (Train Attendant) - $19.62**
Part-Time Bus Operator - $19.62**
Part-Time Streetcar Motorperson - $19.81**
Full-Time Track Laborer - $18.04
Part-Time Customer Service Agent (CSA) - $19.10**

* Will be required to work as a Part-Time Train Attendant ($19.34) and/or Part-Time Customer Service Agent
** Starting wage $10.00/hour during training"

This is outrages, $19.10 per hour for an part time CSA. All you needed is an High School Diploma. And also most people in Massachusetts make less then $19.10 per hour. No wonder they need more people. I don't see why an person sitting there and tell people how to use their Charlie Card get pay $19.10 an hour. They salary doesn't match what they do. No wonder people LOVE working for MBTA.

It's coming down to the split in the legislature between the urban districts and the Central and Western Mass. districts over raising the gas tax. The 19 cent a gallon increase Patrick wants isn't going to get through-9 cents is the figure being tossed around in the legislature by reps. opposed to the increase, and some are opposed to any increase at all. What I've always noticed about transit politically; everyone is for it, as long as somebody else pays for it.

itszjay wrote:This is getting to crazy. They need to reform!!!

http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/career_o ... b_lottery/

"The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority invites you to learn more
about the upcoming 2009 Job Lottery, which will open in August 2009,
by completing the pre-job lottery form below.

* Part-Time Motorperson (Train Attendant) - $19.62**
Part-Time Bus Operator - $19.62**
Part-Time Streetcar Motorperson - $19.81**
Full-Time Track Laborer - $18.04
Part-Time Customer Service Agent (CSA) - $19.10**

* Will be required to work as a Part-Time Train Attendant ($19.34) and/or Part-Time Customer Service Agent
** Starting wage $10.00/hour during training"

This is outrages, $19.10 per hour for an part time CSA. All you needed is an High School Diploma. And also most people in Massachusetts make less then $19.10 per hour. No wonder they need more people. I don't see why an person sitting there and tell people how to use their Charlie Card get pay $19.10 an hour. They salary doesn't match what they do. No wonder people LOVE working for MBTA.

How do you know the salaray doesn't match what they do unless you are one that works the job daily and knows all the ins and outs? Same thing with people that just say all conductors do is just tickets? Yea it may look that way most of the time but how do they really know the life of a conductor unless they worked as one. Dealing with customers daily in general can be very stressful. There are other jobs out there that pay $17 18 an hr on just a high school diploma that don't appear to do much. Yea being a CSA isn't heavly physical labor but you are on your feet a lot moving around trying to educate other people on how to use machines, in clold and hot stations during the season change etc etc...

You can either pay people half that wage to deal with the public every day and deal with nonstop turnover, or pay them that wage and keep them. The costs of recruiting and training are not nil. This is the MBTA, not CVS.

I should probably add that it seems kind of silly to have a full time track laborer make less than a train attendant, motorperson or CSA. Especially the latter.

Are there reforms that are needed at the T? Surely. Do they amount to slashing everyone's wages? Probably not.

What is rarely talked about is the debt issue. The MBTA is well on its way to becoming a debt servicing agency that runs trains and buses on the side. Take a look at the MBTA advisory board's report on the debt situation, and you'll see that when you come down to it, a lot of the histrionics that go on about wages, benefits, lights being left on at a station, etc., are really re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic until the debt problem is tackled.

BORN BROKE:How the MBTA found itself with too much debt, the corrosive effects of this debt, and a comparison of the T’s deficit to its peers

As others have alluded to, as long as these numbers are ignored, and year-to-year band-aids are applied, this annual threat of fare hikes and service cuts will continue and worsen. In the long run, if this service cut proposal sparks some action, it will do us all some good. (For reference, read up on progress that SEPTA has made since transit funding issues came to a head in Pennsylvania, not that things are completely settled there.) The numbers speak for themselves. Soon the T will be spending more on debt servicing each year than it takes in in fare revenue - as anyone who's racked up endless credit card debt knows, that's a downward spiral you can't recover from.

In terms of the 300+ Customer Service Agents, I'd suggest cutting the majority. There is no reason they are needed except at stations frequented by tourists. Keep them at South Station, North Station, Downtime Crossing etc.., but eliminate them from the majority. If you could reduce by half, 10 million isn't a bad place to start even if you get the gas tax or fare hike.

What I would like to know is: How exactly would this affect commuter rail and its employees who may work behind the scenes, such as train dispatchers and train directors? Federal law mandates that the commuter rail lines be supervised 24-7, and where I work at Waltham Tower, we still have live freight traffic (even if it's down to one train a month if we're lucky).I do work on the wekeends, and with no weekend commuter rail service, what would protect us from losing our jobs?

Will the MBTA/MBCR management club just ignore FRA regulations and shut us down on the nights/weekends anyway? They are arrogant and clueless enough to do it, so I won't look to them for any assistance. I'm just curious if this type of thing has gone on anywhere else and if anyone knows what other railroads have done in similar situations.

I think its just a threat, but at the same time the legislature is dragging its feet. Honestly, in the billions that have been given in bailouts to everyone, why hasn't the MBTA got one? 8billion compared to what the banks, auto industry got...that's nothing.

TheOperator wrote:What I would like to know is: How exactly would this affect commuter rail and its employees who may work behind the scenes, such as train dispatchers and train directors? Federal law mandates that the commuter rail lines be supervised 24-7, and where I work at Waltham Tower, we still have live freight traffic (even if it's down to one train a month if we're lucky).I do work on the wekeends, and with no weekend commuter rail service, what would protect us from losing our jobs?

Will the MBTA/MBCR management club just ignore FRA regulations and shut us down on the nights/weekends anyway? They are arrogant and clueless enough to do it, so I won't look to them for any assistance. I'm just curious if this type of thing has gone on anywhere else and if anyone knows what other railroads have done in similar situations.

I don't see that happening if they were to ignore any FRA reguations then they would be facing some heavy fines.

As much as I am a big believer and supporter of public transportation in Boston and elsewhere, I believe the time to let the MBTA die off is now. As has been mentioned in previous posts, the enourmous debt that the T is on the hook for makes any reform futile and only prolongs the agony for the T and public that depends on it.
The T should be allowed to bottom out and file for bankruptcy. I'm not sure of the legality of it, and not entirely sure if the MBTA is run by the state or if it is officially one of the many alphabet soup quasi-state authorities.

I think a bankruptcy filing will accomplish a few things:

1) Allow the MBTA to shed itself of the terrible union contracts that is saddled with and make some changes, namely:
Retirement after 30 years once you've reached the age of 55. (This is how it is for a lot of city jobs. State employess only have to do 25 currently with the T employees getting out at 23 at any age.)
Also, the T should clean house of it's entire management staff and start fresh with people from outside the state who have proven experience running mass transit, and not hire some state legislator's cousin or campaign contributor. Hire people who actually will use the system so they will understand what riders experience. Too many of the higher ups on the T and T board hardly use the commuter rail, buses, ferries, or subway.

2) The dept service has to be actually addressed and the state has to help out the T on some level and maybe apply for federal help because it is a debt cycle which no business can return from, especially when you plan on losing 50 passenger trips a year and their fare revenue with the new cuts.

3) Drastic cuts in service will surely make the traffic congestion much worse going in and out of Boston during rush hour commutes, during sox games, games/events at the Garden. I think things have to get worse before they get better in order for people to realize how important a well-run, and properly funded system is to Boston and the surronding area. Even for people who hate the T and never ride it will be foreced to admit that it affects them when there are 10,000 more cars on RT. 93 for the morning commute and they have to leave for work an hour earlier. Businesses will suffer from loss of productivity from people stuck in traffic, deliveries and service calls running late, and workers leaving the city for jobs closer to home in the suburbs.
Maybe this will get the powers that be in Boston off their behinds and have them start calling for reform at the T. The flow of people and their money willl slowly be choked off from Boston and in this poor economy, it could start a real free fall for the city and turn it into a glorified Buffalo, Springfield, MA or any old industrial town in the Northeast that has seen businesses and citizens flee the city.

Also, as much as I would like to see proposed service expansion/restoration of service for commuter rail, subway, and ferries, if and when the T is reorganized they must use their money to fix and upgrade the tracks, stations, and equipment that they already have. When all that is completed, only then can the T start expanding. It very well might not happen for 20 years and I don't like it, but it might be the case unless a lot of federal money is brought in.

I use the T for work and I will be greatly affected by their service cuts, but I think it is necessary to have the state step back and let the T expire and start fresh.

I do remember the B&M/MBTA shutting down on a weekend when there was a budget showdown. Early 80's I believe.

No weekend passenger service. The only reason why a Train Director was brought in 1st Trick Saturday was to
get an empty rail train off the property. The train was at West Cambridge in the North Yard. Once it went
by Martin Street, it was shut the door behind you and go home.

So anything is possible.

d

Choo Choo Coleman wrote: The T should be allowed to bottom out and file for bankruptcy. I'm not sure of the legality of it, and not entirely sure if the MBTA is run by the state or if it is officially one of the many alphabet soup quasi-state authorities.

Yah I've been wondering for some time if some outside agency could perhaps "buy" the T's infrastructure, leaving the MBTA simply as a shell agency with no assets to file for bankruptcy.