A Rider’s Assessment of the Red Line

Nayna Sasidharan, a graduate student at Emerson College, and Red Line commuter living in Somerville, gives her take on the Red Line.

Since moving to Boston, I have always been thankful of the fact that I live on the red line.
But that opinion changed for the past week.
I do not mind the usual delay or stop but it has happened at least once everyday since last week’s storm. And I ride the T everyday. The Red line had shut down service two days in a row, mid-way because of “medical emergencies.” Hundreds of people will the be crowding at either Central or Kendall to catch the next line.
I’m presuming things were to good to be true for me and the red line. The last week of incidents have completely erased my months of peace on the train.

Many commuters can probably sympathize with Nayna. As a daily B-line rider living near Packard’s Corner, I experience substantial delays on a daily basis, and that’s assuming service is running normally.

I had hoped that the fare increase that took effect in January would lead to better reliability all around. In some cases, like the recent initiative to improve certain bus lines, it has. But the subway and Green Line trolleys don’t seem to be getting much better. Let’s hope things change for the better soon.

Green Line Doors Close Early

Mac Daniel writes in this week’s Starts and Stops column that a Green Line operator closed the doors too early at the Government Center T stop, causing a mother to be separated from her 7-year old daughter, and nearly crushing her 8-month-old daughter.

“My 7-year-old boarded, and I was immediately behind her bending down to lift my 8-month-old [who was in a stroller] onto the trolley. To my horror, the driver closed the door on me and my 8-month-old. [My 5-year-old daughter and my mother were immediately behind me].

A T inspector who was nearby ordered the train to wait at Haymarket so the mother and daughter could be reunited. The operator could face disciplinary action if it is found that he violated T policy.

Bridge Problems Bring Problems to D-line

The D-line is currently being substituted with buses between Riverside and Reservoir due to a bridge problem at Centre St in Newton.

According to an MBTA spokesman, the substitution will occur until the bridge is repaired. There is no estimate as to how long that will take, and D-line riders should expect delays.

Boston College Proposes New T Stop

According to the Allston-Brighton TAB, Boston College proposed relocating the Boston College T stop on the B-line (the line’s terminus) from it’s current location to the Middle of Comm Ave as part of it’s Master Plan that will be filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

The proposed station would be nearly 400-feet long and would improve traffic flow near the intersection of Comm Ave and Lake St. Currently trains must cross Comm Ave to finish their run into Boston College.

Reminder: Red Line Disruption This Weekend

From the start of service this morning February 17 until the end of service on Monday February 19, Red Line service will be substituted by buses between Broadway and Ashmont on the Red Line.

For riders of the Braintree branch, this means riders will have to be bused between Broadway and JFK/UMass, although the MBTA alert site fails to mention this.

Allow extra time for your travel between the South Shore and points north.

Credit Card Acceptance Erratic

Today I went to buy my March Linkpass for my CharlieCard at a Fare Vending Machine (FVM) at the Boylston outbound T stop. I tapped my CharlieCard at the target on the machine, selected the proper pass type, and said I would pay with a credit card. I inserted my card, and got a message saying my bank card was not valid for purchases.

What struck me as odd is that I’ve used the same credit card to buy T passes for the previous 2 months. After getting the error message on the second attempt, I used my debit card, which worked fine. Both the debit and credit card were issued by Bank of America, and it is beyond me why the credit card wouldn’t work like it did the past 2 months.

In December, the MBTA inadvertently charged riders for passes they never purchased after the FVM gave a credit card error. I hope the same thing didn’t happen to me tonight.

Arborway Trolley Dead? Not So Fast

Today’s Boston Globe reports that supporters of restoring the E-line between Heath St. and Arborway filed a lawsuit against the state and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) over the CLF’s agreement with the state to kill the project in exchange for other mass transit improvements.

The E-line between Heath St. and Arborway has been “temporarily suspended” since December of 1985, and it would cost an estimated $58 million to restore service. The state has been opposed to the idea because it would eliminate parking spots along Centre St. in Jamaica Plain. The Route 39 bus provides service between Heath St. and Arborway.
The state originally agreed to restore service as part of a 1990 agreement to offset environmental concerns from the Big Dig.

The CLF decided to stop pushing the state for restoration after the state agreed to build a Red/Blue line connection and explore alternative mass transit solutions for Jamaica Plain. As a result, yesterday’s lawsuit was filed by the Arborway Committee.

Inspectors Riding the Green Line

In the days since I wrote about the POP situation on the Green Line, it appears that inspectors have started riding some busier runs on the B-line outbound, and hopping off at each stop to inspect passes and validate CharlieCards so people can board through the rear doors. In addition, more operators have begun issuing POP reciepts to cash paying customers.

However, fare evasion still remains a problem. At around 5 pm tonight on the B-line inbound, a woman boarded through the rear door at Blandford St clutching $2 in her hand. As soon as she managed to board through the rear door, she put her money away and made no effort to go to the front to pay her fare.

The MBTA seems to be making an effort to collect fares on the Green Line, but more work needs to be done to make sure those of us who actually pay the fare aren’t subsidizing those who aren’t.

POP on the Green Line

When the MBTA raised the fares on January 1st, the Green Line became a what is known as a Proof of Payment (POP) system. At least that’s how the MBTA kind of envisioned it.

The basic concept was that passengers who paid with cash-on-board would be given a reciept with a date stamp to show to an inspector who would randomly board the train to make sure everyone paid their fares (CharlieCard and Charlieticket holders would be able to provide their card or ticket to the inspector for validation). This was supposed to allow the T to open all the doors on the Green Line, with cash and stored value CharlieCard and Charlieticket payers boarding at the front door and waving or swiping their card/ticket at the farebox. Pass holders were supposed to be able to board at any door, with the roving inspectors coming by to verify that they held a valid pass or had paid the fare.

But the inspectors seemingly never actually come on board the train like was originally planned. In some cases the doors open at stops with an inspector who carries out the pass validation/CharlieCard value deduction. But most stops no longer have an inspector present, so the operator either opens all the doors and tries to beg people who boarded through the back doors to come to the front to pay, or only opens the front door to prevent fare evasion. Either way, the handing out of receipts to cash payers was something that was not routinely occurring, and plenty of people are boarding the train without going to the front to pay.

Today while riding the C-line outbound, it was surprising to see the operator actually hand out POP receipts. Maybe this is a sign that inspectors will actually start boarding the trains soon.

CharlieCard a Success or Failure?

A snafu of sorts occurred yesterday when Mac Daniel of The Boston Globe wrote a story citing CharlieCard usage statistics that were questionable at best. In particular, the following quote:

In addition, 87 percent of all bus passengers used the low-fare CharlieCards, while 13 percent of riders paid a surcharge. On Green Line surface stops, 96 percent paid with CharlieCards and 4 percent paid a surcharge.

Anyone who rides the Green Line knows those figures were dead wrong. Many people still have passes on Charlietickets. Many pass sales locations are still selling passes on Charlietickets. In fact, all college students in the Boston area who participate in the MBTA’s semester pass program are still being issued their monthly passes on Charlietickets. Particularly on the B-line, where many riders are students, there is nowhere near 96% CharlieCard usage. Even the statistic that only 4% of Green Line surface stop riders paid a surcharge is questionable, based on what I see on the B-line everyday.

Thankfully that story has been taken off the web, including the MBTA’s website, which used the Globe story as a press release.

A new story by Daniel was posted on Boston.com today, which corrects the terminology used.

Based on the statistics released yesterday, by the end of January, 86 percent of T riders were using CharlieCards and 14 percent used CharlieTickets or paid cash and had to pay the surcharge. Grabauskas hopes to lower the percentage of people who rely on the paper tickets in the next several months.

That figure covers the system as a whole. It still seems totally inaccurate based on personal observations. In fact other bloggers, like Kevin Vahey of Charlie on the MBTA have questioned that figure as well.

More troubling is Daniel’s headline and lede in that story indicate that the automated fare collection has cut down on fare evaders. That is a very very questionable conclusion. If anything, as I wrote a few days ago, the way the MBTA implemented the system makes it easier than ever to beat the fare. I watch people do it every day.

The Metro wrote a story with yet another version of the usage figures, which seems more believable than the first two.

Since the beginning of January, 1.2 million CharlieCards have been distributed and approximately 86 percent of boardings during that month have been with the card or a monthly pass as opposed to the Charlie Ticket. That means, out of 22 million boardings in January, 19 million were made with CharlieCards or passes.

This story shows a glaring mess. The MBTA came up with a fare structure so convoluted that they can’t even get the figures right. Even worse, they’re relying on The Boston Globe to do Public Relations for them.