Astounding

From the blue line chief, regarding a message I sent about the new train announcements:

Thank you for you comments regarding the new LED Signs, and station
announcements. The announcements are triggered by the signal system that
governs train movement. It is possible to countdown to train arrivals,
but the decision was made to limit the number of approaching train
announcements.

I'm stunned.
So the T CAN do it, but they just don't feel like it?!

Money For Nothing

A cut of the profit of sales?
How does that make any sense?
By getting people in your store to get the card, they're likely to buy something from you. It's called "loss-leading".
So now the T is not only getting businesses to help fund the card and system in the form of advertising, but they're giving them money back to them?
How about a cut in the price of the frigging fare for the people who have to look at your stupid corporate logo everywhere?

Link to the Globe article:

http://tinyurl.com/rhr96

Nice Laaaaayyydeeey!

Apparently the monthly pass policy has been that you must be in the system for 20 minutes before you are allowed back in once you exit. This is to discourage "pass-backs" of monthly passes. That's fine, though 20 minutes is too long. So with the old turnstyles, you'd be locked out, but could always flash your pass at the person the booth, and they'd let you in the handicap entrance.

Not so with the Charlie Card. There is still the 20 minute window, but now they won't even let you through, as experienced by the guy in this article:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/07/even_unlimited_t_passes_have_limits/

Well today it happened to me.

Today I had to get out at South Station to get some cash, as there are no BofA ATM's in the Marine Industrial Park.
So I got to SS and politely asked the CSA - who was a complete bitch, literally, I was 6" from her saying "excuse me, excuse me" and she just kept looking the other way - if I could come back in, as I had a monthly pass.
"Have you been on for 20 minutes?"
"I think so, but I'm not sure"
"Then you'll have to pay again"
"But I've got a monthly pass, you are seeing me exit, and I will come to you to get back in, can I do that?"
"I don't care what you do, as long as it's been 20 minutes."

Nice.

Former token sellers are now referred to as CSA's, or Customer Service Agents. I'm thinking that the acronym really stands for inCompetent Surly Assholes.

Out Of Touch

I've written a bit about the new LED train arrival announcement system, and how hopefully it will get better, and actually let you know when the train will arrive. Currently, it only tells you when the train is about to enter the station. Nice, but utterly useless, as you can see the damn thing coming anyway.

Then today I read this from the Globe:

"The system can count down the minutes until a train arrives, but Grabauskas said that isn't necessary.

'You don't need 15 minutes lead time for a rapid transit train," he said. ''If you know you have enough time to get down the stairs, that may be all the information our customers need.' "

What a dope. He clearly drives to work.
Looks like the new boss is, in fact, the same as the old boss.
If the technology is ALREADY THERE, why not use it?

Balancing Act

To the people who think that they can hold a hot cup of coffee in one hand, a magazine or something else in the other, while standing, NOT hold onto a grab bar on the train, and manage to not fall victim to the laws of motion:

YOU CAN'T.

There was a woman today who tried that and fell everytime the train started and stopped, the whole way into town.
Plus, she was a doctor or nurse, unless she just liked to wear scrubs, and had a packet of Marlboro reds poking out of her jacket.

Nice.

Mr. Mac Has A Tale

Thought you’d appreciate this- I got off at Malden Station last night, and it was raining so I went to take the bus, but where the 101 picks people up there was a bus with a hand-written sign in the side window that said “93”. So, I looked at the front of the bus and the LED sign in front (the one on the side was broken) said “101”. When I got on, this cranky-ass bus driver was lambasting this woman passenger in her 60’s saying “Have you ever taken the 93?!? Have you?!? Have you ever seen it at Malden Station?!? No! Because it doesn’t go to Malden Station, so how could this be the 93 bus?!?” It was crazy. So, when I was getting off at my stop I asked if he wanted me to take down the hand-written sign. He said “No, whatever, it’s fine”. My phone started ringing, so that’s all I said. Lucky for him, because I was going to drag him out of the bus and attack him with my sock full of rocks if my phone hadn’t rung.

Helpful

My T stop got the new fare gates installed, and as promised there were helpful T employees showing people how to use the new ticket machines.
Helpful, that is, if you were only travelling to and from stations that accept the new tickets.
A family of 6 was buying tickets, and the T guy told them that they only needed to buy 1 ticket, but put enough value on it for all 6 riders.
What he didn't tell them was that that ticket wouldn't be valid for their return trip!
Given their full-on red sox gear, I assumed that they were going to the game last night.
So I walked up, next to the T guy and asked them if they were going.
Yes, they replied.
Well, you're going to have to buy 6 tokens for your return trip then once you get to Kenmore (or Ruggles, if they were taking the shuttle).
Why, they cried, but, we just bought 12 rides on this ticket!
Well, that guy forgot to tell you that the new value-added tickets aren't usable in the old turnstile stations.
DOH!

New Scam, I mean, Fare Structure

So with the new Charlie Card comes a huge fare increase.
We heard about this awhile back, and it's a good notice this time, with the increase to start in January 2007.
It's still a giant increase though, especially considering that they are elminating the subway and bus passes to make a combo pass called the OnePass.
There are combo passes now, and that's great if you happen to take the bus and subway on a regular basis.
I don't, and now my pass will go from $44 to $62 a month since I can take the bus if I want to - and I don't.
This means that now the T will cost more than the NYC subway for a monthly rider.

Nice one!

Out Of Sight...

This morning a conductor was cleaning up all the Metro papers that the idiots left on the floor of the train.
This is clearly not his job, so it's cool he even did it.
BUT.
Instead of picking them up and walking, literally, 4 feet away to put them in the bin, he took about 5 minutes to jam them down between the platform and the train.
Did he think that they wouldn't be visible once the train pulled out of the station.
What an asshole.

Too Bus-y To Do Anything About It

Scene:
Oak Grove bus stop.
A mild mannered T bus approaches.
Eager commuters crane their necks to catch a glimpse of the bus route on the LED sign.
Not surprisingly, the sign is all wacky, and there is a nice white sheet of paper taped to the windshield with the route number on it.
For the first time ever, the sign is not written with a sharpie, but is printed from a computer.
What's this? Route 101? But that goes from Malden Ctr. to Sullivan Square.
Oh, I see, the side LED sign has the correct route number on it.
But wait, there is also a paper 101 sign below the LED.
What is going on?
So I step onto the bus (#0250) and ask the driver if this is indeed going where I want to be.
Yeah, comes the surly reply, it's on the side sign.
But, pointing to sign on the front window, you know this says '101', right?
Yeah, and the side sign says the correct route.
But, there is also a '101' sign underneath, so which is it?
It's 'XXX'!
Oh. why don't you take down the paper signs then?
Well what if they switch this bus to the other route?
Oh-Kay.

Since the bus was stopping at a T stop, they tend to wait for a load of people to board, so it wasn't that big a deal. However, when a bus is coming at you at 40 MPH, and you're waiting on the curb at a bus stop, you look at the front window.
If the route displayed is not the one you want, you generally step back, and the driver knows to keep on going past you.
Now if you had stepped back from this bus, there is no way you could see the side LED, with the correct route, until the bus almost ran you down.
By that point, you've missed the bus.

Free Rides!

If you're especially skint, or you just like sticking it to the man, head on over to Oak Grove in the next few weeks for a free ride on the T.
They are in the midst of replacing the old turnstiles with the new Charlie Card fare gates, and barely have staff watching commuters going into the station.
I have a monthly pass, and you can only see if it is current by looking at the back.
Have I once been asked to show the pass back?
Nope.
Yesterday afternoon the "watcher" was getting a coffee at D&D's while groups of people just waltzed in.
And what's with the coin box they've got going? Do you think they'll check to see if you chucked in $1.25, a token, or a washer?
Nope.
And even if they did open the thing up, how could they prove you scammed them?
Here's an idea to generate more revenue, Mr. Grabauskas:
MONITOR THE FARE GATES.

Expensive Litter-ature

Today the T is handing out full color leaflets telling the travelling public to be aware of potential terrorist action.
They're nice leaflets, 3 panel, nice design, and of course, totally useless.
"If you see something, say something." "Accidentally left behind, or an accident waiting to happen?"
I was handed one by a smiling (!) T employee on my way into the station, and by the time I got to the train, there were loads of discarded copies on the ground, in the bin - where I put mine - and on the train seats.
All these handouts will accomplish is a (most likely) union affiliated print shop making a tidy profit, and the cleaning guy getting some overtime.
The Metro noted that 30,000 would be handed out on the commuter rail. I'm guessing that means that about 100,000 were produced for this event, as they can only have enough staff to hand them out at "key" stations in the T system.
Instead of placing trash around the system, why not have more POLICE on the trains and in the stations?

A Quick Response

I'm stunned. I had sent a quick letter to the Orange line chief - who probably doesn't really know the dilli-o - cc'd the GM, of course, and got a response from engineering.

From the T:


Thank you for your interest and for taking the time to write to us
regarding the new LED signs.

The new signs are part of an on-going project which is updating our PA
and LED announcement capabilities at key stations. The signs you
mention will provide service-related information, such as approaching
train information, next train designation and service announcements.
The information will begin transmitting in early April.

Thank you again for your inquiry and for your continued support of
public transportation.

Sincerely,
Caroline


Caroline Dunne
Infrastructure & Engineering
500 Arborway, Second Floor
Jamaica Plain, MA. 02130
617 222 1820 - Tel
617 222 3918 - Fax
cdunne@mbta.com

DTX LED

I noticed the new orange LED signs at DTX today.
Other than the size and color, are they any different than the old red signs?
That is, are they actually going to tell us anything other than not to smoke?
How much more money can the T waste on stuff like this?
Whose brother works for the sign company?
In case you're not in the know, the T has had LED signs for years in many stations. I can imagine that they cost a good amount, even if the T goes with the lowest bidder.
The thing is that these signs have done NOTHING. EVER.
All they've told is not to smoke and to visit mbta.com.
They are almost as bad as the "announcements" the T makes telling us to hold on to the handrail on escalators.

Orange Scorn

Mr. Mac feels slighted, and perhaps a bit scared....


I was leaning on the conductor’s booth door this morning when it opened up. The conductor, a middle-aged woman, apologized, as did I for leaning against the door. Then she went to the middle of the train to check something out, and when she came back to the booth she said to me “You shouldn’t lean against that door because I might have to open it again. In fact, I might open it up on purpose if you’re leaning against it”. How about that?

You Knew I'd Be Pissed About This

Right then, another fare hike.
Another year of no improvements.
Another lame excuse.
And yet another reason to HATE UNIONS.
Really, does an organization as small as the MBTA need 30 unions?
I'm not familiar with the details, but why?
So say you've got your unions for the people who repair the trains and drive the trains, and maybe another for the conductors.
Who else is part of a union?
The cleaners?
I'm pretty sure they're 3rd party contracts, not T employees.
The management?
Nope, they are definitely not unionized.
Who else then?
In reality, you don't need any unions, as this country has LABOR LAWS.
The only people benefitting from the union are the union bosses.
The T has raised fares about 54% since I started taking it daily into Boston, say in the last 6 years or so.
I want to rage quite a bit longer on the fare hike, but I've got so much to say that I can't type as fast as my mind is grinding away.

"Got to stay in touch even though we’re on the move/Keep your lines open, say, what’s new"

here's an old story i forgot to report:

one afternoon my green line train was stopped for 15 mins+ between kenmore and hynes convention. one simple action prevented anarchy: the conductor actually picked up his microphone and told us WHAT WAS GOING ON! i know, it's a crazy idea but i swear it's the truth. he not only told us why we were stopped (the signals were down or something like that) but he told us how long we should expect to wait. whomever this man was, he should be schooling his coworkers in common sense.

They Should Call It The Brown Line

Because it's SHITE.

Really, how hard is it to schedule?
Last night there was a South Station bound bus sitting at my stop, just idling. With all the lights on. So you assumed you could get on. But there wasn't a driver in it.
So instead, we waited 10 minutes until a very packed bus from Logan showed up.
The Logan buses have luggage racks, meaning there isn't much standing room if the seats are taken, and they were.
As it pulled up, 2 more SS bound buses showed up, but we weren't allowed in them.
Then they didn't even express the far-too-full bus I was on through to SS, even though there were 2 empty buses behind us. They just kept letting people get on.
By the time we got to SS, I felt like I was on one of those Japanese subway cars. You know, like this:



When we got to SS, the 1st bus behind us had 5 people on it, and the 2nd one had 2.
That's some good planning.

The List

I've been getting a list together of all the orange line cars that have maps showing the Auditorium stop on them, as well as showing a green/orange connection at Forest Hills.
Auditorium was changed to Hynes/ICA in 1988/89, and the Arborway section of the green was shut down around the same time.
For years I've been asking the T to get the maps fixed.
The response?
"We checked out the cars, and didn't find any with the old map."
Uh-huh.
I'll have the full list of car numbers to send to the orange line chief in a week or so.

Get. Out. Of. My. Way.

What is wrong with you people?
Are you drinking before work?
Why can't you walk in a straight line?
Tip: A set of stairs is generally about 6' wide.
That means two people can walk side by side up or down the stairs.
When you walk in the middle, nobody can pass you.