I was in Boston for a few days about a week ago, and rode the T quite a few times over the course of my 3 full and 2 partial days there (photos to come, don't worry). This was my first "real" visit to Boston since 2002 IIRC, I was there briefly a few times in 2004 and also for a wedding in 2009, I never rode the system on the 2009 visit at all but I did get a few photos, and I'll be honest and say I can see why people say the system has improved in recent years. However, I don't understand why some on this board (and others) think that the MBTA is a model transit system that WMATA and other agencies ought to emulate.
Let's start with the positives:
1. Flat fares do have an advantage when adding money to a farecard (though mileage based fares have plenty of advantages too for certain circumstances), and the tables on the machines to help you do the math are convenient.
2. Fare machines in the baggage claim allow one to be productive (adding money to fare media) while waiting for baggage to come
3. The faregates make an audible tone when the CharlieCard is processed and accepted (London does this too with its Oyster cards, I'm generally opposed to all the noise pollution that WMATA has added over the years but wouldn't mind seeing this feature added)
And I think that is where the list of positives end. Here are my observed negatives, and quite a few are issues cited as criticisms of WMATA, and in many of these cases WMATA is performing far better than the MBTA.
1. Why aren't the targets for CharlieCard more clearly marked on fare machines and fare gates? That black rectangular thing is the target? It should be made much more clear, not to mention it is a missed branding opportunity for the riders not using CharlieCard. I'm an experienced transit user and I had trouble locating the target on the fare vending machines especially.
2. For all the whining people do about WMATA's escalators, the MBTA didn't perform all that much better. Among others, the escalator from the Blue Line to the Green Line at Government Center was out of order when I was arriving from the airport, and I saw travelers struggling to get their bags up the stairs. Unlike at National Airport, where the down escalator was also not working when I went to get my flight to Boston, there is no elevator or alternate exit with an escalator.
3. Those big LED signs that announce the next train only once it is approaching and arriving on the Blue, Orange, and Red Lines are great. Too bad they don't count down to the trains or work at all on the Green Line or Mattapan Trolley.
4. The MBTA's mostly automated announcements often misfire or don't play properly, and the manual ones aren't a whole lot better. The Blue Line door chimes frequently go off after the train is well out of the station (but not when the doors actually close). Not all surface Green line stops are announced automatically. The operators seem to be mandated to make their own announcements in addition to the automated ones to announce which side the doors will open on and that "bus connections" are available at nearly every station. Why not just get the voice guy (who I don't like, as a personal opinion) to rerecord the announcements? And what about getting the on board LEDs to show information when the announcements aren't playing?
5. LCD destination signs? The old roll signs on the Green Line trolleys were far easier to read, and the railfan in me doesn't like the half assed job they did in covering up the old roll sign display on the interior of the Type 7 trolleys, WMATA did far better with the Rohrs by covering the sign boxes entirely.
6. The Green Line has got to be the worst "subway" line anywhere. First off, it isn't a real subway line, but whatever. It is slow, the trains get bunched up frequently and easily, the ride is very jerky and uncomfortable, it is always overcrowded, and the boarding procedures on the surface are asinine at best. The introduction of CharlieCard would have been a great time to bring the boarding procedure on this line into the 21st century, but they seem to have missed out on the opportunity. Everyone still has to board up front, which means climbing up the stairs at the front of a Type 8, and then climbing back down the stairs on the inside of the car so other people can fit on board. Have a pass? Through the front door you go with everyone else. Why not open all doors at all times and have people be on their honor to pay up front if they need to the way it works in San Francisco on MUNI? Have random inspections to catch fare beaters. At least they allow exit at all doors on the outbound side.
7. The fareboxes on the Green Line and Mattapan Trolley (and I assume all bus lines) don't show how much is remaining on the CharlieCard. No explanation needed on why this is bad.
8. How much money is the MBTA losing because a pass is worthwhile after 30something rides?
When I mentioned to my cousin's wife that some people on this and other boards think the MBTA is a better system than WMATA, she said that she would take WMATA any day over the Boston system, and nearly all of my other friends in Boston who have experience with both systems say the exact same thing. WMATA also has areas to improve, but the issues I observed in just 3 days of MBTA rides are pretty glaring if you ask my personal opinion. The MBTA has a great fleet diversity for the railfan, but it isn't a system I'd want to rely on on a day to day basis.
For all the cheerleading I've done for the MBTA, they still have a ton of faults of which you mentioned many. A couple things regarding to the Green Line should be clarified.
The boarding procedure seems to vary from line to line in the post-Charlie period, especially as the MBTA waffled on what to do when it came along. On the D branch, just about every station has fare machines and it's converted to quasi-POP with fare inspections (and those with a pass on a CharlieCard pressing their card to get a receipt). The B branch gets so congested especially east of Packard's Corner with all the BU traffic, some drivers let all passholders board through the other doors. There should be SOME attempt at standardization.
The only reason why the MBTA went to LCD signs on the Type 7 retrofits, largely after everyone else went to LED's, was interoperability with the Type 8's (and possibly the fact that it'd be cheaper to use surplus signs than to retrofit both to LED). And I agree that it was botched in so many ways even given that the technology moved quickly. That gives them no excuse to have used LCD's on the 0700's.
I think I'll add to the list of pluses and minuses.
Plus: Putting frequent/key bus routes on the rail map to advertise to riders backup/shortcut routes. This is something WMATA should explore when they redraw the map.
Plus: Being able to get any pass at any station. Maybe someday WMATA will upgrade the fare machines to allow for the sales of unified passes or bus passes at any Metro station rather than being at the mercy of off-site retailers.
Plus: Being able to load fares and purchase passes online. Of course, Smartrip is an old system that is from a prior generation of smarcards and newer systems have zoomed by it such as CharlieCard.
Minus: The fact that the MBTA is losing money a) keeping fares a bit too low and b) are keeping pass prices fairly low too. Single rides are about a quarter less than they should be and passes could go up a bit too to be sanely priced.
Minus: It's 2011: Why is the MBTA still having hard seats on all non-articulated buses (C40LF's aside) and touch strips for stop requests?
Minus: Outside MWRTA Route 1 at Woodland and BAT Route 12 at Ashmont, only MBTA buses meet MBTA rail. I know at some places downtown this would be hard in rush hour (the Haymarket stop rundown would begin at North Station in rush hour), but doing SEPTA-style announcements for what bus routes are at certain stops are something the MBTA should consider doing.
IIRC, the MFL only announces bus connections outside of Center City, and might somehow abridge the listing at 69th Street and Frankford. I also think the buses announce fewer transfers now than they used to when the systems were first installed. I didn't ride the buses at all, but in the case of the subway, since most stations have at least one bus connection, I'd ditch the announcement about bus connections from the announcements entirely.
So I zeroed out on my CharlieCard on Monday afternoon. The website says your new fare would be dowloaded on to your card if you paid online the next time you tap it at a vending machine or subway faregate, would a green line farebox count? I wasn't sure, so I decided to just pay 2 dollars cash when I went to Logan the next morning.
Also, what I would have done for the Green Line fare collection is this: On the surface, have it be a POP/Honor system with enforcement. For the subway stations, I would have had the gates systemwide require a card/ticket swipe to open on exit, to verify that Green Line riders couldn't get in to town for free (i.e. no fare, no exit, a real Charlie on the MTA scenario). Or, at the very least, install targets at the other doorways so people who don't need to pay cash can board at any door and speed things up tat way.
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on May 09, 2011, 06:18:19 AM
IIRC, the MFL only announces bus connections outside of Center City, and might somehow abridge the listing at 69th Street and Frankford. I also think the buses announce fewer transfers now than they used to when the systems were first installed. I didn't ride the buses at all, but in the case of the subway, since most stations have at least one bus connection, I'd ditch the announcement about bus connections from the announcements entirely.
The most recent time I rode an MBTA bus (January 2010), the buses were still doing "bus connection" and "bus and subway connections" in the most vague way possible. Either go all the way and name the connections or don't do it at all. I do think the buses should do WMATA-style announcements in which for rail connections at least the line is mentioned.
QuoteAlso, what I would have done for the Green Line fare collection is this: On the surface, have it be a POP/Honor system with enforcement. For the subway stations, I would have had the gates systemwide require a card/ticket swipe to open on exit, to verify that Green Line riders couldn't get in to town for free (i.e. no fare, no exit, a real Charlie on the MTA scenario). Or, at the very least, install targets at the other doorways so people who don't need to pay cash can board at any door and speed things up tat way.
Seeing how some originally thought the move to CharlieCard was to bring WMATA-style fares to the MBTA, I'm surprised they didn't put a tap-out system in. Even if they disguised it with that it was necessary to download rail-to-bus transfers as MARTA did, at least then it'd be there if they decided to do so someday.
Your plan for Green Line fare collection is good, however it'd require every station to have fare machines and many stations are in such bad shape (much of the western end of the B branch for example) that the stations should have platform repair done before fare machines come in. On the E branch, I can already hear the cries of cars hitting fare machines on the stretch from Heath St to Brigham Circle with nobody realizing that so many other cities have street running lines with fare machines in stations.
The combination of old line transit operations and typical New England provincialism offer no easy solutions for the MBTA.
No, my idea for the Green Line would not require faregates at the surface stations. The idea is all doors open on the surface and you are responsible for tapping in. If you don't tap in, you can't tap out. However, I realize that would be costly to implement. Anything to improve boarding on that line ought to be considered though.
Pretty strange that they can't get the buses to announce which line(s) a transfer is available to. Oh well...
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on May 09, 2011, 10:03:54 AM
No, my idea for the Green Line would not require faregates at the surface stations. The idea is all doors open on the surface and you are responsible for tapping in. If you don't tap in, you can't tap out. However, I realize that would be costly to implement. Anything to improve boarding on that line ought to be considered though.
By "fare machines" I had meant vending machines to add fare to CharlieCards/purchase passes and CharlieTickets. If there were stations without a machine, it'd pose a problem for one to tap out unless they paid on board and were given a card to exit the system. Of course, the price points on passes are so relatively low that the number of riders this would affect would be pretty low. As for Ashmont-Mattapan, I think a SIR-style system of gating Ashmont and Mattapan while keeping in-between travel free might be a good solution since the number of people who aren't heading to Ashmont or Mattapan is very low.
I should've added this earlier, but anyone who complains about WMATA overcrowding needs to take a ride on the B branch while BU is in session and be on a packed train going downtown that takes forever to make the three stops on the BU campus. That line is a poor example for a "subway" line if there ever was one.
QuotePretty strange that they can't get the buses to announce which line(s) a transfer is available to. Oh well...
May be a case that the MBTA didn't find it to be worth its while to try. Which makes their choice of announcing a vague connection to be bit puzzling even though the MBTA has never been consistent.
So anyone who pays at the farebox is given some sort of transfer ticket type that gets captured at the exit gate or something like that.
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on May 10, 2011, 11:50:30 AM
So anyone who pays at the farebox is given some sort of transfer ticket type that gets captured at the exit gate or something like that.
That would work.
The one thing about MBTA's bus announcements I liked was points of interest to which WMATA doesn't really do. They only announce Metrorail transfers and not so much bus transfers. Yeah, the whole bus connections thing was IIRC something they did after they used to annouce the actual bus routes but gets pretty cumbersome when you take into account stations with numerous bus routes such as Sullivan and Haymarket, but I do agree that they should do something like "Union Square - Allston - Connection to route 66" because I wouldn't know of which bus you could transfer to. Another thing that bugged me were the actual bus stops where some didn't list the route numbers but just the T symbol and the bus symbol and alot of them lack stop ID numbers so I could get real-time information (also something Metro needs to improve upon where alot of stops are still missing Nextbus stop ID numbers).
Also regarding the announcements, I did find Frank Oglesby's voice a bit too deep to do announcements especially for the bus. In the subway stations, the announcements were pretty clear, but I think they might be looking for new voice talent to do announcements in the near future.
The Green line is really busy and shocked me when I first rode it. I thought the Red Line in DC was something during rush hour. The LED signs they have at the Green Line stations right now are just for time purposes but it'll be quite a while before they can display real-time arrivals. I also agree with you on the countdown for the other rail lines. Just having 1-2 mins notice of a train really didn't seem to help when I was waiting at Back Bay for an Orange Line train and don't know of the headways between trains. However, they do have arrival predictions in API, but could be expanded to their own system.