TransitMatters Labs Launches MBTA Shutdown Tracker

BOSTON, May 29, 2024 — In late 2023, the MBTA announced its ambitious plan to eliminate all speed restrictions by the end of 2024.

Since the announcement, the TransitMatters Labs team has conducted ad hoc analysis on a per-shutdown basis, analyzing data and determining what benefits, or lack thereof, riders experience post-shutdown.

Tracking MBTA Shutdowns

Given the overwhelming number of shutdowns scheduled for this year, conducting case-by-case analyses for each one started to feel unsustainable. That's when we devised a solution—the Shutdown Tracker! We designed this app to provide riders with all the information they need right at their fingertips, making tracking shutdowns much more convenient.

The Shutdown Tracker displays a comprehensive snapshot of scheduled and already completed shutdowns. Users can click every shutdown listed in the app to unveil specific details, giving them in-depth access to fine details for every instance. The underlying analysis hinges on data from a radius of seven days, centered on the shutdown date. Shutdowns cause improvements and challenges, influencing several metrics. With our tracker, riders can examine the impact on travel times, dwells, and headways.

Despite the unproductive shutdowns of the past—we’re looking at you 2022 Orange Line shutdown—this app is here to reassure riders that shutdowns can lead to improved rides, as many have so far this year.

If you’re curious about when the upcoming shutdowns are or are having trouble keeping track of changes, we’ve thought of you! The Shutdown Tracker charts all shutdowns onto an exportable schedule and lets you add it to your calendar app for reference. It will automatically update when things change.

We hope this tool will help riders and increase transparency regarding the successes and failures of MBTA shutdowns this year. Transparency is paramount, and we hope the Shutdown Tracker further educates riders on the system and assists them in advocating for change.

If you notice any issues or want to send any other feedback, let us know at labs@transitmatters.org. If you want to support our efforts to build useful tools and tell stories with data, please consider becoming a member.

2023 Regional Rail Retrospective

BOSTON, January 30, 2024 — I’m excited to be writing the inaugural TransitMatters Regional Rail blog post! 2023 was the year Regional Rail went from idea to work-in-progress. I’m excited to start things by reviewing a promising year gone by and previewing what I believe will only be an even more fruitful year ahead.

2023 saw success in longstanding areas of advocacy for TransitMatters and a change in leadership that heralds more to come. I’m more hopeful than ever for the future and believe our advocacy is poised for its most significant year of impact so far.

What did we accomplish in 2023? 

Key Regional Rail priorities saw an infusion of money under the Fiscal Year 2024-2028 Capital Investment Plan (CIP). The CIP is a short-term rolling document that sets out the T’s spending over the next four fiscal years. Looking through the CIP provides a rundown of what the T is working on. Unlike larger, more aspirational documents like Focus 40, if something is in the CIP, we know it’s going to happen. This year’s CIP brought $61 million of new money to Regional Rail efforts, including $2 million specifically for electrification planning on the Eastern Route between Boston and Beverly. Going forward, we’d like to see more ambition and specificity. Still, this year’s CIP marked improvement over previous cycles and set a new standard.

As the year ended, news broke of the T’s plans to electrify the Fairmount Line using battery-electric multiple units, with revenue service in late 2027. This is by far the most concrete move toward electrification of the system so far. If sustained, this would be a major win for the Fairmount Line and the whole system. We believe that this can happen on a parallel track with—and reinforce—further investment in catenary and electrification across the system. Right now, the benefits of electrification might be theoretical, or largely confined to decarbonization concerns. However, I firmly believe that once the riding public gets a taste of increased performance and comfort of electric trains, they won’t want to go back. Positive feedback is key to advancing and securing policy improvement, and we’re finally on track to see that for Regional Rail.

Commuter Rail set post-COVID ridership records and has emerged as a bright spot for the T. This success is noteworthy for a few reasons. First, the fastest-recovering line has been the Fairmount Line. It has seen the greatest investment in a Regional Rail type of service so far, with consistent—though still infrequent—service throughout the day and integration with the broader fare network. Other lines have seen a significant ridership increase as the MBTA and Keolis make service more frequent and consistent throughout the day. For example, the Franklin Line saw a ridership increase of more than 20% this fill. Ridership on the Commuter Rail network recovered to more than 90% of pre-COVID levels, outpacing the MBTA’s combined figures. One might expect the existing Commuter Rail—a service still in many ways optimized for 9-to-5, suburban-to-downtown commuters—to perform the worst post-COVID. The fact that it’s leading the pack drives home the importance of service quality as the determining factor for ridership, and makes clear that our Regional Rail improvements will only further increase ridership.

The Case for Optimism

I see strong foundations for future progress, even with the considerable challenges at the MBTA. The year began with major changes in leadership in the Commonwealth and at the MBTA that bode well for continued progress. Governor Maura Healey was inaugurated in January, and General Manager Phillip Eng joined the T in March. While it’s too early to judge either leader entirely, there are promising signs of a new-found recognition that investing in transit is essential to our Commonwealth’s economic vitality, climate goals, economic opportunity, and more.

The stakes are high, but the case for sober optimism is strong. Greater Boston looks poised to avoid the worst of the urban doom loop and to put the worst disruptions on the subway system behind us by the end of the year. The in-office presence that comes with lab space and the enduring strength of our universities have kept our core urban areas populated. Disruptions on the subway as part of the T’s Track Improvement Program will cause short-term gains. In the long term, it will improve service and ridership and eliminate arguments that the subway’s issues mean we can’t invest in Regional Rail. 

As Regional Rail gains momentum, we at TransitMatters are fine-tuning our advocacy strategy to keep pressure on the state and T to invest in the system. We released our report on what the Framingham/Worcester Line needs to accomplish for Regional Rail on January 17, and we’re planning to release our report on the Franklin Line–our last line-by-line report–this spring. The release of our Franklin Line report will cap off a very productive 12 months that’s seen the release of reports on the Framingham/Worcester, Fitchburg, and Needham Lines and our Turning Vision into Reality report, which took a broader view of the investment case.

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This blog post was written by Jackson Moore-Otto, TransitMatters’ Regional Rail Project Manager. For media inquiries, please email media@transitmatters.org or contact jmooreotto@transitmatters.org for your Regional Rail questions.

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Photo Credit: James Wang

Celebrating 10 Years Of Advocacy: TransitMatters Exposes MBTA’s Nearly $7M Mistake With Auburndale Station

For the next five weeks, we will be highlighting landmark moments in our history so far. Next up: Our exposure of the T’s nearly $7 million mistake with Auburndale Station.

Photo credit: “Auburndale station (MBTA)” Wikipedia page

All of Newton’s Commuter Rail stations—Auburndale, West Newton, and Newtonville—currently only have single-side, low platforms. Before the 1960s, Auburndale had a station designed by H.H. Richardson and landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted (pictured right). In 1961, the state demolished the station and two out of four tracks for the MassPike extension into Boston. On top of being inaccessible, having a platform on just one side of the tracks means it is not possible to serve passengers in both directions throughout the day. For years, the Commuter Rail has neglected riders by leaving large gaps in service to Newton.

Responding to advocacy for an accessible Commuter Rail station in Newton from residents and Representative Kay Khan, the MBTA began redesigning Auburndale Station in the late 2000s. The T initially redesigned the station with mini-high platforms due to wide freight rights, but this did not impress the community. The T went back to the drawing board, and nothing public-facing happened with Auburndale Station for about five years.

Then in 2016, there were rumors that the MBTA would finally do something with the station. In February 2017, the T presented the final Auburndale Station design to the community. The T's new plan continued to have just one platform, but now on the opposite track. However, the T didn't plan to move other single-platform stations in Newton to the opposite track. Consequently, the MBTA planned to spend 58% of the total project cost on new switching equipment for trains to swap tracks between stations. To make matters worse, the T failed to confirm whether it was possible to maintain the Framingham/Worcester Line's schedule with trains swapping tracks in Newton.

Photo credit: Miles in Transit

The T was not only about to continue neglecting Newton riders, it was about to degrade service for riders on the entire Framingham/Worcester Line. Two TransitMatters members called attention to this issue at a public meeting for the final design. The T said it hadn't checked with railroad ops.

After a few months of TransitMatters raising the alarm about Auburndale, then-Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack scrapped the design and sent the MBTA back to the drawing board in May 2017.

In 2019, the T revealed their new plan to build accessible platforms on the opposite track at all three Newton Commuter Rail stations and expected the final design in the spring of 2022. The MBTA's newest design would still cause large gaps in service Commuter Rail for Newton. However, in 2021, the T changed course and committed to building two-platform, accessible stations at all three Newton Commuter Rail stations!

The MBTA's Accessibility Initiatives report from June 2023 reported that Auburndale, West Newton, and Newtonville Stations are approaching 75% design. According to this report, the MBTA should complete the final design by February 2024. However, the MBTA has still not identified a source of funding for constructing the stations. The T will not be able to afford three full station rebuilds under the current capital funding constraints. This is one of the many reasons why the T needs more funding and a dedicated funding source.

Banner Photo Credit: Leslie Anderson/THE BOSTON GLOBE