Media Statement: MBTA Global Speed Restrictions

BOSTON, March 10, 2023 —  TransitMatters commends the MBTA General Manager for being transparent with riders about the issues with track conditions and quickly acting out of an abundance of caution. We are also happy to see that new leadership at the Department of Public Utilities is stepping up oversight efforts after decades of inaction. Steps like these are critical to regaining rider confidence and FTA approval.

However, riders deserve quality service. Riders are unfairly bearing the burden of decades of neglect and underfunding. It is critical that leaders on Beacon Hill treat the T's issues as an emergency. The system is in crisis and, nearly a year after the FTA notified the agency that they would be taking over safety oversight, no end is in sight.

The T must be transparent about the schedule for restoring service back to pre-pandemic levels. The slow zones, poorly run diversions, and long headways are untenable. The MBTA has cut bus service for a year and a half and subway service for a year with no timetable to increase service. This is unacceptable and risks permanently driving away ridership.

Accountability is also sorely lacking. Pending the results of the investigation, those in charge of signing off on inspection reports must be held responsible. Riders deserve an active and engaged board that listens to their concerns. The administration should quickly appoint new members to the Board, and reform the rules to ensure the Board provides expertise, accountability and oversight similar to the previous Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB).

The region cannot grow its economy equitably, and the Healey Administration cannot achieve its stated carbon emissions reductions goals, without a highly functioning transit system. We urge the Administration and the Legislature to commit to continued transparency and accountability, and provide the MBTA with the resources it needs, in order to ensure a more reliable service that respects its riders and responds to the region’s mobility needs.

For media inquiries, please e-mail media@transitmatters.org. 

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Media Statement: TransitMatters Demands Answers For Beleaguered Red Line Riders; The MBTA Must Regain Trust

BOSTON, October 24, 2022 — MBTA Red Line riders put up with a lot - broken escalators, crumbling staircases, and too-frequent derailments. But lately, anyone riding the rails between Alewife and Ashmont or Braintree has almost certainly noticed that their ride is also quite a bit slower than it should be. The TransitMatters Slow Zone Tracker shows that a round trip on the Red Line is almost 15 minutes longer than it should be, with no sign of improvement. In a Boston Herald article on October 19th, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that “The T’s Engineering and Maintenance Division is working to schedule an appropriate time to perform rail replacement activities." This brief statement is insufficient to address the concerns and anxieties of riders and municipalities that rely on the Red Line. The MBTA must come forward with a complete and specific description of the deficiencies on the Red Line, and be fully transparent about what it will take to fix them and whether the T has the resources to do the job.

Unfortunately, this opaque statement continues a troubling pattern. Whether it was the announcement on the MBTA website, quickly retracted, of a severe north-side Red Line diversion of indefinite length, or the "late completion of overnight work" causing shuttle buses to run during the morning peak hours just last week, the MBTA continues to be secretive and unclear regarding the condition of the Red Line and the work that needs to be done. TransitMatters strongly believes that the MBTA must do three things as soon as possible, and prior to any further Red Line (or any other rapid transit line) disruptions or diversions, to remedy the lack of clarity and help repair rider trust.

• Give advance notice of closures and diversions, and provide high-quality alternatives. The MBTA must provide at least three months of notice to municipalities and community stakeholders of closures and diversions on rapid transit lines, to ensure that plans can be made to accomodate diversion routes and provide high-quality alternate accommodations to riders. Those major stakeholders include Massachusetts General Hospital, UMass Boston, Harvard University, MIT, and every business in Kendall Square and the Seaport and Financial Districts whose customers and employees depend on Red Line access.  The MBTA should also reroute feeder buses to active rapid transit stations, and provide additional supplemental service on affected routes, including Commuter Rail. The MBTA should also provide meaningful fare mitigation and reduction during any large service disruption.

• Be clear about the work being performed and the condition of the infrastructure, before, during, and after the diversion. Before any diversion on a rapid transit line, the MBTA must give a clear statement of the work to be performed, and the ways in which the repairs will benefit safety and service. During the diversion, the Authority must provide regular updates on the work and be transparent about any delays or incidents. After the diversion, the MBTA must be clear about what work was completed, and when, if ever, service will improve. There must not be a repeat of the Orange Line shutdown, with conflicting statements, ever-shifting schedules, and slower service.

• Perform work overnight or on weekends, with early closures rather than full shutdowns. Full shutdowns are harmful to the system’s most vulnerable riders, and they are harmful to the economy.  The more work that the MBTA can do at night and on weekends with early closures and late openings, the better it is for riders and for everyone in Greater Boston. The MBTA should do what it can to increase its maintenance workforce, invest in permanent staff, and invest in maintenance equipment to increase Maintenance of Way productivity and effectiveness. The best shutdown is the one that doesn't happen.

TransitMatters believes that it's possible to make necessary safety and capital improvements while also minimizing the negative impact on riders. This is national and international best practice. More importantly, the T must develop the skills and workforce to do important work without shutting down whole lines. The alternative is a system that fails its riders at a time when rider confidence is at an ebb, and fails the region at a time when it needs a high-functioning transit system to support a recovering economy. 

For media inquiries, please e-mail media@transitmatters.org. 

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Media Statement: MBTA Bus Network Redesign

BOSTON, May 31, 2022 — On Monday, May 16th, 2022, the MBTA and the MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning launched their Bus Network Redesign proposal, kicking off a summer of engagement and feedback collection. This draft map presents a bold vision for the future of bus service in the MBTA region, motivated by a desire to reimagine the bus network to serve the trips of today rather than the trips of a century ago. TransitMatters sincerely congratulates the staff of the MBTA and the MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning on reaching this milestone - and we also commit to staying engaged on this project all the way through implementation.

However, a bus network is more than lines on a map; a bus network is service, operations, and schedules. A bus network is experiences, bus stops, transfers, and service spans. A bus network is vehicles, operators, and bus officials. The MBTA needs to ensure that its operational infrastructure, policies, and staff are sufficient to deliver this new service and to deliver on its promises of frequency and reliability. There are several key issues that need to be addressed by the MBTA for this program of improvements to fully deliver on its potential; first among them are operations, transfers, and operators.

The MBTA needs to develop policies and programs that support operations on the bus network - two of these, headway maintenance for frequent services, and timed transfers for infrequent ones, are crucial steps to delivering reliable service and overcoming skepticism from the public about the MBTA’s ability to deliver on its bold vision for a much larger frequent bus network. Currently, bunches of buses on frequent and infrequent routes are a common and almost daily occurrence, strangling service frequency, hampering public perception, and reducing reliability. Headway maintenance - the active monitoring and control of the time between buses along a route - can address this problem, and requires both technology, to enable the communication required to implement it, as well as policy, to set standards and empower operators and officials to implement them.

Timed connections on infrequent routes are another key step to enabling regional mobility and maximizing the utility of infrequent services. By having key nodes in the bus network serve as timed transfer points for buses arriving every 30 minutes or more, transfers are made easier and more comfortable for riders. This is just one way in which infrequent services can provide useful transit connectivity - if the MBTA is willing to plan, promise, and deliver useful connections and guaranteed transfers.

The bus network also needs to drive infrastructure decisions, both for passenger facilities and transit priority. Bus stops and key transfer points should be safe, comfortable and legible, and connections should be clearly marked and provided with wayfinding signage, seating, and shelter. The MBTA should work with municipalities and other roadway owners to ensure that transit priority, both on the street and in signalboxes, is provided where necessary.

Finally, the MBTA needs to address the shortage of operators needed to deliver this service. The Authority should improve the attractiveness of the career and the pay on offer, and if this requires more resources, the Authority should work with the administration and the legislature to secure recurring and predictable revenue to support this service expansion. The MBTA should also work with unions to negotiate improved compensation for new workers without it coming at the expense of existing operators.

This plan has the potential to truly transform the way Greater Boston uses the bus - but the MBTA needs to work with municipalities, RTAs, and TMAs to ensure that the network is coordinated with all of the other services that operate in the region to ensure maximum benefits. By improving operations, managing headways, coordinating transfers, providing comfortable facilities, and addressing funding shortfalls, operator shortages, and transit priority, the MBTA can turn this plan for improved bus service into a reality.

For media inquiries, please e-mail media@transitmatters.org. 

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