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. 

###

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. 

###

Media Statement: Orange Line Shutdown/Building A Better T 2022

BOSTON, August 3, 2022 — The Orange Line is an essential part of the MBTA system; it carries over 100,000 riders a day. Today’s announcement of a 30-day shutdown is a dramatic example of the urgency of improving service on the subway system. Going forward, the MBTA must commit to giving riders more notice. The short notice of this announcement shows a lack of respect for riders. The quality of the T’s communications to riders throughout this effort, as well as the quality of its mitigation efforts, will be major tests for the agency. As the MBTA plans to shut down this critical piece of transportation infrastructure on short notice for a month, we need the Authority, municipalities, and other partners to take an all-hands-on-deck approach and coordinate efforts to deliver effective and usable transportation alternatives for 100,000 T riders who will be disrupted by this initiative.

We are concerned that replacement shuttle buses have not functioned well during past diversions. Too often they were stuck in traffic, hopelessly delayed, and woefully insufficient to replace rail transit service. The MBTA and affected municipalities must act quickly to establish and enforce busways and protected bikeways along the routes used by shuttle buses and nearby existing surface transit routes that will receive diverted passengers, such as the 39 bus and the E Branch of the Green Line. This is an opportunity to show that quick-build bus lanes are feasible and can make a meaningful impact on travel times. To reduce costs from installation and removal, these lanes should be operational and enforced 24/7 for the duration of the shutdown. We urge careful coordination with municipal partners like BTD and BPD, as well as the MBTA Transit Police to ensure reliable service.

We’re pleased to hear that the MBTA will have commuter rail trains stop at Orange Line stations along the corridor including additional trains at Oak Grove and Forest Hills.  Fares from these stations should be waived for the duration of the diversion to ensure riders without a CharlieCard can access the service. Service should also be increased to stations along the route of the 34 Bus, such as Readville and Hyde Park. Many riders of the 34 transfer to Orange Line service at Forest Hills, and improved CR service to Southwest Boston is crucial to reducing pressure on the shuttle service. The T should also reduce fares on all Commuter Rail lines during the diversion to mitigate the increase in traffic caused by Orange Line riders switching to vehicles. Additionally, the MBTA should reassign Orange Line dispatchers to boost service on the Red and Blue lines, as well as boost service levels and capacity on the Green Line.

Finally, the MBTA needs to restore rider confidence by clearly communicating the benefits of this shutdown. Riders deserve a firm commitment from the MBTA that Orange Line service will significantly improve after this unprecedented diversion. The T must demonstrate that it can accomplish this shutdown within the strict 30-day period, and that it has in place strong oversight controls that were lacking during the recent Blue Line shutdown experience. Riders have put up with years-long slow zones, teething problems with new vehicles, and diversions with no appreciable impact on service. The MBTA must clearly communicate the benefits of this shutdown to riders and unveil a line with better travel times, more reliable service, and improved rider experience.

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

###