Approaching 5 PM yesterday, there were plenty of trains at North Station but the announcer delayed telling the crowds which track they should board. Given that there were also Bruins fans at the Garden yesterday, the crowd was larger than normal and moving around was more difficult. And yet, though the trains were literally there waiting to be boarded, the T decided to announce the tracks with less than 5 minutes to departure.

I can't understand why the T would not tell people where to board when the train is waiting in the station already.

Because just because there is

By DTP on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 9:16am.

Because just because there is a train in the station doesn't mean the train is ready. Not every train is turned around and sent back out immediately. Whenever there are delays they don't necessarily know which train set will be covering which train number until a few minutes before departure. And they'd like to avoid having hundreds of people swarm onto a train, only to find out they're sending a different one instead (I've seen this happen, and you can't really hear the station announcements on board a train), or that there's no crew yet. If an inbound train is late, that can delay the next outbound even if there is a train set waiting because the crew that turns for that outbound is on the late inbound.

...Keolis runs the commuter

By Capt. Obvious on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 9:51am.

...Keolis runs the commuter rail, for the record. Not the T. Focus your ire on the correct people.

Keolis runs the commuter rail

By roadman on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 1:42pm.

under contract to the MBTA. As the T is ultimately responsible for the performance of the service, it is hardly unreasonable for someone to focus their ire on them.

It's totally unreasonable to

By Capt. Obvious on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 3:28pm.

It's totally unreasonable to focus your ire on them. If you expect them to do a better job, while the governor allows them to do a lousy job without having to pay the fines their contract requires them to pay for doing a lousy job, then you blame it on the T you're being totally and completely unreasonable.

But please, but all means, bash the T some more.

Commuter Rail "on-time service"

By Capt. Obvious on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 10:26am.

I ride the commuter rail into and out of Boston every day. My train is late, every day. I'm the third stop inbound on the line I take, and every day the train is late picking me up, after 3 stops. My train is supposed to arrive at North Station 8:06 every morning. It has arrived on time once in the last 6 months, and the majority of the time it is more than 10 minutes late. I'm curious when the governor is planning to start imposing the contractually obligated fines on Keolis for their consistent sub par service. My guess, if his track record is any indication, is never.

I'd also like to point out the fact that if it were the MBA performing in such a way they would be lambasted and criticized and people would be calling for their heads in this and other forums. Seems Keolis gets a bit of a free pass...

Fitchburg Rider

By nofunfinn on Thu, 03/02/2017 - 9:59pm.

I'm in the same boat... er, train. Since the last schedule change, I've had literally one ride be actually on schedule. The average train is 8 minutes late. It's not the weather. It's not the passengers. It's sheer incompetence, starting with the scheduling and ending with the service. I don't care how little money you have. You need to manage customers' expectations. If you can't meet your schedule, for whatever reason(s), you need to just go ahead and admit defeat and publish new, slower schedules. The MBTA and Keolis don't deserve scorn for all of their problems, but they 100% deserve blame for this particular failure.

Anyone who takes the CR daily

By anon on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 12:45pm.

Anyone who takes the CR daily knows what a disaster it has become. Late trains, cancelations, short sets, un-sanitary coaches, etc. CR got publicity after the bad winter and "prepared" for the next one with funding. However, it cannot run daily service without issues.

Brunswick it is then! Dinner

By anon on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 4:09pm.

Brunswick it is then! Dinner at the Frontier!

Trains out of North Station are running late, riders just going, 'oh, ain't that great!'

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