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Vagueness better than wrongness on subway arrival boards, MBTA concludes
By adamg on Fri, 04/07/2023 - 9:34am
The MBTA today switched to a new mode on the arrival boards at terminal stations and stops near them: Instead of telling riders when the next two trains should arrive, signs now just tell them how often trains are currently running.
Which, in its own way, is as pointless as the signs that would just depress riders by saying the next trains are 20+ minutes away, when they aren't, but the T's system has trouble forecasting arrivals in some spots when trains are still sitting at their starting points instead of actually moving on a system that now has zillions of "slow zones."
Vinnie Tesla, who sighed at the above sign on the Red Line this morning:
"What's the weather forecast?" "It says that in April you usually get milder temperatures with frequent rainshowers." "Uhhhh, thanks?"
The T itself responded to another rider who said the signs only switch one form of irritation for another:
To reduce the number of incorrect predictions caused by slow zone delays, stations at or near the end of the line will see the current headway until a train departs the terminal. Our Countdown Team will continue to monitor prediction accuracy.
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Comments
The slow zones
Aren't the direct source of the problem. The countdown predictions near the end of the line will still be correct (or nearly so) as long as the T dispatches trains from the terminal stations on schedule. They just don't send the trains on any sort of schedule anymore so yeah, the times will be unpredictable.
If you were at, say, Fields Corner and the sign was showing that the next Alewife train was stopped 2 stops away, it meant the train was at Ashmont but hadn't left on schedule.
The T puts both "T"s in incompetent.
Speaking of Fields Corner
Message board at Fields Corner yesterday, all within a 10 minute period
1) Next Alewife train is 7 minutes away
2) Next Alewife train is 2 stops away
3) Next Alewife train is 20+ minutes away
4) Alewife trains every 24-32 minutes
5) Next Alewife train is 4 minutes away. (And that information was correct)
You win, aholes
You win, you've made the MBTA so completely unusable that I'll drive my stupid car everywhere I go instead. Unbearable traffic, planetary destruction, 40k annual deaths, 1 million annual permanent injuries, antisocial road-rage, and childhood respiratory diseases here we come.
same here
I recently bit the bullet and now drive in more than I take the T because my Red Line commute has more than doubled. When the train does come at rush hour, it's more crowded than ever because it comes so rarely. Driving isn't necessarily quicker, but at least I know I'll get to work, and then home, at some point and I'm not pressed against other people on a train that takes 45 minutes from South Station to Ashmont. This is by far the worst I've seen the T after commuting regularly for decades on the T. I don't know how Boston can get people to come back into the city if our mass transit system is getting worse rather than better each month, and I don't envy Governor Healey getting saddled with this.
This is the Job
Healey ran for this job. She knew what she was getting, so there's no excuse. Fix it. Or, you know, at least look like you're trying.
hadn't thought of it that way
fair point.
I won't drive into Boston
I hate traffic. I hate paying to park. I'll walk there before I drive, unless someone is holding a gun to my head.
Another option
Get a bike or even an e-bike. Faster than any other mode.
Yes, there's bad weather. So 1 or 2 times out of ten you drive or take the T. That's still a win.
it's less information
At the Cambridge+Somerville end of the red line, "next Ashmont train is stopped 1 station away" at least tells you whether that next train is going to Ashmont or to Braintree, which really does matter to some passengers.
At Government Center, are they going to tell us whether that next green line train is going to BC, Cleveland Circle, Riverside, or Heath Street?
"Next train, 4 minutes. Next train to Boston College, 30 minutes" might be a reason to say the hell with it, go upstairs, and try getting a lyft, or to call whoever I'm meeting and tell them I'll be late.
MBTA: Much, Much Worse Than Thailand MRT
I was just in Bangkok, where the subway features short headways, accurate prediction screens, and sparkling stations with platform safety gates and raised entrances to prevent flooding. To be fair, there are drawbacks, they ask you to give your seat up for monks.
The system is newer and smaller, but it ain't rocket science, MBTA.
MBTA: Much, Much Worse Than
Pretty much any subway system worldwide.
Why put signs up at all, then?
Turn them off, or use them to display ads.
I attended the T Advisory
I attended the T Advisory Committee meeting this morning. Boring blather about T safety and budgets--as if there is no crisis going on.
Unconscionable
The system is in ruins and the bureaucrats push paper. This is on Healey now.
Not just on Healy
Remember Mr. Corruptass Northampton and his "the rest of the state subsidizes Boston" bullshit as he conspired to gut the MBTA?
This is also on the legislature. I say we block their garage with a die in until they get the point that the T and all the other transit authorities in the state need to be funded at a much higher level. Put their cars on blocks!
Better yet, maybe it is time for an initiative petition to strip them of their travel allowances - including the governor and the lt. governor. Make them fight that!
I live near the Ball Square
I live near the Ball Square station, and it has always said "trains every 7-13 minutes" on the inbound side, even when you can see the train coming from Medford/Tufts, until the "train arriving" announcement when it's practically at the platform. But, the Transit app on my phone gives me an actual arrival time, for the next 3-4 trains in fact, and it's nearly always right. So if Transit can do it, why can't the T?
And it's not even close to rocket science. If the outbound train is running late, adjust the arrival times on the inbound side accordingly, accounting for the turnaround time.
(That said, I'm overjoyed that the Green Line is finally here. Haven't quite gotten used to it yet.)
Cool, they took something
Cool, they took something that was at least minimally useful and made it absolutely useless.
I mean I guess that's SOP for the T of late, amirite
Hey at least it still has a
Hey at least it still has a clock
When the signs are on at
When the signs are on at least. I've noticed that at Ruggles Station lately the signs on the Orange Line platforms are not on even though the signs upstairs are working (I'm not there very often but usually between 9 AM to 12 PM.)
Somehow the announcements are correct though and state how many minutes until the next train.
Who?
Who are you calling an Amirite? Is that something like some ancient tribe out of the Bible? Am I right?
But
The T website still uses specific minutes rather than generalizations for all stations. I don't use the app but I'm guessing its the same as the website.
So wtf T ?
Change it to "Southbound trains: You never know"
"To reduce the number of incorrect predictions caused by slow zone delays, stations at or near the end of the line will see the current headway until a train departs the terminal. Our Countdown Team will continue to monitor prediction accuracy."
They could make it even less likely to make incorrect predictions by just having it say "Southbound trains: Sometime." Or maybe just "Maybe... or maybe not."
And it's a lie
The one time I took the new Green Line Extension, the signs said 7 to 13 minutes. Except it actually took at least 30 minutes for a train to show up.
In the old days
In the old days, we didn't have any stinkin arrival signs or phones or phone apps or announcements.
Trains came when they wanted to come, but somehow it all worked better than today.
Every Sixtyseven Minutes!
That's what the announcement sounds like. Sure, its "Every Six to Seven Minutes", but it kinda runs together. They have had this in place on the GLX for some time.
What information is going out
What information is going out to the trip apps?
Those are fed by a different
Those are fed by a different system entirely: https://www.mbta.com/developers/v3-api
I used to use MBTA Alerts but
I used to use MBTA Alerts but the T had it pulled for some reason. Personally I think it was too accurate and made the T look bad.
Now,I ask naively,
why can't the sign updates use the same system as the apps?
Yes, I know. We'd need a special consulting task force subcommittee to determine if that is a good idea or not. And then contract bids on the implementation.
Damn, do Healey and Eng have a lot of work to do. I suspect no one has or even imagined anything even marginally close to how utterly fucked the MBTA is. Well, maybe H. P. Lovecraft did when he had shoggoths going through the Red Line tunnels screaming out "we apologize for the inconvenience!'