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By roadman on Fri, 01/08/2010 - 12:21pm
More useless and expensive electronic gizoms that "feel good but do little if any actual good" are coming. Just got this e-mail from them:
NEW CUSTOMER INFORMATION SYSTEM
Now boarding…!
The PTIS (Passenger Train Information System) is ready for launching on the Greenbush, Middleborough/Lakeville and Plymouth/Kingston Lines and will go into service January 8, 2010. This system will provide you with “real-time” information at stations and utilizes a countdown format on easy to read electronic message boards while you are standing on the platform. This has been made possible by the recent installation of the GPS equipment on each train that also provides automated on-board announcements. The new system will give you accurate train arrival information and help improve safety by alerting passengers of the approaching train.
Coming Soon!
In conjunction with the “next train” countdown offering the MBTA is also preparing to launch a communications system that will allow passengers to get this same information from their car radios. You will soon be able to tune-in to a frequency on your car’s AM dial so that you can stay in your automobile until just before your train is due to arrive at the station. This will be rolled out and tested at the Anderson Regional Transportation Center by the end of January with availability at all stations that have 50 or more parking spaces to follow soon after.
For updates on both of these exciting new prospects please log on to www.mbta.com
They don't want to pay to keep the trains properly staffed and maintained, yet they somehow find money to waste on "essential" public information systems because management has decided that they need to appease people who are too lazy to look up a train schedule or keep an eye on their watch. Where's the outrage?
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Comments
Wait a minute
Have to disagree with you a bit roadman...
With the current signs, unless a train is a half hour late they always say the train is on time. A countdown timer is a great way to let you know at 10:20 is the 10:20 train will be there in 1 minute or 15 minutes. I'm sure those that drive will appreciate the in-car countdown. The GPS technology is in place, so that's not really an 'expense' in these new signs.
I am surprised they have to update their communication system. Didn't they see this coming? I assume not based on a comment in a bus GPS email list. They're testing making real time bus GPS data public - but they can't do it yet because they bought a GPS system that can't handle that and have to upgrade that system. I guess they don't buy things with the future in mind.
As for wasting money, people and things come from different piles of money. :) You can get the MBTA to help pay for capital expenses. You won't get MBCR to take profit money and spend it on personnel...
I agree with you that information about train delays should be
more timely. However, the problem I have with a "countdown" system is that it, if the information isn't truly accurate (even in a few instances), the credibility of the system will be lost. This is one of the reasons why people are dissastified with the current boards that almost always say "train on or near schedule" and are NOT updated in a real-time manner when trains are delayed.
IMO, the proper way to operate the current station information boards is that they should remain blank until there is a problem or delay that needs to be reported. This is the general protocol used by most State highway agencies (with the notable exception of the Mass. Pike) in operating the changeable message signs on Interstates.
As for tying this system into the GPS being used for the on-board automated station announcements, I can speak from experience on the Reading/Haverhill trains that these announcements are still less than reliable. When an outbound train announces "Now Arriving At (name any station between Malden and Reading here) when the train is actually DEPARTING that station, it seems to me there's a basic problem with the system design.
And your point about different funding sources for different expenses and programs is spot-on accurate. However, IMO, that is part of the problem, the inability of the agency to independently decide how its revenues can be spent. I'm not necessarily in favor of giving management total carte blance on how they spend their money, but it seems to me that some of the mandates and requirements put on certain funding sources are too restrictive.
For the record, I'm not necessarily opposed to the concept of progressive passenger information systems. But when providing such systems takes priority over basic operational needs to keep the trains running in a safe and timely manner, then that for me is a serious problem.
Funding
With regards to funding, there is more to the issue than restrictions as to which money gets spent on what...
For things that qualify as "Capital Expenditures", the funding is going to be 90% Federal with a 10% contribution by the agency. On the other hand, increased staffing, preventative maintenance, etc. comes entirely out of the operational budget, which is not federally subsidized. As such, when they've got a choice to make as to how they are going to get the most bang for their buck, "new stuff" tends to rise to the top.
This system of funding is not under the control of the state, the MBTA, or MBCR. Not to say that they don't have their share of problems related to labor inefficiencies, but blaming them for investing in equipment instead of manpower is not at all fair.
Yes, the Federal Government states that their funds
cannot be used for operational expenses. So we waste money on capital investments that do nothing to improve the reliability of the service instead of investing the money where it can truly improve things for the end users of the system.
It's like applying for a small loan because your car needs a new transmission and the bank telling you they can only grant the loan if you put a new stereo in the car instead of repairing the transmission.
This type of mandate is exactly the type of restriction that needs to be changed.
I'm not sure I see the point....
You seem to be under the impression that this is the only improvement project the MBTA is conducting on the commuter rail system, which simply isn't true.
This is a project which they are implementing on a trial basis for a relatively small amount of money. This type of improvement has been requested repeatedly in surveys by commuter rail riders who say they would be happier if they knew when their train was actually going to arrive.
Does it solve the system reliability / scheduling problems they're having? No. But it doesn't preclude them pursuing and (hopefully) implementing other projects as well. And in the meantime, their customers are happier.
In parallel with this, there are new commuter rail vehicles being bid on and procured. But they cost millions of dollars. That and they aren't exactly the sort of product you just pop over to the train store to pick up over the weekend.... You're talking multiple year lead times.
Oh, and don't forget their intentions to procure the USPS land in order to expand commuter rail services. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/art...
They're doing everything they can with the fund they have available to them. I don't know what your suggested alternative projects are, but I'm certainly all ears.
Look, the T does themselves few favors on the public stage. There are any number of good reasons to take shots at them. But successfully executing a project that's been in demand by their customers shouldn't be one of them.
I am well aware that the T and MBCR have multiple projects
underway, including the procurement of new equipment. However, it remains my opinion that providing 'countdown' timers to inform passengers about arriving commuter trains is an unnecesary waste of money and provides little, if any, legitimate benefit to justify the cost.
You indicate that the MBTA and MBCR are only responding to what customers have requested based on surveys. Well, both I and many of my co-workers and friends been riding the commuter rail daily for twenty years and have never ONCE been handed a survey that asked it we wanted hyper-accurate information about the arrival of trains. Had I'd been asked, I would have said "NO. Just tell me when trains are going be significantly late" - which is what the current system CAN do if would they only bother to manage it properly. That means having somebody on duty full time to update the boards in a timely manner instead of "nanny messages" and promotions for FastLane transponders and the Registry's advertiser-sponsored reminder systems.
As an example, what good is having a system that says "Your train will arrive in XX" when it takes three minutes to board the train because they only have two crewmembers for a seven car train (yes, this happens much more often than MBCR will admit to). But, tell me again how extra staffing on the trains is a waste of money, and providing a cute little "radio station" at a parking lot that will only serve to have the passengers rush the platform at the last minute isn't?
"Countdown" systems may have some benefit for bus or surface streetcar lines where there is a great variability in on-time performance due to traffic. Of course, that assumes they will have enough buses and streetcars in service to meet schedule in the first place - which is the issue they should be focusing on before investing in more cheap electronic systems that will inevitably break down. But commuter trains, being on a fixed route, generally operate on or close enough to schedule that it shouldn't matter to the average rider. Most commuter rail passengers figured out over a hundred years ago that all they need to do is compare the train schedule against their watch.
And by all means MBCR, please tell us when there is a serious delay due to a problem. But don't assault us with nanny messages and "The next train is coming in 2 minutes" countdowns instead.
You also indicate that the cost of this information system will be relatively inexpensive. Well, if you add up the cost of all the "relatively inexpensive" projects like this the T and MBCR have fosited on us over the years that DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to actually speed up the commute, you would have a pretty good chunk of money that could go to personnel to properly staff the trains and maintain the equipment.
Lastly, you and other posters have reminded me of the fact that restrictions on Government funding require that the money be spent on capital improvements, and cannot be diverted to operating expenses. Frankly, IMO, that's part of the reason the T and MBCR is so messed up - because they can get Federal funds for unnecessary - I repeat - unnecessary - projects like this when they can barely pay to staff and maintain the trains properly. This system needs to be changes, and the T and MBCR need to muster the political will to help get it changed.
Remember, even the best brand new trains are no good if they don't have crews to man them and maintenance personnel to properly service and repair them.
So it's a waste of money to
So it's a waste of money to have a message board (that already exists) feature an automated countdown..... but you propose "having somebody on duty full time to update the boards in a timely manner".
I don't understand how hiring someone (any businesses highest cost is labor) is cheaper than an automated countdown. And how "trains are running 15-30 minutes late" is better than "train will arrive in 19 minutes"
And while you may have never filled out a commuter rail survey, I have, twice.
They don't want to pay to
I think the service has actually gotten better over the past year. So, I don't know what your source on this is. It's not perfect, but we all know that most of the equipment is past its expiration date.
These seem to be small investments that make things a bit better to tolerate the service in general. I hope they roll out something similar on the subway soon.
A vision of MBTA parking lots full of idling cars
Sheesh. Automobile Nation.
I have this image of MBTA parking lots teeming with idling internal combustion engines spewing out noxious gases to keep fragile commuters warm in, say, 30 degree weather.
Agreed
Or with the air conditioner on in, say, 60 degree weather.
God forbid people be a little
God forbid people be a little comfortable in the morning.
This is something which might actually be useful...
...once they work the bugs out of it--perhaps sometime in the next decade. After all, these are the same people who brought us:
The station where I catch the train in the mornings is just a glorified bus shelter set in what presently resembles a frozen, wind-whipped Siberian tundra. When it rains, there's only room for a dozen and a half people under the roof and the other seventy-five of us have no choice but to get wet. If you choose to stay in your vehicle until the train approaches, you have to dash as much as 100 yards and cross a road where the speed limit is 40 mph in order to get to the platform. I admit, then, it would be nice to have access to real-time updates on my train's ETA.
But, even if they manage to find competent people to install these new systems so they work right from the start, it makes no sense at all to have notification boards that are more reliable than the trains themselves.
If only they would find the money to keep the trains, tracks and signal systems properly maintained and fully staffed, maybe there wouldn't be a need to come up with new ways to let people know how late their trains are running.
Grand plan
I think the CR experiment is part of the 'grand plan' to put countdown on not only CR but subways and bus stops (major ones at least). Once the technology is in place, I think we'll see notification expanding - to smart phone pushes, web site and telephone access... I know the current test tracking on 5 bus routes is doing well, and I think MassDOT/MBTA is riding the high they're getting from the success of published data they're seeing so far.
They don't want to pay to
What T are you riding, where the trains always keep strictly to schedule?
MBCR does not pay for this stuff
The T owns all the assets. They control capital expenses. The next contract ought to allow the winning bidder some capital expense authority (e.g., if MBCR were contractor, it could buy locomotives and coaches, then lease them back to T.)