Sunday, July 23, 2017

"having a ticket is critical to boarding or riding the trains"

From the Boston Globe, articles of interest for Franklin:
"Frustrated by the loss of tens of millions of dollars in uncollected fares, the MBTA will soon require passengers to show their tickets before boarding commuter rail trains at North Station. 
The modest and decidedly low-tech approach will begin in a few weeks, and is the first of several fare-collection initiatives that will affect virtually all commuter rail, subway, and bus riders. 
Commuter rail fares are currently collected by conductors during the trip. The MBTA estimates it loses as much as $30 million a year when collectors run out of time — or give up trying — to check tickets."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/21/mbta-readies-new-system-for-verifying-passengers-payment/5Ic9pBMl3vOAQp2SmT6ytO/story.html

This MBTA train on July 13 should have gone to Forge Park and then returned to Franklin Dean before going to Boston on schedule. It never made it to Forge Park, left Franklin/Dean late and arrived in Boston late.
This MBTA train on July 13 should have gone to Forge Park and then returned to Franklin Dean before going to Boston on schedule. It never made it to Forge Park, left Franklin/Dean late and arrived in Boston late.


Editorial Note: 
As a long time rider from the Franklin/Dean station to Boston's South Station, the T has a mighty challenge at hand. While I absolutely agree ticket revenue is key, it goes hand in hand with a quality delivery of their service which has been lacking. It may very well be a chicken and egg thing (as it what comes first? revenue or service) but I would posit that in the competitive world service comes first. The T is in a non-competitive world and we suffer for it.

For all the improvements that have been made, faulty equipment, and a sorely lacking communication system (that provides timely and accurate info), never mind substandard on-time delivery remain as the top problems, and they are all interrelated. You'd think that by now with all the practice they have (slipped schedules, troublesome equipment, etc.) that the communications would have improved. One could only wish it had.

2 comments:

  1. You nailed it Steve. I road the rails for 18 years and these problems always existed. They did not collect fares on busy days. You always felt screwed when you bought a monthly pass because others were riding for free. Ken Norman

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