dmaze

Are there any good sources that have current actual peak headways on the Red Line? I haven't verified it myself but from maps like this one it looks like the T just isn't publishing real-time vehicle data for the Red Line at all, which means nobody who's not willing to hang around a T station for an hour or so can find this out.

The good news is that the conductors on the Fitchburg line seem to have gotten the memo that any CharlieCard will get you to Porter, and the 5:55 Wachusett train had lots of open seats leaving North Station. But, the walk from South Station to North Station is just a little bit longer than I think it is, which is an issue if the 5:35 train leaves on time.

Hello from home, since I can't go to work because the T isn't running, in turn because the T says that if a third train gets stranded they'll have trouble evacuating people in the dark. My Facebook feed is largely blaming this on a combination of excessive weather and old equipment (a third of the Red Line fleet is 45 years old, with an expected lifetime of 30). Meanwhile, our Republican governor, apparently parroting the Republican line that everything can be fixed with budget cuts, is proposing to cut $14 million from the T's budget. Now, $14 million isn't actually useful capital spending in this context, oddly enough — the newest Blue Line train cars cost $2 million apiece — but if the T needs more spending, how does cutting its budget help? Perhaps more interestingly, our governor was elected in part based on his business credentials, could private business run the T better?

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This came out of a question I answered on mbta. Let's say you're trying to get from the Museum of Science to Medford Square in the new fare regime; your plausible choices include taking the T to Davis or Sullivan and then a bus, two busses from Lechmere, or commuter rail to Malden or West Medford and a bus. It turns out that for a bus-plus-subway trip, the cheaper fares and free transfer together make not using a CharlieCard cost twice as much!

Route	Cash fare		CharlieTicket fare		CharlieCard fare
87/88 bus Lechmere to Davis, then 94/96 bus	$1.50 bus + $1.50 bus	$3.00	$1.50 bus, free transfer	$1.50	$1.25 bus, free transfer	$1.25
Subway to Davis, then 94/96 bus	$2 subway + $1.50 bus	$3.50	$2 subway + $1.50 bus	$3.50	$1.70 subway, free transfer	$1.70
Commuter rail to West Medford, then 95 bus	$1.70 zone 1A CR + $1.50 bus	$3.20	Stored-value cards not accepted on commuter rail

...but remember, the new system has fewer special cases, so it's simpler!

Route	Current fare	CharlieTicket fare	CharlieCard fare
Davis to Kendall	$1.25	$2.00	$1.70
Davis to Braintree	$2.50	$2.00	$1.70
Chestnut Hill to Reservoir	$3.00	$2.00	$1.70
Reservoir to Chestnut Hill	Free	$2.00	$1.70
Chestnut Hill to Braintree	$4.25	$2.00	$1.70

See? The new system is perfectly simple. Just so long as you don't think about how you're paying. Or transfers. I think "not thinking of any of the corner cases even a little" is the current bane of my existence.

Q: Where in greater Camberville can I get one of these CharlieCard widgets?

A: They will be distributed "at key locations during rush hours" starting next Monday, 4 December, including Alewife, Davis, and Lechmere (all three on both 5 and 8 December). See the PDF here for full dates and locations.

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Q: What are you doing?

A: I plan to get a CharlieCard on Monday, probably at Davis, and let it sit unloved in a drawer at home. Meanwhile, I'll keep buying monthly commuter rail Zone 1A CharlieTickets so that, if I want to take the commuter rail from Porter to North Station, it's still free.

Passing through North Station, I acquired a copy of the (ooh, glossy) 30 October Lowell commuter rail schedule. In addition to mentioning the Downeaster connection at Anderson/Woburn station and hinting at the seekrit Wildcat Branch trains to Haverhill via Woburn, the cover also advertises "Additional service to Anderson RTC". They're not lying: inbound trains leave Anderson/Woburn at 6:38, 6:58, 7:18, 7:38, 8:08 (express), 8:15, 8:30, 8:45, 9:15, and 9:35. That's often enough that it might actually be appealing to drive from outer suburbia to the 93/95 interchange and park there for the day; get stuck in traffic and miss "your" train? there's another one in 15-20 minutes.

I wonder how well this model will work for the T. It's certainly a lot of capacity (if each of those trains are 6-car trains with 100 seats per car). But it's also a good location, with Anderson having a direct exit off of I-93 just north of I-95, and lots of parking. It feels like the I-95 north corridor (Topsfield, Georgetown) doesn't have great commuter rail access, but coming in on 95 to 93 and parking might be saner than trying to get into the city on 93 at rush hour. Schedule says 27 minutes for the train ride, which feels long, though.

Still, if it was successful, there's already commuter rail service at or near a lot of other major road intersections (Route 128 station at I-95 south; Riverside/Auburndale/Brandeis stations near I-90/I-95; Littleton/495 station near MA-2/I-495; commuter rail practically goes through the I-90/I-495 interchange). So if this works out it's a potentially interesting model for MBTA commuter rail going forward.

(Amtrak's current published schedule has an inbound Downeaster leaving Woburn at 8:31, but not picking up passengers; I suspect that with the schedule change this will become either 7:45 or 9:00, since that's where there are spots in the schedule now.)