Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #MBTA
Most recents (13)
Every Monday I wonder if the DPH will return to reporting on the weekend. I thought with the steady and growing increase in cases they would.
Speaking of cons, I know I would not be comfortable at Fan Expo this weekend, so I never bothered getting a ticket. But I'm really bummed that Christopher Eccleston will be there. No idea when I'll get a chance to meet *my* Doctor besides this con.
Today my mom humored me as I tried to list the #mbta current rolling stock in chronological order w/o using my phone. Massive 🤓 alert. I'm tweeting first before I'll look it up to see how close I was
Not counting the Green Type 9s, the Orange 1400s and the Red 1900s. So that leaves:
1) 🚇 Blue Line Siemens order 2000s
2) 🚋 Green Line Type 8 Breda cars. 2000s (derailing issue)
3) 🚇 Red Line Bombardier 1800s early 90s 93/95
4) 🚇 Red Line UTDC 1700s late 80s 87/89
1) 🚇 Blue Line Siemens order 2000s
2) 🚋 Green Line Type 8 Breda cars. 2000s (derailing issue)
3) 🚇 Red Line Bombardier 1800s early 90s 93/95
4) 🚇 Red Line UTDC 1700s late 80s 87/89
5) 🚋 Green Line Type 7 mid 80s originally 🇯🇵 then rehabbed 🇫🇷
6) 🚇 Orange Line 1400s Hawker Siddeley 1979/80
7) 🚇 Red Line Pullmans 1969/70 15/1600s
And 8) 🚋 Mattapan Trolley Pullman post war estimated 75 years old. (that's the easiest!)
6) 🚇 Orange Line 1400s Hawker Siddeley 1979/80
7) 🚇 Red Line Pullmans 1969/70 15/1600s
And 8) 🚋 Mattapan Trolley Pullman post war estimated 75 years old. (that's the easiest!)
Hi 🙋🏻♀️ I’m a City Councillor who commutes daily by public transit. I’d like to use my small soapbox to talk about why it’s crucial that elected leaders take the #MBTA daily - no excuses. #mapoli
Today was a bad day for commuters across the Commonwealth. My train out of #SalemMA was late as usual & at N StationI couldn’t pack myself into this can of sardines even after waiting for 2 trains. I ended up walking to work. 
When I got to my 8:30 mtg 1 hr late, half the room was empty or on a conference line because nobody could make it to work on time. A colleague ended up jumping into his car because train from w mass never arrived, still ended up pulling over the side of highway to dial in.
I was in my first months as an aide when this vote went down. The pressure from the Speaker, a Democrat, to NOT support more significant investment in transportation was intense. It was a glaring example of lack of courage and lack of vision from the leadership team. #mapoli
This #mapoli history is worth unpacking a bit. It was the most important political debate of it's mini era and helped define the political consciousness of a set of staff and legislators. Here's a thread:
Typically the kind pressure Kaufman describes is implicit. More "we'll exclude you socially" than clear quid pro quos. It's only explicit for the Speaker's top priorities. So in this case, a smaller tax package and smaller transportation investments were a top priority.
Had to spend the last hour or so writing additional comments to the #MBTA board (with a copy to my state rep). Meeting recap tk in a few minutes.
Ok, here we are with the recap of today's #MBTA board meeting. Absent today were vice-chair @MonicaTibbitsN and director @BrianLang123; present were chair Aiello, directors Kornegay and @BrianShortsleev, and transportation secretary @Steph_Pollack.
The meeting started at 12:07 after some greetings and chat among the large number of politicians who were at the meeting. (While this was going on, I met @JanetWuNews, now of Bloomberg. The fellowship of people who regularly attend these meetings is a small one.)
Ok, so on with the recap of today's incredibly long (five hours!) #MBTA board meeting. As always, these are done from my handwritten notes taken at the meeting, so if I missed someone's name, sorry, them's the breaks.
Directors @BrianLang123 and @BrianShortsleev were absent to start the meeting; Lang joined at 2pm. Present for the whole meeting were chairman Aiello, vice-chair @MonicaTibbitsN, director Kornegay, and secretary @Steph_Pollack.
In a departure from usual practice, the meeting started with a presentation from Toronto's MetroLynx, an agency of the provincial government. They are in the process of a redesign and refranchising of the GO commuter rail network.
This investment in our public transit system was funded by the modest gas tax increase that the legislature approved in 2013. Now we desperately need to expand and accelerate our investment in improved #subway, #bus, #commuterrail and other transportation infrastructure.
#mapoli
#mapoli
In our area, projects to improve #OakGrove station and rebuild #WinchesterCenter station are well underway, and we are also pushing hard for the @MBTA to upgrade the #MaldenCenter station.
#mapoli
#mapoli
1/ Frustrated and stuck on the @MBTA? Here’s a thread for your morning commute, and a reminder of why the transit system’s main funding source has fallen far short of expectations:
2/ The @MBTA has relied on the “penny on the sales tax” since 2001. At the time, the state thought sales tax revenue would continue to grow by 3 to 8% per year as it had. In 2007, 3% was still “worst case scenario”.
3/ Actual growth of sales tax has, in fact, averaged 1.5% — half what leaders expected. This is partly because of changes in what people buy. Further, the “penny on the sales tax” portion that the @MBTA gets doesn’t include meals.
For @cogwbur, I wrote about yesterday's MBTA derailment and how incidents like this have created a transportation crisis in Massachusetts. #mapoli #mbta
wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
Fixing the T will require voting out politicians who refuse to take Boston's transportation crisis seriously. It will involve amplifying folks like @wutrain @cdempc @transitmatters @MikeConnollyMA and others who've offered tangible solutions. #mbta #mapoli
wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
After this week's MBTA derailments, #TransitEquity must become a new litmus test for Massachusetts lawmakers. We can keep re-electing politicians who don't give a shit about equitable transportation, or we can hire better leaders.
It's our call.
#mapoli
wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
It's our call.
#mapoli
wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
Since I’m sitting on the delayed #GreenbushLine, I’ll tell a little story. I’m lucky enough that I have a great job in #Boston, one with flexibility. I can work from home if needed, and I’m not penalized for being late to work. But once upon a time, I worked in retail as (1/6)
a store manager. Over half my staff took the @MBTA to get to and from work. My stock room guy was one of these employees. He was chronically late to work, not because he was a bad employee or didn’t budget enough time, but because he took the #RedLine and it was regularly (2/6)
late. He had to log in and out each day in our POS system, and at one point my regional manager rang me up and said I had to fire him. He had too many late arrivals and was labeled an unreliable worker. I pleaded his case for him. It wasn’t his fault. Here’s a young man (3/6)
Where are we on improving the #MBTA? @BruceMohl asks MBTA chair Joseph Aiello. “Still at the very beginning.”
“We were in as dark a hole as you can imagine.”
“We were in as dark a hole as you can imagine.”
Aiello defends the T’s plan as a “radical transformation,” esp on the Red Line, where the goal is to get to service every three mins by mid-2020s, almost doubling capacity.
He also said (as officials have before) that past estimates on repair backlog of $7.3b are probably low.
He also said (as officials have before) that past estimates on repair backlog of $7.3b are probably low.
Aiello adds the $7.3b backlog is about replacing the T’s existing infrastructure, not improving it. Those Red Line improvements, for example, are more expensive than just replacing “like for like.”
Crumbling concrete, leaking roofs, and busted elevators: the state of the T bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/09/… via @BostonGlobe
The dilapidated state of our #PublicTransit #infrastructure is unacceptable. We shouldn't accept the idea that the #MBTA management has to choose between improving service and upgrading facilities. We have to do both: good public transit is vital for our communities.
#mapoli
#mapoli
This is why I have announced plans to revive the #FairShareAmendment. It is the most progressive way to significantly increase investment in the MBTA & other infrastructure. We must continue to explore other funding sources to meet the immediate needs of our transportation system
(1/x) I was surprised & disturbed to read this Globe article about the extremely poor personal driving records, as well as numerous safety violations, of many of the engineers who operate the @MBTA_CR commuter rail trains for @KeolisBoston/@MBTA. #mapoli
