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So, what's the verdict on the new MBTA Alerts?
By roadman on Wed, 06/05/2013 - 4:58pm
Personally, I think the new alerts are just plain awful, as compared to the old ones.
Say there are Green Line signal delays at Copley Junction:
Under the old system, the alert would read something like:
Green Line experiencing 10 to 15 minute delays due to a signal problem in the Copley area.
Under the new system, the new alert would read:
Green Line experiencing moderate delays due to signal problem.
And the "back to normal" messages are even worse. Under the above scenario, the old alert would read:
Green Line on or near schedule.
The new alert would read
All Clear (re: Green Line experiencing moderate delays due to signal problem).
Thoughts?
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Comments
I'm with you
They're pretty darn annoying so far. I really don't need multiple "updates" on the same alert if nothing has changed.
Latest Green Line alert
It still doesn't tell you how long "moderate" means.
Equally interesting
is the use of eastbound (instead of inbound) for direction in a public alert. While the Green Line dispatchers have been using eastbound and westbound in their radio communications for years now, upper management has stubbornly held onto requiring "inbound" and "outbound" as the accepted conventions in describing the lines to the public.
And I agree with you about the use of terms like "minor" and "moderate" (I wonder if a serious delay would be described as "major" or "severe"). Having estimated times in the old alerts was far more useful for me to decide whether to stick it out on the platform or walk to my destination instead.
An interesting point on inbound/outbound
I haven't had the chance to see that on my alerts yet. I don't ride the T for work but my wife does, so I keep track of them for her. I don't know if it's just a Green Line thing or not.
Funny though, I went to the airport yesterday and then returned home via Silver > Red > Orange > Haverhill. I'm not sure where it was off the top of my head, but I definitely saw official T signage in the tunnels that said "Eastbound" in reference to a subway direction. I think it was in DTX. Probably just a straggler that hasn't been replaced yet, but it's not consistently done (then again, with the MBTA, what ever is?).
Edit - Actually, I'm not sure on the location now that I think of it. I went to the airport on Tuesday (to get a rental car) and went NS > Green > Blue > Airport. It might have been in Government Center that I saw this.
More than likely, the sign
was a one-off (contractor error?). "Inbound" and "outbound" have been the offical nomenclature in stations and on maps since even before the "color coded" identification system for the subway lines was introduced in the late 1960s.
Personally, I've always liked "eastbound" and westbound" (or "northbound" and "southbound" for the Orange and Red Lines) over "inbound" and "outbound", especially given that, on most lines, "inbound" changes to "outbound" once you get into Downtown Boston.
East in and west out
In railroad terms, dating back to when steam was king, railroads were defined by their historical development traveling east and west across the developing nation.
That has persisted, and modern railroad still define trains as traveling east or west.
So if one takes a train from New York to Boston, on a map you can see that Boston is east of New York, so travel toward Boston is eastbound. Clearly this is a north-south route but for the railroad it is also expressed as east-west.
So any train traveling toward Boston is eastbound and away is westbound.
Now... trains traveling away from Boston toward Newburyport are also traveling eastbound because Newburyport is east of Boston on a map. So from North Station, its just the opposite. Toward Boston is westbound.
Confused? It gets better.
Consider that two stations on the MBTA subway system, Park and Downtown Crossing, are the system's hub stations. So anything traveling away from Park or Downtown Crossing regardless of any direction on the compass are now "outbound."
So, on the Orange, Downtown Crossing north/east to State is outbound, even though you are still downtown.
Clear?
I'll beam up now, thanks.
Thank you for proving the
point I was trying to make. That subway directions should be indicated to the public as the physical direction, and not "inbound" or outbound".
What's confusing about the new alerts is that they give you both terms. They refer to the general direction of the problem as "inbound" or "outbound, but then give you the exact direction (i.e. westbound) for side of the station affected.
I like them. Its more
I like them. Its more detailed. The bus alerts are more accurate (they even send notifications like traffic issues now which did not happen before). I also find that they are now in sync with the message boards inside the stations now.
I, however, don't like the emails are html. Only because I don't get them via txt message on my phone but via email (because last time I did that I went way over my sms usage due to so many alerts). So via email they just don't display properly.
Only time will tell. I signed up for a ton of alerts (I ride the T alot) so we'll see over time how well they perform.
Hey folks, its better to have some alerts than no alerts! (like it was in the not so distant past)
Should be more flexible since
Should be more flexible since it is now a full fledged API. If their output isn't good then I'd expect an app or website to pop up soon and customize it.
So, you're saying you'll need an app
to decipher the alert the MBTA provides you. Real genius - not!
No
But i see integration with the existing apps. The only one that included alerts (Prior to June 4th.. the old system) was the MBTA Transit Police App itself.
The rest didn't. (or if it did it was just a link to mbta.com)
More detailed?
More detailed? Like this one, which I just received?
Not all "alerts" are service disruptions
Take the announcements of bikes being allowed between certain stops on the Newburyport/Rockport Line. There is now a constant "Current alert" --
http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/transit_updates/?t...
The alerts also no longer have a timestamp. The old alerts (at least on buses) were notorious for staying up for hours after originally posted, even when they no linger were valid.
The (NY) MTA breaks it down a little further, using "Service change" and "Delay". Certain ongoing changes, such as the now perpetual current alert about the Oak Grove Platform Rehabilitation Project, should be somehow differentiated from delays caused by disabled trains or signals.
The new e-mail alerts have a
timestamp, but the new SMS ones don't.
And I agree that scheduled events should be different from service delays. Perhaps the T could make it a separate check-box in a person's alert profile, so people (like myself) who don't want to be barraged with the stuff can opt out.
Ah, I don't subscribe to the
Ah, I don't subscribe to the e-mail or text alerts but was referring to the new format shown on the web site.
Still no differentiation in Green Line branches
I was terribly disapointed I could not select the E Line when signing up for alerts. I couldn't care less if there's no service from Resevoir to Riverside, and I don't want alerts for it. If it effects the central subway, fine, send that to anyone signed up for any Green Line branch. But it's amazing to me that they couldn't break this down further.
I hate the lack of time estimates, and just about anything can be referred to as a "moderate" delay.
Replacing "10 to 15 minutes"
Replacing "10 to 15 minutes" with "moderate" doesn't bother me because the former wasn't ever that meaningful in the first place. Is that a delay in transit time? In arrival/wait time? Something else?
And the idiocy of the "new and improved" system continues
Witness this E line alert I got earlier:
Wouldn't it have been nuch simpler to say
like they used to. Oh wait, that would mean invoking logic and common sense. I guess we can't have any of that at the MBTA.
I like the extra detail
of listing the exact stops that are affected.
I agree some people may find the extra information
useful. But at least they should put the line and limits of the disruption as the initial information in the header. One shouldn't be forced to read halfway through the alert to figure out if the stated problem will affect them.
If the header states even "Green Line E Branch experiencing moderate delays", then the person knows they don't have to read the rest of the alert if they aren't using the E line. In other words, less time wasted.
Besides, I wonder how many riders actually know the names of the Green Line surface stations they board?