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MBTA gearing up for single-operator Red Line trains

New video monitors going up at the end of Red Line platforms are part of the MBTA's plan to eliminate the second operator on trains, T General Manager Richard Davey tweeted this morning, adding, "will be doing industry safety review next month to make sure it's done right."

Orange Line riders will recall that the arrival of the monitors signaled the impending end of two-worker trains on that line last year.

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Comments

Has anyone noticed a change in service/safety from the switch from two operators to one operators where it has occurred?

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As a semi-frequent orange line commuter I would say there has been practically no change. Granted I've been lucky enough to not experience any abnormal operations since the switch to one operator.

I suppose the only change is that all the doors close at once now, rather then doors on one half of the train closing a few seconds later. Which only really matters if you're sprinting down the stairs.

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I live by Forest Hills and it definitely takes a lot longer to change ends now. One person is at the far end of the station, then has to wait for everyone to exit the train then close the doors. After that they have to walk all the way to the other end of the train, get in the driver's cab and open the doors. They often take their time before they get back in the front to open the doors.

At regular station stops I'd say there's not been much of a change at all.

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Is that the trains at least seem to run more frequently. Y'know, when they move.

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Night time and Sunday frequencies were improved to every 10 minutes when they went to one-person operation on the Orange Line. They used to be every 14 minutes or so during those hours.

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How is that slower than with a two-person crew? Changing ends with two people still involves the motorman walking to the other end. Yes, the motorman can start walking before the conductor closes the doors, but does that actually happen in practice, and how much time does it save?

On the newer Red Line cars, the doors don't even have to close and reopen at the terminal. The conductor changes cabs while all the doors stay open.

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because most of the time at Forest Hills, a janitor works his way through the train before it leaves the station, which definitely takes longer than it takes for the operator to walk the length of the platform. Generally speaking, trains are held briefly anyway for schedule reasons. The fact that there are dwell times in the station is not necessarily a reflection of transitional inefficiency.

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At every single stop, there's a long pause before the doors open, and another long pause before the train starts moving. There was never this delay before- soon as the train stopped moving, the doors would open. Some operators would use/abuse the door safety system to make the doors open even faster, by hitting the door-open button as the train came to a stop. This releases the emergency brake and the doors pop open the second the train has stopped.

Also: the mid-car operator would often see the people bolting down the staircase and hold for a few seconds to let them run on. Especially from a happy-customer standpoint, that was important.

One big question, though: why is it that I keep seeing signs that there really are still two "operators"? As UHub has pointed out, often they're talking to each other over the intercom. One morning I was on a train and the driver kept yelling to the other one to "pick up the damn phone" and we could hear the handset ringing in our car's cab. So WTF is the mid-car operator doing now? Warming the seat?

Also: why didn't they put video monitors in the cabs with RF links? It might even improve safety if the operator could see the video of the platform before they're in the station, and the T wouldn't have had to pay for huge flat-panel displays in fancy weatherproof containers.

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They slightly increased the number of roving "inspectors" when they went to one person operation. Those people sometimes ride along instead of just standing in a station. They aren't on every train, but something like every 5th train or 6th train I think. That would explain they occasional intercom conversation.

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It's a shame, because as it is, it's nearly impossible to find an MBTA employee when you need one.

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if you find them they ignore you or if they are a cluster of t cops shooting the breeze instead spread out they take pleasure in giving you misinformation. take it from me if you need help your better off asking a fellow passenger than these lottery winners. i have seen people start to fight and they duck under a booth or hide somewhere. if your 5ft2 or 120 lbs what do they exspect you to do for a 100 grand a year.

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Now, we just need some way of having one operator Green line trains with 2 or 3 cars.

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then they will have more money to buy equipment instead of paying each one of these layabouts millions of dollars till they die while we get fired for being late too many times riding on 30 year old trains.its happening slowy but surely.its cheaper to pay most of these people 20 grand a year welfare where they started from before they won the t lottery.

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about the delays that will occur when one of the cars in that 2 or 3 car train breaks down and the train can't immediately be separated and the dead car moved because there's no operator on scene to do so.

Plus, how will you enforce fare collection on the second and third cars at surface stations if there are no operators on those cars?

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Oh, I know there are lots of problems with the idea currently. I take some issue with the notion that breakdowns are handled more quickly with an operator in each car, though. That certainly doesn't seem to be the case right now. Enforcing fare collection is a whole other story. There is already a large problem with people entering in the back, or being directed to do so by the overwhelmed driver. A solution to address that, like Proof-of-Payment, could address this as well.

One of the main advantages of trolleys is that they can have capacity expanded without requiring additional drivers -- theoretically. It's a shame that can't be leveraged currently.

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a two or three car train fails to move because of a control problem. In nearly all these cases, the problem is solved by disconnecting the cars and running them individually. It's a simple solution that minimizes delay for everyone.

Now, if you don't have operators on all the cars in a train, who are you going to get to move those other cars, and how long will it take them to get to the disabled train? The principal rationale behind one-person operation is to reduce staffing costs, so I doubt the T would be very receptive to having extra crews on "stand-by" status.

Even something as routine as fixing a stuck door could take twice as long as now, if the operator is in the front of the train and the stuck door is at the very back of the third car.

And I agree with the idea of implementing a proof-of-payment system, not just for the surface stations but for the entire system. Then we can get rid of those totally unreliable faregates (the ones at North Station have been truly abysmal this past week).

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It's ridiculous that the T would have to keep an operator in each car just in case the control system fails and the cars have to be separated. I know of no other rail system on earth that has to keep employees sitting around in mid-train cabs waiting for a failure.

The correct solution is to fix the control system. There have been electric MU trains for over 100 years -- we should know how to design them by now.

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I thought we already had proof of payment on the surface Green Line.

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You think the delays on the Red Line are bad now. Just look at the Orange Line, they had more delays than ever since one man operation took effect! I feel bad for people that have to depend on these lines in the future.

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I don't think the orange line been breaking down more because of one man operations...

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