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Malden Center
Malden Center was a disaster on the Orange Line. Huge throngs of people waiting at the fare gates AND fare vending machines and a whopping 1 MBTA agent in the lobby. Naturally, my Charlie Card didn't work and had to track down the agent. She didn't stand out in the least, and when I found her, she was muttering about how she wasn't going to help anyone else with their Charlie Card problems and walked away. I yelled out to her as she walked away only to have her got hostile and explicitly refuse to do anything. I ran through an open fare gate only to find they had an MBTA agent wandering the platform. How useful is that on the day the lobby is getting slammed? Why do they even need someone on the platform? Everyone there has already managed to get into the station. What help are they supposed to need now? After nearly getting refused entry, I was pretty angry at this and yelled at the guy when I saw him. His response was to try to get me arrested. I apologized rather than delay the train. I cared more about the other passengers than getting arrested myself. The whole thing was a joke and the hostile employees were doing nothing to help the situation. The person in the lobby was being beligerent to everyone. I don't even blame here since she was stuck in the overwhelmed lobby on her own. And still, Porter Square sounds even worse.
Yeah, Malden Center was a nightmare
Brian's absolutely right. Malden Center was a madhouse. The lines for the machines were so backed up that they were blocking the turnstiles, so the few people with working CharlieCards couldn't actually get to the platform. I didn't see any MBTA employees helping anyone.
The overwhelming number of
The overwhelming number of delays seems to stem from people:
A: Not buying their passes until the very last moment. I put a LinkPass on my CharlieCard weeks ago.
OR
B: Not bothering to notice the 3,000 flyers, news articles and signs stating the new fare policy and being stunned...absolutely stunned...that things changed.
Problems with gates are not the rider's fault, but they seemed to be the minority.
Completely disagree
First off, people waiting until the first business day of the month to buy their pass, etc. isn't rider error. Its standard opperating procedure and always will be. The fact is, the shiny new system did not handle this normal circumstance well at all. This always happens. Every month. But I've never seen anything like what I saw on Tuesday. Having used the fare machines, I feel quite comfortable suggesting they strongly contributed to the problems. I attempted to put my "LinkPass" on my CharlieCard 4 times only to find 4 machines which refused to acknowledge my credit card. Not accepting what is stated as acceptable payment will cause huge problems in and of itself. The fact that the machines do not explain that there is no longer a Subway Pass or the name change for the Combo Pass will create user confusion. That's not the user's fault. Its bad design.
Moreover, even today there were considerable problems. I saw numerous flashes of "See Agent" on the Fare Gates, nearly all of which weren't taking Charlie Tickets. Cards don't work, and tickets are accepted. That's user error?
And I actually do have a lot of sympathy to people blindsided by the fare increase and complete reorganization of the monthly pass system. Because I knew about it primarily from reading the papers. We have to acknowledge not everyone does that. No store would depend on news stories to inform their customers of something. It can part of the process, but it can't be everything. While I recall notices being posted about the process of instituting the fare increase (many months ago), I actually don't recall seeing anything in stations or on trains about the fare increase and restructuring. I saw them promissing exit fares on the Green Line. I saw a lot about the Charlie Card. But the fare increase? Nothing. So I'm not at all surprised that some customers were blindsided by this. The MBTA didn't do an effective job in communicating it because they disregarded their most obvious and effective means for doing so. Again, not rider error.
Riders need to take some responsibility
"It's the way it has always been!" doesn't hold water. It's a choice to wait. Complaining that it takes too long as a consequence of that wait is not anyone's problem but the person who chose not to plan ahead.
The machine is there to vend fares to as many people as quickly as possible, not to give them reading material. The new fare structure was well publicized, those that decided not to give it their attention have no one but themselves to blame.
Personally, I find the increase annoying and I do not believe that the T deserves more money when they obviously do not even know how to effectively spend the cash they do have on hand. (Silver Line, the one-coint-at-a-time fareboxes, etc)
Try not selectively ignoring what I write. See the last line of my last post.
Yes, we do have to acknowledge this, but again...it was something that was literally the talk of the town for months. If people choose to tune that out then I can't really offer them any sympathy.
The other day, I sat on an Green Line train for almost the entire run from the start of the B Line to Government Center. Every single stop, no matter how tiny had at least one, giant sign in the middle of each platform that you would be forced to either stand next to, or go out of their way to walk around to reach the train. The sign explicitly stated the new fare structure in plain English with a nice set of tables explaining what one would be expected to pay. Nearly every person was still oblivious to the fact they needed to pay more.
Willful ignorance is at work here. If a gigantic sign isn't enough to draw someone's attention, then I'm not sure what else the T could do to improve the situation. If people choose not to pay attention, then they will have to face the consequences.
I didn't see any of the fare
I didn't see any of the fare signs until a few days ago. Far too late in the process. For many, those signs were never going to be seen until today. What signage was presented to bus riders? "Talk of the town" is simply not sufficent notification. It might not be the talk of everyone's town. And while some may have been aware of the fare increase, what of the restructuring? That's really what's causing the greatest confusion. It doesn't help that a few people actually saved money, which only makes it all the more confusing. I know a lot of people who knew there was a fare increase, but were not aware of the significant restructuring. And the point of sale does not explain that. It presents the current structure as if its always been that way. This isn't helping confusion issues. The bottom line is the MBTA declined the most direct means of communicating the fare restructuring, so I don't think any useful responsibility should fall to riders who were blindsided. They roled out the information at the end of the month and did nothing to draw attention to the major changes. Its hardly "reading material" to add a small notice that subway pass buyers will now need to by the "LinkPass". It hardly would have been an imposition to continue calling it a "ComboPass" in some fashion until people are used to the new structure. Again, the MBTA declined, and I hardly think confused riders are the blame. Frankly, I suspect the T held off on comprehensive notices about fares because they thought it would be too confusing. But that's really the whole problem here. Still, that issue was largely limited to Tuesday. The problems that are still occuring with fare gates and non-working Charlie Cards have nothing to do with riders and that's the really important issue going forward. Malden Center may not have been a nightmare this morning, but it was far from problem free. The real issue is the response from T agents I saw WAS to blame riders for what was obviously equipment failure. I know there are some saints in the system, but there is a critical mass of hostile MBTA agents who are only making things worse.
If a company in the business
If a company in the business of providing a service to millions of people makes it suddenly much harder to do things the way hundreds of thousands of people do things, yes, I do think the company's at fault. Individual responsibility is nice and all, but behavior that is normal for a huge mass of people is by definition something the MBTA has to take into account.
Watertown bus
On BadTransit, Daniel R reports boarding on his bus was delayed so long the bus's engine shut down.
i had no problems at the
i had no problems at the symphony stop today on the green line. There was no line and the machine worked fine.
I also chose to go to the less crowded station today as opposed to Hynes because of that.
Charlie on the MBTA reports
Charlie on the MBTA reports things seemed to be going well during the morning rush:
Express from Newton Corner
On the express bus (502) from Newton Corner, the driver had people board without swiping their tickets. I didn't think much of it as most drivers have been doing this and would simply press the console button to register a pass. However, the driver kept the rear door closed and made people pay their fares when getting off the bus. WTF?
If this ridiculousness happens again tomorrow, I'm simply walking off the bus. Earth to MBTA: 1 door on and 1 door off is slower than 1 on and 2 off.
I also saw a few people with CharlieCards that were registering as having "insufficient funds" despite people being adamant about the fact that their employers had purchased the cards. I will be waiting a few months until this mess is sorted out before considering that abomination.
Davis Square
Davis Square was a disaster.
I showed up at about 8:30, and stood in a huge line that took about 20 minutes to get through. I listened to at least 4 trains go past as I was waiting.
The worst part was that I had to stand in it at all, which was half my own fault. I knew that I would be away for the holidays and wouldn't be back in time to pick up my monthly pass for January at work. So I was pretty pleased with myself for getting a stored value card with $1.25 on it, oblivious to the fact that the fare increase would be in effect.
So as I walked by those long lines, I was thinking, "Suckers!". Until I put my card through the slot and got the dreaded "Insufficient Fare" message. I simultaneously heard someone in line say "It's $1.70 now..." so I realized that I was now one of the suckers.
The funniest part was that when I finally got to the machine, the supposedly helpful MBTA guy tried to get me to take a Charlie Card because it would save me $.70 on the fare from the paper card. I told him I had a Charlie Card waiting for me at work, and that I already had money on the paper card. He said, "But the fare is 70 cents lower with the Charlie Card!" I didn't feel like explaining again that I already had money on the card, $1.25 to be exact, that I'd be losing if I switched to the Charlie Card, for a net loss, so I continued my transaction and told him I just didn't want one. He gave me this "it's your funeral, buddy" shrug before he left me alone.
Forest Hills = messy
The Forest Hills station was pretty messy when I went through it at 8:30. All of the cardreaders had the "Welcome: Smart Cards only" message being displayed -- so old stored value tickets and the commuter rail passes weren't a viable entry method. This caused the attendent to open the handicapped gate and let everyone through.
I checked the machines on my way home this eveing, and the problem seems to have been solved.
Its happened before
This seems to be a frequent issue with the new fare gates. Twice in December, Malden Center was like this while I was riding. Gosh only knows how often it was really happening. Once was in rush hour, but the other was around mid-day. I think the machines are breaking a lot faster than the old turnstiles and the MBTA has not gotten around to developing a plan to respond to such cascading problems. In a busy rush hour, that kind of a problem is huge and extremely frustrating for consumers who are being burdened with major fare increases just to enjoy such delays. From what I've been reading today, I'm not confident that the MBTA contracted the work out to an appropriate vendor. Gosh knows their track record with the Green Line and Blue Line trains doesn't speak highly to their ability to get the right company to do the job.
No problems here...
Everything went as smooth as glass on our end. We tapped and passed so much that we thought Savion Glover would yield the dance floor for our own personal solo.
Brighton to Harvard Square Bus - Shockingly No Problems
I am really surprised at how easy the transition has been on my local bus. The biggest hold-up was people wanting bus transfers and not understanding the driver's explanation that they needed to get a card.
even on the #66 bus things are going well
I take the #66 bus at least 5 nights a week from Brookine to Harvard Sq and without question that is one the busiest routes in the system. Today everybody seemed to have cards and I saw 2 people add value to the card on the bus.
People who pay daily are going to learn very quickly that it is cheaper to use the CharlieCard.
Now if they just could put 60 foot buses on the #66 route. They desperatly need the bigger bus.
Go Sox!