Wednesday night, I attended a two-hour meeting about the upcoming schedule and fare changes to the Providence/Stoughton Commuter Rail Line. After I
Prior to attending this meeting, I started to do research on the fare increases, and how much it will cost to the daily rider for the monthly pass holder. I also looked at the 114 page “Ridership and Service Statistics 14th Edition 2014 Report” put together by the MBTA, and started to take in all the numbers involving this commuter rail line.
Top 10 commuter rail inbound boarding stations (April 2013)
1 Providence 2325
2 Salem 2122
3 Beverly 2058
4 Lowell 1770
5 Mansfield 1707
6 Attleboro 1665
7 Anderson 1502
8 Worcester 1475
9 South Attleboro 1462
10 Framingham 1299
The public MBTA hearing on the upcoming schedule and fare changes started a little after 6 PM. At this point, I’ve been to a handful of these public hearings. Normally there is someone who makes opening remarks and then someone presents the topic at hand with a powerpoint presentation.
MassDOT and MBTA Presentation
Michael Berry, a Legislative Director at MassDOT, said the opening statements and Corey Lynch Deputy Director of the Railroad Operations at MBTA did the presentation. Lynch presented a handful of generic slides about the upcoming changes and how they will overall benefit the commuter rail user. Yes, I said generic; the slides weren’t geared directly to the Providence/Stoughton line. It would be my guess that they are using this same slideshow at each public hearings across the state. Lynch said the goal is to improve service on the line, but it will come with a cost: in this case, that cost is eliminating station stops and changing train times.
Corey Lynch Deputy Director of the Railroad Operations
Michael Berry Legislative Director at MassDOT
Interlined Trains
Lynch also stated that there would be a reduction on interlined trains. A train set may start its day on the Providence/Stoughton line then during the mid-day the train set may be used on a different line operating out of South Station before returning the Providence/Stoughton line for the PM peak service, but not anymore. The MBTA has found that running interlined trains has made issues affecting multiple lines. Let’s say “train set A” is working on the Worcester line and they are having signal problems. “Train set A” is 20 minutes late inbound to Boston. Once “train set A” returns back to South Station, it becomes the outbound Providence train. Now, this 20-minute delay has carried over to the Providence line. It’s almost like dominos, once a delay happens, everything keeps getting pushed back more and more.
Peak Box
The MBTA is standardizing the “Peak Box” throughout the hold system. AM peak service would be between 6 AM – 10 AM and PM peak service would run between 3:30 PM – 7 PM.
Rail Traffic Controller (RTC)
When putting together new schedules, the MBTA uses Rail Traffic Controller (RTC) software. This software simulates everything from signals to station stops. This helps the MBTA see if the new schedules will work.
Feedback from the Commuters
Both Berry and Lynch stated that this public hearing would be used to get feedback from the riders. This feedback is then used to finalize the changes on the line affected. The presentation lasted about 20 minutes give or take. About a handful of local officials started off the feedback process. They all pretty much stated the same thing: fare spikes for lousy service, problems with the rescheduled train times, and a huge outpouring of negativity for the plan to eliminate stops at Ruggles station inbound and outbound on both the AM and PM commutes. One of the politicians stated he got over 100 calls already about the Ruggles station.
Once the presentation and the politicians had their little speeches, it was the commuters’ turns to address their concerns and issues. I’m going to summarize the 50 plus commuters’ concerns and issues below:
- Overcrowding – Most peak trains are standing room only. Conductors are not able to punch tickets or view passes/mobile pass. One commuter rider stated she has a 10 ride pass, and she was able to use that same pass for 10 months. A 10 ride pass is good for 5 round-trip rides. The MBTA states this has been an ongoing issue and they have hired 30 more conductors across their 12 commuter rail lines. That means that one or two extra conductors would be on the Providence/Stoughton line trains.
- More coaches/double-decker coaches – Currently, the MBTA is running 6 to 8 coaches on most trains. Some of the trains sets are running single-level coaches.
- Higher fares for slow service – The Providence/Stoughton line is plagued with delays almost daily. During this two hours meeting, people were getting alerts about 20-40 minute delays on the line. One commuter said that the MBTA operates on its own time, not real-world time.
The Biggest Concern – Ruggles Station
The biggest concern by more than 75% of the people that spoke was about Ruggles station. Here is some background about Ruggles.
This intermodal station is location in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. This station services MBTA’s Orange Line Subway system and the following commuter rail lines: Franklin, Needham, Providence, and Stoughton trains. With only 3 platforms, it is hard to service 4 commuter rail lines. There are plans in the works for adding a fourth platform. A $20 million grant was awarded to the project back in 2014. Lynch states the project should be completed within 2 ½ years, and the MBTA says the reduction of trains stopping at Ruggles is a temporary inconvenience until the fourth platform is added.
Eliminating this stop affects a lot of people working in the medical field. Ruggles Station is the closest to the Longwood medical area. There were nearly a dozen medical professions that spoke up at this meeting, and they are also concerned about their patients who will be affected by this as well. People that need to get to this area of Boston would need to be dependent on 2nd mode MBTA transportation such as the bus or subway, extending their already long commute.
See the full-size schedule here (PDF)
Keeping passengers informed?
According to commuters that use Ruggles station, nothing was posted by the MBTA about this public hearing. Some commuters took it upon themselves to post signs promoting the meeting. Two women that use the commuter rail daily to get to their jobs in Attleboro and Providence started a petition to stop the schedule change. In one day, they had over 130 passengers’ signatures, most of them were hearing about the major changes to the schedule for the first time. I was hearing the same thing over and over again about how the MBTA is doing a poor job informing passengers about the major changes coming in May.
Fare Increases
This wasn’t the main topic of discussion at the public meeting, but here is what it would look like for a customer using the Mansfield Station (Zone 6).
Subway Pass
Why do people care so much about trains?
Over 1 million people depend on the MBTA to get them from point a to point b. Most are commuting daily to work so they won’t need to drive into the city, or they don’t have a car so this is their primary mode of transportation. Commuters work their schedules around the MBTA’s services, and in most cases, it’s convenient, as long as it operates at 100%. Huge changes to service or scheduled times create huge problems for the system user.
I heard from a single mother of 3 kids who use the service to get to and from work. Bypassing the Ruggles stop would make her commute longer and her kids would need to be at daycare later. The Ruggles stop seems like a minor change to a train schedule but it comes with huge consequences for its riders. This single mother’s daycare cost for her kids will go up and she will have less family time each night because of the elimination of the Ruggles stop. I’ve heard many similar statements from others that spoke that evening; this one change affects thousands of commuters like her.
My thoughts
- I think the MBTA needs to review the schedule changes and offer a few more trains stopping in Ruggles.
- Since this line is overcrowded, they should be using train sets with 8 double deckers coaches, rather than single-decker trains and train with few than 8 coaches. I just saw an article today about a surplus of locomotives and cars going to a commuter rail project in Springfield. Shouldn’t we take care of the current lines before expanding service elsewhere?– Read the article
- The MBTA should be posting information at every single station about these public meeting so people know about them.
- This public meeting was a one-sided discussion. The MBTA states that they are recording all the concerns and issues addressed by the riders for later review. I’ve been to a few of these meetings and this is the first time I’ve been to one where it wasn’t a two-way conversation. I think people would feel better if someone answered their questions.
- If they are going to reduce service to the Ruggle Station, they should make it a fair balance between 4 of the commuter rail trains stopping there.
- I understand the MBTA needs to balance their books, and not collecting the fare isn’t helping their problem. This wasn’t the first time I have heard about this ongoing issue. If they were collecting the fares, they wouldn’t need to raise them.
- What is there to pay more for? The service isn’t improving the Providence/Stoughton Line, instead, it’s plagued with delays almost daily. The day after the meeting, I heard a call over the scanner from the inbound Wickford Jct saying that Train #808 was stopped at Attleboro Station due to a mechanical problem.
I was able to drive over the station to take photos and a video. See photos and a video below showing Train #808 smoking at Attleboro Station.
Train #808 was experiencing a head end power (HEP) failure. The train was able to pull out of Attleboro Station with the HEP system shut down. This system provides electrical power to the coaches, including the lights, heating, and air conditioning. Once the train pulled out of Attleboro Station, the MBTA Mechanical Department recommended removing the filters to restore electrical power back to the coaches. This would be the temporary fix to the problem.
I will keep a watchful eye on this. The new schedules take effect on May 23. You can still voice your opinions about the changes on the Providence/Attleboro Line by e-mailing the MBTA.
