Taken from the Alliance for Climate Protection:
Transit is good for business. Companies linked in to public transportation have fewer problems with absenteeism and keeping employees. Transit also reduces congestion, allowing for more on-time deliveries and lower transportation costs for goods.
If you build it they will come. Transit investment, particularly rail stations, creates an attractive investment environment. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, a 2 mile streetcar line was built connecting its downtown to the waterfront at a cost of $6.2 million. The business community responded by investing $150 million.Public transportation puts money in the pockets of you and your neighbors. 19¢ out of every dollar is spent on transportation, and almost entirely on automobiles. Families who live far from transit spend an average of 25% of their household budget on transportation, while families near transit spend just 9%. Transit users can save anywhere from $200 to $4500 on fuel costs alone. If riders can ditch a car altogether, they can save another $6000 to $11,400.
MOST IMPORTANTLY,
Among our American climate heroes is the mass transit user. Public transportation riders in the US save 855 million gallons of gasoline per year, for an 8.5 million ton reduction in CO2 emissions compared to if they drove. In America’s 85 largest urban areas, public transportation prevented 1.1 billion hours in time lost to traffic jams. The riders themselves can save even more — hundreds or even thousands of dollars in driving and parking costs, and for some even the cost of an entire car. For their commitment to public transit they get precious extra time each day to read, doze, or chat with other fine commuters.
If Americans could use transit for just 10% of our travel, we could cut emissions by 82 million tons. That would take us a valuable part of the way toward the reductions needed to solve the climate crisis. Transit also encourages more compact development, which will pay increasing dividends of greenhouse gas savings for decades to come.
I was out of the office 3 days this week. So I can only report on Monday 3/24 and today 3/28.
Go ahead, guess…
That’s right. BOTH days late. Close to 15 minutes on each morning rush hour train. A woman next to me who had to attend an important meeting said, “Of all the days, this is not the one for the MBTA to be late.”
I said, “Are you kidding, they are always late.”
She said, “Yeah, but there are a group of people waiting for me to be at a meeting that starts promptly at 9:00 and I won’t make it.”
Like I said, there was a time before the rate hike, where I was in the office every single day at 8:55. NEVER late. Now, a chronic condition.
What I want to know is now that the contract has been signed with the managing agency, what leverage does Governor Deval Patrick have with them? Probably none. And that is a travesty. I will post later about this. In my view, in private business, when people don’t perform or miss benchmarks, they can be held to pay. And I’m not talking the ridiculous price of a ticket which you only get if the train is a half hour late. But more later. Back to work.
I run as fast as I can… And it’s never enough.
This is an excerpt from my “About” page. I want to be out there as to how this commuting mess has affected my life. And everyone has a tale to tell. As any commuter on the MBTA knows, the schedules have been a mess for a year. Unspeakable.
- Trains Late Because…..The trains used to be late on the worst possible days - those 15 below blizzards, the reader board would say “due to inclement weather the train will be 45 minutes late!” Well you couldn’t leave, because sometimes the train would come sooner.
- My Schedule to the Minute: I take car pool other children to a school outside of our town. So I have everything timed to the minute. For years I would arrive 8:55 or earlier. Now, it’s more like 9:10, 9:20, 9:40. And light nights home when I’m taking a late train to make up for the lost time, running late, just make my day complete.
- MBTA Rebate Policy: They refund your ticket if you if they are 30 minutes late. Well, so what. First, they don’t. They still have punched tickets. And the backlog of rebates is terrible. And paying me for a one-way ride doesn’t make up for: the actual dollars/hour I lose (I’m a part-time manager so I have to log in my exact hours - and believe me, I get A LOT more than the price of a train ticket).
- My Credibility - Rebating a ticket doesn’t make up for the poor example I now set for a recalcitrant employee who is chronically late for stupid reasons. And it can’t make up the big bucks I lose if I miss a doctor’s appointment. I have no fudge factor built in. I can’t just get up and take the earlier train.
- Everything worked until this year. - Worse than the late trains were the lies and the pathetic reasons. They said it was weather - slippery fall weather affected tracks (a new one), heavy winds/rains, blizzards, ice - I’m not sure if extreme heat is one.
- The lies. Now we are learning a lot of the poor on-time performance was union caused during contract negotiations. They tell us after the contract was signed.
- Early Trains that Leave On-Time Passengers Behind - The real slap in the face is when some driver comes in 5 minutes early and leaves. People are running down the street, they see them, and they pull out ahead of schedule - forcing the person to be late. What’s with THAT?
- January 23 - I took the train to go to Boston to connect to the airport. It was a 5:48 train. The train came in at 5:44 and left. I was barely up the stairs with a huge piece of luggage and was falling backward on a moving train.
- And a woman ran for that train. She was on time. 5:45 in the morning, mind you. And they just pulled out. $%@?!//#@
- January 5 - I ran when a train was 8 minutes early, had to run behind the tracks to get on the train - the conductor left.
UNACCEPTABLE.
2008’s MBTA Commuter Rail On-Time Performance
BostonNOW (published February 5, 2008) 
http://www.bostonnow.com/news/local/2008/02/05/rail-hits-77-ontime
But back in the Good Old Days, the performance was far better. Before the Fall of 2007, I was on time every day. Now it’s a rare, embarrassing event to be on time. It affects my staff whom I expect to be on time (see About) and my standing in my company as well as my salary and the cost of lost appointments. I don’t care if it says in January, my line (Frankline is (wow, golly) up to 71% - that is unacceptable and it costs me money and credibility.
How about you?
Commuter Rail On-Time Performance (source: 2005 MBTA Title VI Report, Table 4-6)
Found on site:
http://www.bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/resources/CMS/cmscr.htm
Late and Jammed, A Typical Day on the Boston MBTA and “T”
How is your train’s performance?
On time?
Late?
Leave early and leave you behind?
Share your stories. Please!
Tell us which MBTA line, train and date.
Let’s get this train service back on track!!!
There are some good bloggers out there I will start to add links on this site who are in this together!
Photo Credit: Jammed, by MichaelChaos, Flickr.com
http://flickr.com/photos/chaosfactor/192767534/
