Boston, May 17, 2024 — On March 15, the MBTA announced that it would shut down sections of the Blue Line throughout April for the following dates:
Between Maverick and Wonderland from April 17 to 21
Between Airport and Wonderland from April 22 to April 28 (though this ended up being extended to April 30)
Plagued with slow zones and catenary wire system troubles, the Blue Line desperately needed some TLC.
“For the first time in more than a year, the MBTA has less than 100 speed restrictions across the entire system.”
On May 1, the MBTA announced the successful conclusion of the shutdown, marking a significant milestone of less than 100 speed restrictions across the entire system. This achievement resulted from removing 19 speed restrictions on the Blue Line, among numerous other improvements. The MBTA claimed that riders regained “over three minutes of travel time” on the Blue Line.
We've come to two conclusions from the data over the past few weeks:
The T fixed track-related slow zones on the Blue Line, resulting in 3 minutes of travel time savings (although still 2 minutes slower than February 2023).
The T suffers from operational issues at Wonderland during peak periods, hampering performance.
Slow zones no more
Before the Blue Line shutdown, we tracked seven slow zones. Most were concentrated between Orient Heights and the Airport. At their peak, these slow zones added over three and a half minutes to a roundtrip ride. Let's take a look at the numbers before and after the shutdown.
PRE-SHUTDOWN
In February 2023 (the last month that the Blue Line had no slow zones), the average travel time northbound between Revere Beach and Bowdoin was 17 minutes and 21 seconds and 17 minutes and 21 seconds southbound.
By April 2024, the average travel time reached 21 minutes and 7 seconds northbound and 19 minutes and 39 seconds southbound, a substantial increase.
POST-SHUTDOWN
In the week following the shutdown, the average travel time northbound between Revere Beach and Bowdoin was 18 minutes and 26 seconds and 18 minutes and 38 seconds southbound.
The T saves three minutes of travel time from Revere Beach to Bowdoin. Compared to April, there is a one-minute time savings southbound and a two-minute time savings northbound. However, travel times are roughly a minute longer than they were in February 2023, suggesting there is still some ground to be regained.
If we look at the travel times between Revere Beach and Wonderland, some interesting questions about terminal operations arise. During peak times, weekday travel times can average close to four minutes. We do not see the same issue on weekends or off-peak periods.
So what does this all mean?
From Revere Beach to Wonderland, the track conditions allow the T to operate at full speed, which they do at off-peak times. However, during peak periods, the T struggles to turn trains at pre-COVID service levels, resulting in trains being stopped and delayed for up to 3-4 minutes due to a switch issue, a signal issue, or a more significant ops issue altogether.
Two TransitMatters volunteers took the trek to Wonderland to see if the data was telling the truth. We noticed a few instances of trains sticking around for a couple of minutes after dropping passengers off, causing any trains behind them (such as #0719 shown below) to be delayed. We’re unable to know for sure why these delays are occurring, but we do know they’re adding precious minutes to outbound trips.
Until these issues are solved, the T will have difficulty increasing service levels at peak times, even with ideal track conditions.
If the MBTA fulfills its promise to eliminate all slow zones from the system by the end of 2024, the Legislature and the MBTA will still have work to do and investments to make in the system to get riders where they need to go quickly.
Visualize the data with our Data Dashboard.
Here is an overview of the southbound line from the beginning of the year.
Here is that same overview for the northbound line.
For media inquiries, please email media@transitmatters.org.
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Photo Credit: Jacklyn Thibodeau