Rolling Out Our Data Dashboard

A key goal we have at TransitMatters is to empower grassroots advocacy for better transit. To achieve this goal over the medium and long term, we perform significant technical work to articulate specific improvements that need to be made for a more reliable, equitable, and capable transit system. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in our Regional Rail project, especially in our recently released Regional Rail Phase 1 document released earlier this summer.

We also want to be able to influence short term and operational decisions. We want to be able to more effectively keep tabs on the T operational performance and capital delivery projects. While the MBTA has their own site to measure their performance, the information provided is extremely high level and difficult to both understand and audit. Not only that, it rarely reflects the experience of riders who can experience major delays and yet see performance statistics suggesting reliability is >90%. It is powered by significantly more granular data, but most of this data is kept out of easy public view. We have opened up that data to allow for a more nuanced perspective that we believe better reflects the experience of riders on the MBTA.

To that end, over the past few months we at TransitMatters have put together a team of data scientists, software engineers, and UI/UX experts (a/k/a TransitMatters Labs) to give the public better access to MBTA performance data. Our first effort, the New Train Tracker, was released earlier this year and provides real-time information on where new Orange, Green, and Red Line trains are currently running on the system.

Today, we at TransitMatters Labs are proud to introduce our first tool for independent analysis of MBTA performance, the TransitMatters Data Dashboard. For the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green lines, we now have trip by trip performance data for the past three months. For any station or station pair, you can see information on how actual MBTA trips performed on that day. We also have real-time updates for the current day! 

For almost every station* on light and heavy rail, you now have the ability to view:

• Travel Times: how long it took each train to travel between two stations on the same line, and how long it should have taken according to the MBTA

• Headways: how long you have to wait between trains at each station

• Dwell Times: how long trains remained stopped at each station

Additionally, for each day we highlight if and when an official MBTA service advisory was issued, and the text of that advisory.

Here’s an example for what the app looks like for July 13th on the Red Line:

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The bottom graph displays headways, or time between trains, at Central northbound. Each point (colored in green, orange, or red) represents a number of minutes between each train. The grey line represents the MBTA benchmark, or how long you should have to wait between trains. You can see how it moves up and down through the day, with shorter headways (= more trains) during peak periods, and longer headways (= fewer trains) during off-peak periods.

We color the dots based on the difference from the MBTA benchmark. Green indicates you waited an expected amount of time, yellow means your wait was a little longer than normal (25-50% longer, to be exact), and red means you had a much longer (>50%) than expected wait.

The top graph shows travel times, and behaves similarly to headways. To keep schedules, the T has a benchmark travel time for how long it takes trains to make the journey between two stops (we color this line as grey), which is how they determine the schedules for the trains. This travel time doesn’t change too much through the day, although there is a slight bump during PM peak, where train crowding can lead to longer dwell times at stations.

We mark each dot for the actual travel times, and color these dots based on how close travel times are to the benchmark. Similar to headways, a green dot for travel times means that once you’re on the train, the trip took about as long as you would expect. Yellow means that time on the train was longer than expected, and red means time on the train was much longer than expected. One interesting thing to see here is how for much of the day, actual travel times are far below the benchmark, showing padding the T adds when creating its schedules.

Now, on this day the Red Line had issues early in the morning, with trip times well above expected. We also have the ability to examine what the exact issue was by hovering over the red bar at the top: 

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You can also see examples where you may have felt there was a delay, but there was no official communication from the T. For example, here’s the Blue Line on a recent weekday. There were significant delays during the PM rush, but no alert from the T to let riders know!

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Look out in the future as we roll out more tools to help better analyze the T and its performance. What MBTA data do you want to see visualized? What do you think the Labs team should build next? We’re excited to hear your ideas. If you have any questions, comments, bugs, or suggestions, please contact us at labs@transitmatters.org.

* Due to a change in how the MBTA records performance data, Park St and Kenmore are unavailable currently. We are working on adding them.

Correcting the Record on Our Stance Re: East-West Rail Service to Pittsfield

Correcting the Record on Our Stance Re: East-West Rail Service to Pittsfield

BOSTON, June 15, 2020 -

TransitMatters wishes to correct the record regarding what one article called, a difference of opinion on service to Pittsfield. The article quoted a study and policy statement that we have not yet released out of context. We strongly believe train service to Pittsfield is critical to this project. We join elected officials, public transit advocates, and residents in calling for a fair and accurate study process. And we call for MassDOT to work on both higher-speed service and an initial service that could begin in 18 months or less. 

However, there are two main issues: the timeline of service and cost. MassDOT and the MBTA could run service to Springfield field for close to $0 in capital costs and less than $5M in annual operating costs in a matter of months.  Adding service to Pittsfield would cost about $46M in capital costs and maybe add $1-2M to the operating cost. There's a need for train storage in Pittsfield and our plan for service within a year relies on MBTA equipment (using this equipment to provide service to Pittsfield would be very difficult; morning trips would be extremely early just as evening trips would be extremely late and it would be impossible to provide mid-day service with MBTA equipment). This will take an additional few years, but we're still talking about service to Pittsfield much faster than any billion-dollar MassDOT alternative. 

MassDOT has not studied any of this. They are doing the exact opposite. The first three alternatives propose spending north of $1B for travel times that essentially match or exceed the current Amtrak travel times. Let's be clear. No city west of Worcester will ever see a train if MassDOT continues on this current path. That is our focus. 

TransitMatters is working on a document to show that a travel time of 90 mins (to Springfield) or less could be achieved with $900M or less in 9 years (with many trains continuing to Pittsfield). While not as fast as the $25B high-speed alternative 6, it is competitive with the Pike and achievable within a decade. The MassDOT high-speed rail plan is infeasible. High-speed trains can't climb the grades present on the Pike ROW. The other advantage of implementing our phase 1 incremental higher-speed rail plan first is that it guarantees towns like Palmer and Pittsfield get service, as most 185-220mph high-speed lines either skip towns of that size or provide limited service; secondly, the state can continue to cut travel times after this 90 min time is achieved. This can be done by fixing bottlenecks, bridging valleys, and limited tunneling. 

We are collaborating with rail advocates from Western Mass and take their feedback seriously. This is not an issue of Springfield vs. Pittsfield, it is a battle between a reasonable plan for service and MassDOT’s unspecific plans and wildly inaccurate cost estimates.

For media inquiries, please contact media@transitmatters.org

TransitMatters Calls for an End to Police Brutality & Urges the T to Commit to Freedom of Movement - Updated 6/5

Action Alert: Petition

Suspending service in response to uprisings against police brutality while simultaneously transporting police on buses is transit racism. We're standing alongside our partners and calling on the MBTA to do better.

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TransitMatters Calls for an End to Police Brutality & Urges the T to Commit to Freedom of Movement

UPDATED: BOSTON, JUNE 5, 2020 -
Re: T Decision to Stop Busing Municipal Police to Protest Sites:

TransitMatters thanks the FMCB for their swift action and the MBTA for listening and responding to the calls to stop transporting municipal police to peaceful protest sites. We also thank the many MBTA employees who demonstrated the courage to speak out against a policy that sent all the wrong messages and ran contrary to the very purpose of a public transportation agency. And we thank the entire TransitMatters membership, our numerous allied organizations, and social media followers for their unwavering support of our efforts to reverse T policy in this matter.

Over the past few days, we all have seen how the actions of public agencies send powerful messages about the values we hold dear, and the kind of society we aspire to be. Today’s decision sends a new message that is appropriate to the fundamental mission of the MBTA: the focus of our transit agency will be first and foremost to provide people with safe and reliable access to destinations, whether those destinations may be jobs, schools, healthcare or peaceful protests.

We understand and appreciate how difficult these times have been for MBTA officials and employees. But this we can say with certainty: we must never lose our moral compass, and in the present moment we must show solidarity with those who protest peacefully against a culture of police brutality against black people in America, and who demand change that is lasting. By taking this step, and going one step further by committing to not shutdown stations in ways that limit freedom and endanger protesters (a step yet to be taken), the MBTA can provide all riders and residents of Boston the confidence that it understands the urgent and legitimate need to stick to the business of providing people with the transportation services they sorely need. 

In addition to the continued work to address systemic racism and inequality, which we all must continue to pursue, there’s also a lot of work to do to help the MBTA recover from the impacts of COVID-19 - our economy, our environment and the people of this region need the T that emerges to be stronger than when it entered the shutdown. We will continue to support our environmental justice and transit justice partners in their call for MBTA Police reforms. We will also continue to press the MBTA to expand its statement to include improvements to their station shutdown practices, and ending busing of all types of police departments and during all types of events. And we commit to continue to work with the FMCB and T officials on that post-pandemic recovery strategy.

For media inquiries, please contact media@transitmatters.org.

UPDATED: BOSTON, JUNE 4, 2020 -
Re: GM Statement and Use of Buses for Police:

MBTA leadership is failing to rise to the occasion at a time when it needs decisive leadership that speaks with clarity.  One example:  the General Manager’s inability to use the words “police violence” or “police brutality” in his statement yesterday - at a time when every police force in America should be having a conversation about excessive force and racial profiling - is tone deaf. 

It was also disingenuous to say that the T didn’t shut down the whole system. Shutting down the four main transfer hubs and most other downtown stations effectively stranded hundreds and severely inconvenienced hundreds more. The General Manager’s statement, “it is our preference at the MBTA to always provide service to our customers unless safety concerns necessitate closure” reflects a peculiar mindset.  It is the duty and responsibility of the MBTA to provide service to the public. The bar for closures related to safety needs to be high, proper communication and transparency in decision making must be ensured, and the MBTA must always find a way to safely transport riders as soon as it is safe to do so. 

We watched in disappointment when MBTA buses were put into use the past two days to transport police to protest sites. TransitMatters respectfully requests that the MBTA respond to the following questions before the end of the day today:

1. Is it your policy to continue to use MBTA buses and bus drivers to transport police to protest sites?

2. What did the recent use of MBTA buses cost the MBTA?

3. Who specifically is responsible for making the decision to use MBTA property to transport police to protest sites?  Is this decision delegated, and if so, by whom to whom?

4. What are the factors that the MBTA takes into account before agreeing to place its buses into service for transporting police to a protest site?

5. Are MBTA bus drivers being given the choice to opt out of driving the buses commandeered into use to transport police to protest sites?

For media inquiries, please contact media@transitmatters.org.

BOSTON, JUNE 3, 2020 -

TransitMatters stands with our colleagues and allies across the nation deploring the terrible acts of violence committed against Black Americans, including extrajudicial violence committed by law enforcement officers. TransitMatters also stands with our colleagues and allies across the nation supporting the right to peaceful protest at all times. We have seen clearly in the past few days the unacceptable treatment of peaceful protestors from coast to coast and the threat to our precious rights to free assembly and freedom of speech. We take our stand for freedom, and against any and all efforts to diminish the rights and humanity of all people. 

In these difficult times, safe and reliable transit matters a lot. Access to public spaces is a necessity to exercising our constitutional rights of speech and assembly. Egress is a necessity to keep protestors safe and allow them to peaceably withdraw after the exercise of such rights. We are concerned that in many cities across the country, the power to shut down or block access to transit has been used as a weapon by police against peaceful protesters, endangering them in the process. The recent decisions to close down certain components of the MBTA bus, subway, and commuter rail systems in the midst of peaceful public protests and during police orders for dispersal prompts us to ask the T to do better next time. Because there will be a next time. 

The starting premise is simple: transit is a public good and necessity at all times, including times of crisis. Whether that crisis is related to public health or peaceful protest, the T must be a safe and reliable provider of access for all. Freedom of movement is freedom. 

Our public transportation system cannot become a tool in the hands of law enforcement officials. MBTA senior leadership must retain full control over operational decisions at all times and in all circumstances. If a government imposed curfew is in place, the T needs to operate to get people home. If a police-ordered dispersal order is in place, the T needs to function to allow people to disperse. 

We understand that this will be challenging in the middle of a moment of crisis. We understand that the MBTA rightfully desires to protect its employees and property in dangerous situations. That’s why the public needs to know that the T has a thoughtful plan to put into action in future such circumstances. We’ve experienced large protest events before and must expect them again. Such a plan should be geared toward providing pre-planned and communicated evacuation service levels and station operation contingencies, maximum real-time information and full rush-hour service levels to get people home or, in certain circumstances, out of harm’s way. The T has become accustomed to implementing special operational service plans and pre-communicated contingencies for large events such as adverse weather, championship parades, New Year’s Eve, and July 4th. It should be able to leverage that experience to respond to these circumstances.

We call upon the MBTA, without delay, to adopt and commit to the following principles:

1. MBTA employees, buses, and facilities will never be commandeered by law enforcement or put into service on behalf of law enforcement to transport people who have been arrested during peaceful protests. 

2. The MBTA will not delegate operational decision making to law enforcement under any circumstances, or at any time. Real time operational changes to routes, frequencies, and stations will be communicated in real time across all MBTA platforms, including through real-time transit apps.

3. The MBTA will prepare and make public a plan to remain in operation during times of protest in order to provide people with access to their homes or other destinations. 

We look forward to the MBTA stepping up to this momentous occasion.

We have to do better as a society. TransitMatters commits itself to build a world where the streets belong to the people, where access is a human right, and where transit, and indeed, the whole community, is able to function safely without police presence. Change begins locally; it begins with decisive action by state and local agencies. And it begins with our support for black-led organizations and those focused on the needs of black communities. In that spirit, we encourage you to consider supporting the following organizations: 

• Alternatives for Community and Environment

• Black Lives Matter, Boston

• Massachusetts Bail Fund 

• Mattapan Food & Fitness

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For media inquiries, please contact media@transitmatters.org.