TransitMatters 4/12/21 TransitMatters 4/12/21

Now Trending: Data Dashboard 2.0

When we introduced the TransitMatters Data Dashboard last August, we were thrilled to offer a new tool for exploring MBTA rail performance data. In our original release post, we outlined how the dashboard allows our community to view travel times, time between trains (headways), and time spent at stations (dwell times) for the Red, Blue, Orange, and Green Lines for any day back to January 15, 2016.

We're proud to announce that we've upgraded our Data Dashboard to support viewing aggregated data to visualize trends over as many as eight months. You’re now able to select a date range with the “Range…” button in the toolbar, making it possible to view daily medians & interquartile ranges for travel times, headways, and dwell times over extended periods—no longer just a single day at a time.

Selecting the Range option enables start and end date fields, allowing you to input a time range for which you would like to generate charts. The previously available single-day view is still there—just leave the end date blank.

The following charts show how travel time and headway metrics from Revere Beach to Aquarium have changed from January to April this year. Each black dot is the median value for that metric on that day, and the shaded region is the range between the 25th and 75th percentiles, also known as the interquartile range. A larger shaded region around a point indicates higher variability in that metric on that day.

Browsing these trends over time is useful for transit advocacy for a variety of reasons. One key area of discussion is rail slow zones. The MBTA sometimes introduces these reduced “speed limits” on sections of track due to maintenance or deterioration. Trends in performance metrics expose when these slow zones are introduced or fixed by the agency. For example, a slow zone between Back Bay and Tufts Medical Center stations on the Orange Line was fixed over a series of months in Fall 2020:

Another slow zone between Community College and North Station existed for just a single month, December 14, 2020 - January 13, 2021:

Trends can also expose effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, on the Green Line C branch, travel times fell as much as 25% as road traffic decreased and dwell times decreased due to fewer riders.

The TransitMatters Labs team is looking forward to learning what trends you can find in subway performance data. Go explore yourself! Each chart has a unique link, enabling you to easily share your finds with others interested in this data.

We appreciate your questions or feedback; we’re reachable at labs@transitmatters.org. You can also give a shout out with your findings to some of the team members who worked on this project on Twitter:

Preston Mueller (@mathcolo)

Austin Paul (@ajp5678)

Chris Friend (@friendchristoph)

TransitMatters 3/18/21 TransitMatters 3/18/21

TransitMatters Praises Addition of More All-Day Commuter Rail Options for Riders

For Immediate Release -- BOSTON, March 18, 2021: TransitMatters today extends its congratulations to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Keolis for adopting schedules with more frequent service throughout the day. The new schedules will make taking commuter rail easier and more convenient for customers, who will have more options throughout the day.

The change is a step towards the vision that TransitMatters has called for since 2018 when they released Regional Rail for Metropolitan Boston, a report detailing how the MBTA could transform the commuter rail system into an electrified, fast, frequent and reliable 21st century transportation system that would serve all riders, not just nine-to-five commuters.

“This new schedule marks an important shift towards a new business model for our suburban rail network,” said Jarred Johnson, executive director of TransitMatters. “More frequent trains, mid-day service, and late night trains will give riders more options. This is moving our network away from being so focused on commutes and instead takes into account the other 83% of trips and the new nature of work. This new schedule is a move towards more frequent service- which is a key element of our Regional Rail agenda.”

Unfortunately, the schedules still involve service cuts that will prevent ridership from coming back post-pandemic, particularly on weekends. This will create a self-fulfilling prophecy of cuts leading to more cuts as riders switch to driving. Not only will it ultimately cost the MBTA customers and revenue, but our environment will suffer from increased carbon emissions. TransitMatters calls on the MBTA to heed the warning from our congressional delegation about future federal funding and restore weekend service.

In the coming months, TransitMatters will detail a proposal for restoring service further as the Commonwealth emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the region closer to Regional Rail.

Contact: Ethan Finlan, Regional Rail Campaign Lead: efinlan@transitmatters.info

Jarred Johnson, Executive Director: jjohnson@transitmatters.info

Tim Lawrence 3/10/21 Tim Lawrence 3/10/21

TransitMatters releases new report on modernizing the Newburyport/Rockport Line

BOSTON, March 10, 2021 — TransitMatters released a major new case study today on modernizing the Newburyport/Rockport Line for Regional Rail: fast, frequent, all-day electrified train service.

“A Better Newburyport/Rockport Line” details how $460 million of public investment can dramatically reduce travel times and improve frequency on this line, already the Commuter Rail system’s third busiest, improving access to the North Shore communities of the “Environmental Justice Corridor” from Everett to Beverly, and to adjacent jobs, which grew by 14 percent from 2011 to 2017.

Travel times to Newburyport will fall by 18 minutes and to Rockport by 23, while Chelsea, Lynn, and Salem will get subway-like service with trains to Boston every 10 minutes or better. “These travel time savings and frequency increases will be a huge boost to the quality of life of Newburyport/ Rockport Line riders” said Jarred Johnson, the Executive Director of TransitMatters.

These faster trip times are possibly through electrification, which also reduces local pollution and makes service more reliable. Other gains come from step-free “high-level platforms” that reduce boarding times and improve accessibility for people with limited mobility.

“Residents and workers north of Boston and along the North Shore deserve an affordable train ride that does not pollute their communities,” said Staci Rubin, a Senior Attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation. “Electrification of the Newburyport/Rockport Line must occur by 2024. We need permanent, affordable, subway-like fare options at least between Boston and Lynn to expand transit access for residents of environmental justice populations.”

The report proposes several infill stations in Somerville, Everett, Revere, and Salem, and stresses the importance of free, coordinated bus connections and pedestrian improvements near stations. TransitMatters further advocates restoring the Peabody Branch to Danvers and an extension to Downtown Newburyport. These additions will provide more fast, reliable and frequent service to even more North Shore residents and workers.

State Senator Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) praised the proposal, saying: “This TransitMatters report outlines a clear and transformative plan to electrify the Newburyport-Rockport line in a way that will reduce travel times, protect our environment, and expand ridership. We must urgently put this plan into action to ensure that all communities -- particularly those within the Environmental Justice Corridor -- have access to a more efficient, reliable and affordable Commuter Rail system.”

For more information, read the report, and visit regionalrail.net for additional analysis. ###

Contact: Ethan Finlan, Regional Rail Campaign Coordinator, efinlan@transitmatters.org

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Now Trending: Data Dashboard 2.0