MBTA in a state of disrepair. (Boston, Springfield: sales, home, compensation)

[BostonBornMassMade]

Yea it sucks.

https://www.universalhub.com/mbta

[OutdoorLover]

The pandemic has really crushed MBTA revenues, so while I haven't been reading about them lately, I can imagine that this has severely impacted the money they have available for operating expenses, including maintenance.

[msRB311]

They must really be in trouble. They were in trouble pre pandemic for years.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by GeePee

We will see what becomes reality if Michelle Wu becomes mayor. She has been campaigning heavily to repair the MBTA.

Does she think she's running for governor now?

[GeePee]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Does she think she's running for governor now?

No, But I am sure she will have a little more influence on the decisions versus an extremely pro Union mayor

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by id77

To be fair, they are doing some upgrades and maintenance, but it seems to heavily favor the green lines. They've redone the rails and some stations on the B already, the C and D both got rail replacement projects in the last 2 years, and they're doing replacements and upgrades on the E right now (in addition to the GLX).

My perception is that the red and blue lines are largely ignored, the orange gets tiny bits of TLC here and there, and the green line is the apple of their eye.

As a former daily Red Line rider and current near-daily Blue Line rider, I'd disagree. The Blue Line has the newest complete fleet in the system (all of the vehicles were replaced between 2007-2011 meaning the oldest blue line train is from 2007). The Red/Green/Orange all have trains in their fleets from the 60s and 70s. This is why the Blue Line has far, far fewer breakdowns and accidents than Red/Green/Orange. They're also currently doing pretty significant track work and tunnel upgrades on the Blue Line. The Red Line has also had complete track replacements in the past few years and has a full new fleet of vehicles on the way.

In my book, the Orange Line is the neglected child. The work that is done on the OL is more life support than "TLC." The new trains will change things when they fully roll out, but until then it's an absolute mess of a line.

Most of what's been going on with the Green Line in recent years has ties to the GLX. The track work, Lechmere viaduct updates, signal improvements (all across the network), B-line consolidation, etc. are essential to ensure the extension works as intended. The safety improvements are a response to otherwise preventable crashes. Plus, the Red Line/Mattapan line benefits from Green Line improvements as the older Green Line cars will be moved to the Mattapan High Seed Line to replace the literal antiques running on that section.

[id77]

Originally Posted by lrfox

As a former daily Red Line rider and current near-daily Blue Line rider, I'd disagree. The Blue Line has the newest complete fleet in the system (all of the vehicles were replaced between 2007-2011 meaning the oldest blue line train is from 2007). The Red/Green/Orange all have trains in their fleets from the 60s and 70s. This is why the Blue Line has far, far fewer breakdowns and accidents than Red/Green/Orange. They're also currently doing pretty significant track work and tunnel upgrades on the Blue Line. The Red Line has also had complete track replacements in the past few years and has a full new fleet of vehicles on the way.

In my book, the Orange Line is the neglected child. The work that is done on the OL is more life support than "TLC." The new trains will change things when they fully roll out, but until then it's an absolute mess of a line.

Most of what's been going on with the Green Line in recent years has ties to the GLX. The track work, Lechmere viaduct updates, signal improvements (all across the network), B-line consolidation, etc. are essential to ensure the extension works as intended. The safety improvements are a response to otherwise preventable crashes. Plus, the Red Line/Mattapan line benefits from Green Line improvements as the older Green Line cars will be moved to the Mattapan High Seed Line to replace the literal antiques running on that section.

There's quite a few newer cars rolling on the green these days too. I see a new orange car every now and then, but not many.

All the track work and station upgrades around BU along the B are on lines that don't run to Lechmere (E line); if it's needed for the E GLX, why would anything past Copley on the B/C/D need fixing? The new work along Huntington may be, though, but there's been a lot of work on all of the green lines in the last few years, which is a lot more love and maintenance that I've seen applied to the orange. The only major track work for it that I remember was last year up toward Wellington; meanwhile, they've done work between Reservoir and Kenmore, Packards Corner and Kenmore, and now from Northeastern through Brigham Circle for the green. It also got the remodeled Gov Center stop a few years ago.

I can't definitively say what the motivation is, but the perception I have is there's been more frequent upgrades and renewals paid toward the green than the other lines combined.

[WestieWhitie]

If only we could get that infrastructure bill passed without the additional $3.5 trillion worth of pork…

Though on a second thought whatever we get if it passes will be gone in a flash - all those sticky fingers are itching to approve their own 160 hour weekly timecards…

[bostongymjunkie]

^^The fact that it's the oldest and also subject to street wear and tear probably have something to do with it. It's also heavily used for downtown transit and for Fenway events.

[WestieWhitie]

It mostly has to do with corruption, bloated pensions and outright theft - we could have replaced every single train many times over if we didn’t have MBTA employees approving their own timecards with $200K worth of overtime every year and retiring with full pension at 45.

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

^^The fact that it's the oldest and also subject to street wear and tear probably have something to do with it. It's also heavily used for downtown transit and for Fenway events.