MBTA Letter In Response To Our Petition

The following is a word for word letter we have received from MBTA General Manager, Mr. Grabauskas, in response to our petition.

I am responding to your concern pertaining to service performance on the Worcester Line, focusing on those trains that operate in the “reverse” peak. I apologize for the inconvenience to you and the many other passengers who use these trains to commute out of Boston in the morning and return in the evening. While the overwhelming majority of our passengers travel in the more traditional “inbound in the morning, outbound in the evening” mode, we have experienced an increase in the number of reverse-peak riders. Your letter identifies a concern that we are addressing to provide passengers on the Worcester Lin with a safe, reliable, and customer0responsive level of service. Ot achieve this goal, the following steps are currently being taken.

• MBTA personnel review train performance daily with both MBCR and CSX personnel in an attempt to identify the cause of every delay. This review then creates the opportunity to initiate actions to minimize the occurrence of these delays.


• CSX, MBCR, and MBTA personnel are reviewing schedule modifications to increase on-time performance as well as minimize current schedule conflicts.
  
• MBCR has taken a number of steps to proactively address service performance on this line, including the hiring of additional personnel and implementation of increased equipment maintenance practices to address the number of equipment failures.


• Actions have been implemented to improve our ability to monitor train performance on this line so that we are aware of delays in a timelier manner. This will improve our ability to provide service delay notifications through postings at stations, on the MBTA website, and via e-mail through the recently started T-Alert program.


• MBCR has increased training efforts for on-train personnel that target the importance of providing timely and accurate service announcements for passengers on a delayed train.

I would also like to respond to your concern pertaining to the MBTA Customer Bill of Rights Reimbursement Program. The MBTA was one of the first transit operations to adopt this type of reimbursement program and we continue to review it to ensure it is working to the advantage of our passengers. In early 2007, the reimbursement program was modified due to the high level of fraudulent requests being submitted. Through the efforts of the MBTA Transit Police and our Revenue Department, we now have a process in place that provides reimbursement for those passengers who have experienced a substantial delay and also is successful in identifying fraudulent requests and allowing the legal prosecution of these offenders. Passengers submitting reimbursement requests through this program should expect to receive a response within six to eight weeks. At this time, this program is processing all requests within this time period.

Your concern about the lack fo shelter for passengers on the Worcester Line is also being reviewed. Commuter rain stations are designed with a base assumption that a passenger will be on a station platform for a minimum amount of time. This, of course, is based on the understanding that service will operate at a high level of on-time performance. Current efforts have been taken to improve the communication of expected service delays to passengers with the same goal of minimizing the amount of time spent waiting at a station platform. In addition, past expericne at stations with enclosed shelters has resulted in a number of security and vandalism concerns from our passengers. Regardless, we will continue to review each station on an individual basis and, if appropriate, attempt to identify positive steps to be taken to improve passenger facilities.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns and allowing me the opportunity to update you the efforts being taken to address them. Your comments are deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,
Daniel A. Grabauskas
General Manager