MBTA Response On Elimination Of Yawkey

The following is a word for word letter we have received from Mr. Daniel Grabauskas, MBTA General Manager, in response to our letter questioning the February 18th schedule changes and the letter questioning elimination of the Yawkey stop from the P528 train.

Thank you for your letters of February 22, 2008 regarding the elimination of train P528 at Yawkey Station.

I am sorry for the inconveniences this schedule change has on the customers that utilize this station for their local commute. These schedule changes are always done after a great deal of review and are in fact predicated on ridership demand.

I would like this opportunity to explain why the Yawkey stop was removed from the schedule of train P528 and the reason behind that decision.

Yawkey is a single-track station on a double track railroad, having the capability to board passengers from one track only. Our Railroad Operations group performed station passenger counts and the results indicate 3 to 4 passengers getting off the train P528 at Yawkey. Further evaluation revealed that Peak Period Train P531 regularly picks up approximately 30 customers on their homebound commute and that there was insufficient time to stop both P528 and P531 at Yawkey station.

The operations log for January through March show train P528 was operating at only 59% in January, 85% for February (schedule change became effective February 18) and thus far in March its on time performance is now at 100%.

With regard to the seasonal stop at Yawkey for Red Sox games, this will occur approximately 58 times during the season for games starting at 7:05pm. On those dates the outbound rush hour trains will be favored for on-time performances and causing delays to P528.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Daniel A. Grabauskas
General Manager