Nov 2, 2020 CR Schedule Changes

It's very good that those Worcester-Boston super express trains had their times adjusted as that would be a benefit to those people who work 8:00-4:00 jobs in Boston. It's good that Framingham was added as a stop to those trains as that would help generate revenue. As an intermediate stop, Framingham sees many riders. Many people who work weekday jobs typically work either 8:00 to 4:00 as well as 9:00 to 5:00. In the past, the super express ran too late past the rush hour that many people were already at their jobs. Maybe when the high level platform gets completed at Worcester, MBTA could run a second super express that caters to the 9:00 to 5:00 workers during weekdays.

The Worcester schedule is a complete change, with a reduction in the number of rush hour trains from pre-COVID levels. 12 a year ago compared to 10 now in the morning, and 9 a year ago compared to 8 now but the Heart-to-Hub is one of them where it isn't last year in the evening. There's no way they could have slid the Heart-to-Hub earlier without impacting thousands of passengers on some of the busiest trains on the system. With ridership hovering near 10% of normal levels they've cut the rush hour back. Oddly enough, rush hours aren't even printed on these schedules.

Based on the T's posturing for future service cuts without any more bailout, I don't see the return of the Heart-to-Hub lasting all that long.

Pretty much the peak rushour periods have been eliminated from the schedule since nothing is shaded yellow or in a purple box. Although theoretically it’s usually between 5-9AM and 3-7PM. Out of all the schedules I’ve seen, the framingham/Worcester, providence/stoughton, and middleboro/lakeville lines gets the most frequency in terms of intervals between trains and the Kingston/plymouth and needham lines gets the least frequency in terms of intervals between trains. But all in all it’s a better improvement for midday service as little to no equipment goes to the midday layover facility in either south Hampton or readville as most do in today’s schedule. Correct me if I’m wrong but that’s my opinion about the schedules.

Needham getting more trains? Considering the recent loads that doesn't make sense to me. Going from 14/day to 16 each way on weekdays

The current Needham schedule is 15 trains per day, so it's only an increase of one train. I think the logic was that three trains reaching downtown before 9AM was inadequate, but to make the shift to four without adding a train would push mid-day frequencies beyond what was viable.

HenryAlan wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2020 10:52 am The current Needham schedule is 15 trains per day, so it's only an increase of one train. I think the logic was that three trains reaching downtown before 9AM was inadequate, but to make the shift to four without adding a train would push mid-day frequencies beyond what was viable.

There are still only 3 Needham trains getting to South Station before 9am. The new schedule lines up poorly with my work day, both inbound and outbound, when I do have to go into the office.

Yeah, I was thinking in terms of getting to Back Bay, but the 4th train doesn't reach South Station until 9:02, which is indeed too late for a lot of people. Still, I think it probably works better for more people than the current schedule, where there isn't a 4th train that's even close to useful.

These will (hopefully) be the last set of schedules with a significant fraction of Needham, Franklin, and Providence/Stoughton trains skipping Ruggles. The new platform should be completed in time for the April/May schedules.

It’s basically back to the original pre pandemic schedules with the only difference of no indicated peak rushour box/yellow highlight and different train departure times/frequency, the intervals in time between the departure of trains.