Proposed systemwide mbta service cuts

This is going to hurt a lot of people, especially when they implement it in the spring in which it will be too late to have done that since ridership will slowly increase once people get vaccinated.

Commuterrail1050 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 10:30 am This is going to hurt a lot of people, especially when they implement it in the spring in which it will be too late to have done that since ridership may slowly increase once people get vaccinated.

I fixed that for you.

That’s fine thanks. We will see what time tells, but I believe that some people will work remotely permenantly. I highly doubt that the numbers will return fully to pre pandemic levels. Like I said, we will see what happens once people start getting vaccinated.

From the standpoint of someone who supports companies as a consultant, many tech companies at least are looking at returning no sooner than July, and I expect about at least a 15-20% permanent work-from-home situation, with maybe 5-10% working mostly from home but likely in town once or twice a week. (Non-scientific numbers, mind you, just based on clients and colleagues)

I myself was going in twice a week before the pandemic via CR, but not likely to return at all in the foreseeable future.

Once the pandemic is over, companies are going to find that there is a productivity hit from working remotely. They are going to want their people back in the office. As much as people may enjoy working from home, if that model were more profitable than the conventional office environment, it would have been adopted long ago.

I think things are going to go back to the way they were. The people building that office tower on top of South Station have to think so, too, or they would not be spending money on it.

Cutting MBTA service is extremely short-sighted; if we thought highway traffic in greater Boston was bad before, it's only going to get worse now.

People who live in any of the inner suburbs as well as anything within a 30 mile radius of Boston will probably be in a position to return to the office in person five days a week. That includes living in the suburbs like Needham, maybe Framingham, and certainly Salem. The supercommuters who live way out close to an outlying station will probably want to work from home as much as possible or even work from home maybe three out of the five days and then the other two go into the office in Boston. I could see a person who lives along the outer end of the Fitchburg Line doing that(Ayer and westward). The same thing goes with living in and around Worcester.

I know of one quasi-state entity which has non-renewed their multiple floors of office space in Boston. Everyone is supposed to continue working from home indefinitely. They will save $millions in rent. Employees will save $thousands each in commuting expenses. But office space in Boston will not stay empty, not for long. Someone will backfill the space, landlords will continue to enjoy high rents made possible by MBTA subsidized commuting costs. I'm guessing that the growth rate for office space in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Chelsea etc, which was most of the growth in the state, will slow way down for a while.

With 100MB download / 10MB upload internet, computer connections are equal to work. With laptops driving two additional displays and the same ergonomic chair that was once in the office now relocated to home, why drive an hour or two to the office when we have those insecure Zoom calls available? It's taken a year but some baby-boomers and millenials have figured out how to use the mute button.