New schedules effective 11/21/16 published

[jamesinclair]

Not only did they bring back the severe weather schedules, they've now added a color coding system on them, which i find interesting but completely unnecessary.
Purple - normal service
Blue - severe weather, trains in blue will not operate
Orange - special schedules in effect
Gray - no service

I'm curious what thoughts others have on this...

Did the colors come out of a hat? Was green-yellow-orange-red trademarked?

Also, it seems ridiculous to have this super obvious call out (LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME) with an asterisk that on 2-3 days a year this train might be cancelled.

How about, um, using an asterisk?

I think the design is atrocious.

[dbperry]

Paper copies of the new schedule are due from the printer today. Planned to be available at terminals on Monday.

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

Twas very disappointed in how they know where many problems exist in the schedules, but yet the T did not allow Keolis to make big changes to them. Us in the field know what needs to be changed, and what works and needs to be tweaked, hopefully come Spring, some changes will be taken care of to make operations run smoother. There are too many trains running and asking too much of the equipment, hence so many cancellations and delays

[harshaw]

Twas very disappointed in how they know where many problems exist in the schedules, but yet the T did not allow Keolis to make big changes to them. Us in the field know what needs to be changed, and what works and needs to be tweaked, hopefully come Spring, some changes will be taken care of to make operations run smoother. There are too many trains running and asking too much of the equipment, hence so many cancellations and delays

I'd love to hear more, at least to supply ammunition for political pressure. You can't seem to go a day without a breakdown or some kind of mechanical failure. The MBTA seems to be A) have a maintenance backlog that it can't keep on top of, B) not enough hardware for the sets it wants to run and C) no plans on buying more coaches (is this true???).

I guess my point is, as a passenger we all want more service, but if that can't be delivered, we really need to dial back our expectations so the system works.

[ohalloranchris]

Twas very disappointed in how they know where many problems exist in the schedules, but yet the T did not allow Keolis to make big changes to them. Us in the field know what needs to be changed, and what works and needs to be tweaked, hopefully come Spring, some changes will be taken care of to make operations run smoother. There are too many trains running and asking too much of the equipment, hence so many cancellations and delays

I'd love to hear more, at least to supply ammunition for political pressure. You can't seem to go a day without a breakdown or some kind of mechanical failure. The MBTA seems to be A) have a maintenance backlog that it can't keep on top of, B) not enough hardware for the sets it wants to run and C) no plans on buying more coaches (is this true???).

I guess my point is, as a passenger we all want more service, but if that can't be delivered, we really need to dial back our expectations so the system works.

There has been mention that the T is considering exercising the option to purchase an additional 75 Rotem bi-levels. But with their record, not sure if that helps or hurts. Such a shame they didn't stick with the tried and true Kawasaki's...

[BandA]

Maybe if they can get a super-good warranty, and also extend the warranties on the existing units. I haven't been riding, but from reading about the vibrations and the Silverliner V truck cracking (albeit a different design) I think the trucks are the biggest risks.