I was delighted to discover a few days ago that the problem with the MBTA’s on-line route data that I’ve been trying to get the T to fix for over six years and almost got arrested over is now fixed in Google Maps.
Alas, it’s still wrong in the MBTA’s own Trip Planner.
Go figure.
From “MBTA announces latest arrival: Google mapping tool for riders“:
But not everyone at yesterday’s news conference was trumpeting the partnership. Jonathan Kamens, 39, of Brighton said Google Maps’s public transit routes are faulty because they rely on schedules provided by the MBTA, which are sometimes wrong.
Kamens, a software engineer, said his complaints to T officials have gone unaddressed for years, which drove him to pass out fliers questioning the deal.
Lisa Rivera, a spokeswoman for the MBTA, said that the authority was unaware of his complaints but that officials would look into them.
“We have an extensive planning and scheduling department and employees who are constantly updating our system,’’ she said.
It’s unfortunate that the reporter said I am concerned about inaccurate “schedules,” when in fact that I am concerned about inaccurate routes, which is a rather more serious problem. If the schedule’s wrong, then you might have to wait longer than expected for a bus, but if the route is wrong, then the bus you’re waiting for might never show up.
As planned, I went to South Station about a half hour before the press conference scheduled to announce that Boston (finally!) had been added to Google Transit. Upon arrival, I started talking to reporters and handing out flyers.
I was quickly confronted by Daniel Dombak, a Marketing Director for Equity Office (which manages South Station), and informed that I was on private property and couldn’t distribute flyers without a permit.
“Are you going to arrest me and drag me out of the station for handing out flyers to reporters?” I asked him.
“No, of course we’re not going to drag you out of the building,” he responded, but in fact that’s exactly what he intended to do.
A few minutes later, a Transit Police officer approached me and informed me that I was not allowed to distribute written materials on MBTA property without a permit. We went back and forth for several rounds with me trying to get her to explain in plain English what would happen if I continued to distribute flyers. She finally claimed that yes, if I continued to distribute the flyers after being asked to stop, I would be arrested. The police officer, against whom I have no complaint because she was just doing her job, informed me that of course I could talk to reporters as much as I wanted; I just couldn’t hand them pieces of paper.
MBTA route information has just become available in Google Maps (both Web-based and Google Maps Mobile). Google and the MBTA are planning on formally debuting it at a press conference at South Station in an hour or so.
I checked, and the data that the MBTA gave to Google has the same errors I’ve been complaining to the T about for over six years.
Since South Station is a short walk from where I work, I’ll be paying a visit and handing out this flyer to any reporters I find there:
(click for PDF)
If I’m lucky maybe I’ll even get to shout out a question to Dan Graubaskas and ask what he’s planning on doing about the fact that the routes given out by Google Maps are wrong because of incorrect data provided by the T.
Last year, when I complained in writing to the T about receiving no response to the email messages I’d sent through their “Write to the Top” program, I received a response from Kevin McGuire telling me that if I continued to have this problem, I should contact James Monahan at a specific email address or telephone number.
On July 10, I emailed Monahan at the address McGuire gave me to complain about the fact that John Houghton, the superintendent of the Cabot Bus Garage, had not responded to complaints I’d sent on July 6, 7, and 9.
My email message to Monahan bounced with “User unknown”. I can’t say I was surprised.
To: letterstotheeditor@bostonherald.com
To the editor:
Councilor Michael Flaherty’s idea to slash the city’s motor pool by having workers ride the T is a brilliant strategy for doubling the number of employees on the payroll. How else does he expect to maintain the same level of productivity when workers are forced to spend half the day waiting for trains and buses that run infrequently and arrive late, if at all?
Is Flaherty trying to save the city money or earn points with the unions by creating jobs for their members?
Jonathan Kamens
Brighton
To: CabotSuperintendent@mbta.com
Mr. Houghton,
Thanks to a helpful bus driver this morning (the driver of the inbound 554 bus that passed through Newton Corner at around 8:20), my daughter and I finally found out the real explanation for why we missed the 554 bus from Newton Corner to Newtonville on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It wasn’t because of delays caused by the broken railroad crossing gate in Waltham on Monday, and it wasn’t because the bus went through Newton Corner early on Tuesday.
No, it was because the outbound 554 bus doesn’t actually stop at 400 Centre Street, which is where the Trip Planner on the MBTA Web site told us to wait for it.
Mr. Houghton,
Being a glutton for punishment, and having no better option, my daughter and I set out this morning once again to take the T from Brighton Center to Walnut Street in Newton, changing buses in Newton Corner.
We were stationed at 400 Centre Street by 8:17, waiting for a 554 bus scheduled to stop there at 8:25. Our arrival time at 400 Centre Street was consistent with the route suggested by the Trip Planner on your Web site.
Well, 8:25 came and went. No bus. Then 8:30 came and went, then 8:35, then 8:40. At that point, we finally gave up and reverted to the plan B we’d created after yesterday’s fiasco — walking to the cab stand in front of the Crowne Plaza and taking a cab from there.
Alas, when we got there this morning, there were no cabs, even though there had been a long line of them at the same time yesterday. I called the cab company, and they said we’d have to wait a half hour. That was useless, so my daughter and I were forced to fall back on plan C — walking in the rain from Newton Corner to Walnut Street.
To: CabotSuperintendent@mbta.com
Cc: <Steven.Baddour@state.ma.us>,
<Rep.JosephWagner@hou.state.ma.us>,
<Steven.Tolman@state.ma.us>,
<Rep.KevinHonan@hou.state.ma.us>,
<mayor@cityofboston.gov>,
<Mark.Ciommo@cityofboston.gov>,
<Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov>,
<Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov>,
<John.R.Connolly@cityofboston.gov>,
<sam.yoon@cityofboston.gov>,
“‘Governor Patrick’s Office (imailagent)’” <gov.webmail@state.ma.us>,
“‘Halbert, David’” <David.Halbert@cityofboston.gov>
John Houghton
Superintendent, Cabot Bus Garage
MBTA
Dear Mr. Houghton,
They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If so, then I must be insane to rely on the T.
It’s not so much that many of the 5xx express buses were horrendously delayed for hours this morning. I understand that was caused by a problem outside the T’s control, in particular, a stuck railroad crossing gate out in Waltham.
The service failure which puts the T yet again into the “of incompetents, by incompetents, for incompetents” level of service is that yet again, there were serious delays in service, and yet again, YOU DID NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO NOTIFY YOUR CUSTOMERS ABOUT THE DELAYS.
April 27, 2009
Daniel Grabauskas
General Manager
MBTA
10 Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116
Dear Mr. Grabauskas,
Once again, I find myself writing to the T to complain about service which falls far short of “bad,” doesn’t come anywhere near “unacceptable,” and perhaps even falls just a little bit south of “What in heaven’s name is wrong with you people?” (more…)
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