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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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How well does the transit agency in your major city & metro area perform? In the wake of reduced ridership in many areas following the pandemic, the discussion of investment and maintenance of large transit systems is not a popular one.
Currently the MBTA in the Boston area has had to close the Orange Line for 30 days due to some major safety issues and following a train fire back in July where 200 passengers had to a evacuate when crossing a bridge. Some jumping out of windows and there were other incidents of runaway trains. Now the Orange line which carries just over 100K daily passengers is shut down for a month (just in time for students returning back to campuses). This follows a history of delays and closures on the Red line from past years.
I know the MBTA is not alone in these transit system calamities. Which transit systems would you say are performing well with the upkeep and maintenance of existing mass infrastructure and which ones are failing?
MARTA is awful. Has not done a thing in 25 years. Worst transit agency in the country. Every potential rail project is getting turned into useless BRT.
MBTA is antiquated and old but even with all the problems atleast their taking action to fix it and currently working on expansions.
WMATA is good. Pretty nice actually. Silver line expansion is almost done. Probably has the nicest stations in the country.
CTA is probably the most well rounded system in the country. METRA is great too. Red line extension coming soon. Just wish they would get bigger train cars like DC/NYC
SEPTA is awful.
MTA is relying on its past glory. Today its a money pit for the most part. We'll see if congestion pricing does anything
BART and the bay area transit in general is too balkanized
Last edited by burginsnoff; 08-26-2022 at 07:42 AM..
Charlotte is doing the worst by far. There’s several articles on it too.
This source below is great to generate a graph on the ridership of various transit agencies. You can see how much transit has recovered and what the ridership numbers are.
Atleast Charlotte is actively expanding their light rail. Atlanta is by far the worst....years of "studies" and "reports" with nothing to show for it. The last actual new transit built in Atlanta was the downtown streetcar which is useless.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by btownboss4
Is the CTA the only well run major system in the country? Maybe SEPTA (although the MFL is a while mother level of disgusting)
I know DC shut down a whole line too.
No entire line on the DC Metro has been shut down. Different sections get shut down for planned maintenance.
They put 7000 series trains out of service, as a preventative measure since Oct/Nov last year after a derailment. Only about 8 trains are back on the tracks currently.
The MTA is way too expensive to run for what it is. Its late. Its never on time. There is always some issue. Someone always be falling in the tracks. I don't want to sound like FOX news here, but there always some crime down there too. Its really all downhill from here with Eric Adams (What were you all thinking????). NYC is the king for funding issues, instead of just ... funding their transit bettter...
The MBTA, the hot topic, is a dumpster fire too. But like one poster said, they are making efforts to fix it even though the past 15 years all they seemed to have cared about was new cars and expansions over maintenance. They are opening two new rapid transit branch lines and three commuter rail lines. I am hopeful for the MBTA with the feds involved. It can't get any worse rn. It was the birthplace of the subway in America.
The CTA is actually nothing like New York and Boston's dumpster fire. Its not failing and having issues. I think its the best right now. However, I don't think things will remain this positive for long.
SEPTA is so dingey/dirty/gotham like. I haven't taken the street cars yet. However, nearby PATCO is great. I think it offsets SEPTAs ineptitude for me.
WMATA is great since the feds took over in 2015 and fixed it up. It's genuinely great with cool lookings stations. Best in the Northeast right now.
Part 1 says DC, Boston, and LA are in the worst shape financially, worst being DC hurdling towards a fiscal cliff. Part 2 says NYC, Chicago, and Philly are next.
No entire line on the DC Metro has been shut down. Different sections get shut down for planned maintenance.
They put 7000 series trains out of service, as a preventative measure since Oct/Nov last year after a derailment. Only about 8 trains are back on the tracks currently.
I was wrong, 6 stations will close for a month including the bridge from VA to DC on the yellow line, and some of the blue line. And the Bridge will be closed for 8 months.
MARTA is awful. Has not done a thing in 25 years. Worst transit agency in the country.
MBTA is antiquated and old but even with all the problems atleast their taking action to fix it and currently working on expansions.
WMATA is okay. Pretty nice actually. Silver line expansion is almost done
CTA is probably the most well rounded system in the country. METRA is great too. Red line extension coming soon
SEPTA is awful.
MTA is relying on its past glory. Today its a money pit for the most part. We'll see if congestion pricing does anything
BART and the bay area transit in general is too balkanized
I know for MTA, they were slowly constructing the Second Avenue subway on the Upper East side of Manhattan. Though it seems like construction on that line, is going at a slow and long term gradual phase. Right now, it seems like only part of the line(north to 96th and 2nd, and between 72nd and 2nd and then the line curves south and west to connect with the Q and other lines) has been constructed, with an inbetween stop at 86th. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Avenue_Subway
As for MARTA, that agency has long had to deal with a state legislature that is very anti-public transit, not to forget skeptical attitudes about public transit in suburban counties outside of Fulton and DeKalb Counties. See when Cobb County voted down transit in the past, and Gwinnett(though by a narrower margin than Cobb, where it seems voters weren't as anti-transit there) voted down a county bus expansion(and one stop MARTA northeast line extension, along with a transit center that would've been built by a new stop northeast of Doraville) plan a few years back. Although if Beltline rail could be built(and Atlanta's new mayor is in favor of that), that could help transit issues to some extent: https://saportareport.com/atlanta-le...maria_saporta/
BART seems to be VERY slow at construction, on subway line extensions. I'm not sure if it makes construction issues harder for them that supposedly they use a different track gauge for their tracks, vs. other subway systems. Just look up how long it took for the line extension between Fremont and Berryessa in the east bay, to be built.
And for all the praise about the CTA while they aren't bad, be glad that if you live outside Chicago that you haven't had to ride the Red Line very late at night. Too much rule breaking like idiots trying to sneak smoking in the 'hobo corner'(next to the train operator's booth) of L railcars, and other things for me to want to ride the Red Line more than I have to. If rules were enforced more often on the Red Line(not just in daytime and higher ridership hours), I'd be more up for riding this L line. Cops(both uniformed and undercover) still way too often don't try to ride in railcars in service to monitor behaviors of riders, and although the CTA did a private security thing to beef up guards on trains a few months back, the results of that initiative are still unclear. At least CTA buses are pretty decent, and same with separate agencies Pace(suburban buses) and Metra(commuter rail).
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