Why is the MBTA so incompetent? (Boston, Quincy: crime, live in, zoning)

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

I guess people are supposed to just show up at the commuter rail station and do a rain dance or maybe a train dance to bring forth the train.

That's highly recommended, actually, as it'll help prevent you from freezing to the platform.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

The MBTA website is really useless. They post alert messages about the commuter rail lines being delayed with a link. Then on the page that is supposed to have information on which lines and what times are delayed, there is only information about subway delays.

I guess people are supposed to just show up at the commuter rail station and do a rain dance or maybe a train dance to bring forth the train.

Got the T alert about my 60 minute delayed train last night 3 hours after scheduled departure and 30 minutes after I pulled into my driveway.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by Ninotchka P

A teacher needs to be prepared to do this. They need to have been trained; the campus has to have the infrastructure (and licenses) to support this sort of thing. If a class was already offered online, then yes, nothing changes. But if a class was intended to be offered on campus, it's not such a simple matter to just switch it to online, on a mass scale as you're suggesting, while staff as well as faculty are at home.



The basic Blackboard product most campuses have (Blackboard Learn) provides an asynchronous model - discussion boards and the like. That does NOT mirror a live, synchronous class. The webcams you mentioned would be for use with a synchronous technology such as Blackboard Collaborate, but that costs extra and would need to have been purchased and implemented ahead of time.

And do you have any idea how many man-hours of work, and how much money, it takes to prepare a decent course for Coursera, which is by the way a MOOC and a completely different model from a traditionally sized course?

I know Coursera classes can cost a fair amount (five figures). But at the same point it can reach more people because frankly anything of a holiday is tossed out the window. Also with video production the costs are generally initial that is the price of a hotset if needed is fixed. The price of technology keeps dropping enabling more access.

Classes are already online though with the Greenfield system from K12
How It Works | Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greenfield | Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greenfield
It's already been around now for a few years. Now I'll admit the intent is not to replace most high school but the fact of the matter is the demographics they target start to add up.

"Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greenfield serve Massachusetts students statewide in grades K–12 who are able to successfully participate in a virtual school environment. Several target groups of students have been identified who will have priority for acceptance:

Students currently enrolled in the Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greenfield;
Students who reside in Greenfield, Massachusetts;
Students with disabilities;
Students out of school due to pregnancy or parenting;
Students who have been bullied or who are out of school due to other safety concerns;
Students who seek an advanced coursework not available in their current school;
Students who must work during the day; and
Students in training for competitive arts or sports"

Schoolspring already has ads for many of the positions so it is still going the same route as one would court traditional teachers.
Making a synchronous class should not be that hard given IRC and webcams. How big do we want classes to technically be. I've had Google Hangouts with nearly a dozen people which could be a graduate school setting. If you hire more teachers that's fine because the fixed cost of maintaining a building eventually make it more unattractive to do in a physical setting. Where I live we had to put in new school roofs at a high costs and the state is paying for half. The idea of "place" being a factor means less.

Even if this was just supplemental to a point it would still help. An extra class during the summer to help with the fall, a SAT refresher in the spring, coverage during significant snowstorms etc.

[Brave Stranger]

Just heard the MBTA parked ALL their trains for the storm....in the past the T ran trains all night to keep the track from freezing up. If true, it's mind-blowing that such basic "institutional memory" on how to keep the tracks from freezing was tossed aside.

[Whatsnext75]

The trains were still awful today it sounds like?

[brienzi]

Originally Posted by Brave Stranger

The MBTA is funded by a patchwork of taxes. Baker needs to consolidate an income stream & fund the system on a level basis. Boston is fast becoming a major international hub, for good or ill, and being such, the state needs to step-up & fund the system properly. As for pension & management reform....it would be nice, but doubtful, considering the history of the state & its rampant nepotism. It's ingrained in the DNA of the culture.

You said it all and agree! More money, more money and for what. The state is and always be rife with nepotism and the outdated pension system. I'm hoping Baker can make some changes as he isn't the usual
liberal type governor that where accustomed too. It's time for change and let's hope Charlie can get some done.

I believe he will.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by brienzi

You said it all and agree! More money, more money and for what. The state is and always be rife with nepotism and the outdated pension system. I'm hoping Baker can make some changes as he isn't the usual
liberal type governor that where accustomed too. It's time for change and let's hope Charlie can get some done.

I believe he will.

I don't know if our new governor or any Republican politics can change things but it sure seems like this fiasco is due to dirty politics. Big Dig, Toll Takers, anything in which the state is involved. Hire your unqualified relative and pay them many times more than they're worth. Then let them retire early with a hefty pension.

Somebody needs to have the guts to say no. Somebody has to put a stop to it. I'd like to see it go into receivership with outside consultants coming in and trimming the fat. A lot of our state money goes to waste like this. Somebody should check on UMass Amherst which is another money guzzling outrage.

On tv the results of a poll were shown and more than 1/3 of the people polled believe this mess is due to mismanagement. It needs to be reformed and cleaned up. Just because conditions improve after the snow is cleared, let's not shove it under the carper and forget about it.

[ormari]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

I don't know if our new governor or any Republican politics can change things but it sure seems like this fiasco is due to dirty politics. Big Dig, Toll Takers, anything in which the state is involved. Hire your unqualified relative and pay them many times more than they're worth. Then let them retire early with a hefty pension.

Somebody needs to have the guts to say no. Somebody has to put a stop to it. I'd like to see it go into receivership with outside consultants coming in and trimming the fat. A lot of our state money goes to waste like this. Somebody should check on UMass Amherst which is another money guzzling outrage.

On tv the results of a poll were shown and more than 1/3 of the people polled believe this mess is due to mismanagement. It needs to be reformed and cleaned up. Just because conditions improve after the snow is cleared, let's not shove it under the carper and forget about it.

Receivership is probably the only answer to impose meaningful pension reform.

Get rid of the defined benefit plans and put them on defined contribution like the rest of us are stuck with. The mismanagement of the snow events has revealed that they're not the cream of the crop; stop rewarding them like they are.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by ormari

Get rid of the defined benefit plans and put them on defined contribution like the rest of us are stuck with.

The exact opposite way our society should be going. Stop the race to the bottom.

[Guineas]

Originally Posted by timberline742

The exact opposite way our society should be going. Stop the race to the bottom.

Life expectancy is pushing 80. There's no sustainable economy where you can work 20-25 years and expect pension at near peak salary for the remainder 30-40 years of your life in an era when our population growth is barely at replacement. And this is exactly what many of our public employees get, they have become a class upon themselves, at the private sector's dime.

It's not a race to the bottom to state basic mathematical reality. Putting your head in the sand, and wishing it weren't so doesn't make the problem go away.