Alas, it’s still wrong in the MBTA’s own Trip Planner.

Go figure.

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.

This entire exchange was witnessed by Wade Roush, Chief Correspondent for Xconomy Boston.  He subsequently interviewed me about this incident and about the problem I was attempting to bring to light. [UPDATE: Roush's Xconomy article which discusses what happened to me: MBTA Data Helps [sic] Google Users Get Around Boston]

I would have enjoyed getting arrested, because that would definitely have given some much needed publicity to the issue I’m trying to get fixed, but I don’t think my boss or my family would have appreciated it all that much, so I decided not to push the issue.

Nevertheless, the trip was not a complete waste.  I managed to get flyers into the hands of a few reporters, and I was interviewed by one of them.  Furthermore, something even better happened.  Boston Transportation Commissioner Thomas Tinlin was there representing Mayor Menino, and I was able to talk with him briefly after the press conference.  He and I have corresponded in the past, so I used that to break the ice before asking what he recommended I do to get someone to fix the incorrect route information I’d been complaining about for over six years.  He told me to send my concerns to him by email and he would make sure they made it directly to Dan Grabauskas.  So I’ll give that a try and see what happens.

One final thing I’ll mention is that I was terribly amused by the number of people who praised Dan Grabauskas for so quickly taking advantage of new technology by getting the MBTA onto Google Transit.  “Quickly” indeed.  Apparently none of these people are aware that there are 70 transit agencies in 10 countries managed to find their way into Google Transit before Grabauskas figured it out.

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.

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.

I called the phone number McGuire gave me for Monahan and left a message.  About a week later, on July 16, Houghton finally responded to my email.  He responded to my complaint about passengers not being notified about the delays on July 6, but ignored my complaint about the trip planner having given me an incorrect route.

I wrote back to Houghton on July 17 and asked him to address that complaint.  Almost two weeks later, he has not responded.

Around that time Monahan finally called me back.  I told him I was still trying to get someone to fix the broken trip planner, and he said he would refer the problem to someone who would be able to do something about it, and I would be hearing from her soon.  I haven’t heard from her (no surprise there!).  He also said that McGuire had given me an incorrect email address for him, but he did give me his correct address (no surprise there either!).

Here, incidentally, is the email message I tried to send Monahan on July 10, which reveals a critical piece of new information about this fiasco: I actually first notified the T about the problem with their trip planner over six years ago.  They admitted at the time that there wa a problem, but almost 6½ years later, it still isn’t fixed.

Subject: Non-responsive garage superintendent; failure to notify passengers about delays; wrong information on MBTA Web site

Jim Monahan
Deputy Divison Chief — Transportation
MBTA

Dear Mr. Monahan,

I am writing with the following complaints:

1. The superintendent of the Cabot garage has failed to respond to three separate emails from me, and I was told by Kevin McGuire in a letter last November that I should contact you if that happens.
2. The MBTA continues to fail to notify passengers of delays using the mechanisms it has established for that purpose.
3. The Trip Planner on the MBTA Web site contains incorrect route information which causes passengers who rely on it to miss their buses, a problem about which I first wrote to the MBTA over six years ago.

Please read on for details.

On Monday, July 6, my daughter and I attempted to travel by bus from Brighton Center to Newtonville. I asked the MBTA Trip Planner for the correct timing and route to use, and it told us to take the 501 from Washington St and Foster St to Park St & Tremont St, then walk to 400 Centre St and take the 554 from there to Washington St & Walnut St.

My daughter and I followed the Trip Planner’s directions exactly, but although we waited for well over a half hour, the 554 never showed up. Afterwards, I heard that there were many significant bus delays that morning due to a stuck railroad crossing gate in Waltham. None of these delays were posted to the MBTA Web site or broadcast to passengers through the T-Alerts system. I have complained to the T before about your failure to post and broadcast delays, and I shall continue to do so until you are reliably doing so. I sent the attached complaint about this to the Cabot superintendent on July 6 and received no response.

The next day, we attempted the same trip. Once again, the bus never showed up. This time, we were told afterwards by another passenger that she had seen that bus driving down Washington Street, and I surmised that either the driver had not stopped at 400 Centre St (I was correct, but for the wrong reason; see below), or the driver had run the route early. I sent another complaint to the Cabot superintendent, attached, and again received no reply.

Yesterday, we attempted the trip a third time. This time, we arrived at 400 Centre St more than twenty minutes before the Trip Planner said the 554 would stop there, to ensure we would not miss it. When a 554 bus whose route sign said “downtown” stopped at approximately the correct time, I ran over and asked the driver whether he was going to Newton. The driver responded, “No, I’m going downtown. You need to be on the other side of Newton Corner to catch the bus to Newton.” When I informed him that the Trip Planner had told us to wait at 400 Centre St, he replied, “I’ve been driving buses for 22 years, and that bus has never stopped here.” In other words, your Trip Planner tells people to wait for buses in the wrong place. I sent the attached complaint to about this to the Cabot superintendent and again received no response.

This morning, it occurred to me that the Trip Planner problem sounded familiar, so I went digging through my email archives to find out why. I found an email message (attached) I sent to the MBTA in April 2003 reporting almost exactly the same problem, along with an acknowledgment (attached) from the MBTA. It’s astoundingly unacceptable that over six years later, your trip planner is still giving passengers the same incorrect information.

I’m very much used to complaining to the MBTA, and I’m very much used to being either ignored or fed rationalizations, excuses, prevarications, and buck-passing rather than seeing problems actually solved. It would be a pleasant surprise to receive a prompt, honest, straightforward response to this message, and to see concrete steps taken and concrete improvements made to address my complaints.

So, what’s it going to be, Mr. Monahan? Real improvements or more of the bad service which typifies the MBTA?

Sincerely,

Jonathan Kamens