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Did Someone Ask for a Subway?

April 20, 2005 By Bob Neer

Central_5HONG KONG ? There have in the past been occasional murmers of complaint about the quality of service on our MBTA. Those looking for models for improvement should consider the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway:

Corporate Organization. The government paid for the initial construction of the system in 1972. After it became fully operational, the company was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2000. The business has a 50-year exclusive franchise on operation of rail mass transit in Hong Kong. Its principle activities are transit, real estate development connected with its stations, and operation of its smart card payments system. The government owns about 76% of the company. The MTR made a profit of over US$500 million in 2004.

Fares. Fares vary depending on the distance traveled and rangein price from US$0.50 to about $1.75. All payments are made usingelectronic fare cards. The wireless "Octopus" payments card technologyallows debiting from a stored value card simply by waving the card overa reader. The card does not need to be removed from a purse or wallet.Numerous local businesses, from Starbucks to the separate bus company,have adopted this convenient payments technology, which providesrevenue to the MTR.

Service. Over 2.5 million people use the system each weekday. Travel times are extremely reliable and can be calculated in advance.

Cleanliness. The stations and trains are spotless. Automaticclimate control doorways separate train tunnels from platforms; thisincreases safety, and allows stations to be more efficiently heated andcooled.

Displays.
Electronic displays in every carriage show the direction of travel and progress of the train from station to station.

Mobile telephones. Work throughout the system.

Ticket_machine_1TicketsRfidClean_1

SpotlessTrain

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Comments

  1. stomv says

    April 20, 2005 at 8:42 am

    As the oldest subway in America, the MBTA has a whole lot of technology catching up to do. Some improvements I’d like to see the T make (given infinate budgets for capital improvements): * Green Line signal preference and preemption. Why does a train with 160 riders have to wait at a traffic light along Comm Ave or Beacon for 5 cars holding 7 total people to cross the intersection? The T should alter the traffic light timing as it approaches to get the green. Not only does this reduce the mean time for trips, it also reduces the variance, which means the waiting time at stations is more predictible and the streetcars are less likely to bunch up. * Bury more track. Yeah, that’s expensive. However, consider the B line between Kenmore and BU Central. The city could bury both the streetcar and Comm Ave there. Currently, three stops are needed because the T can’t open all its doors inbound, and the sheer number of customers is so high in that region. However, an underground stop would allow all doors to open, thereby reducing the loading time. Furthermore, ridership would decrease in the area since BU students would stop taking the 1 or 2 stop free ride (it wouldn’t be free, and it wouldn’t be known where the train was at that instant). Cars coming from Allston/Brighton would have a straight shot into Kenmore, thereby avoiding a half dozen traffic lights. BU would gain a campus. The local businesses could still be served by a local pedestrian/auto road, somewhat similar to Downtown Crossings. Stations below ground are always preferable to stations above ground, if only due to 8 months of cold weather. * Fix the damned escalators and keep them fixed. It’s really an embarassment that so many are broken for so long. * As a long term project, add a third rail for each line, allowing trains to go express “with the direction of rush hour”. In the case of the Red Line, it would mean some cars could go from Park directly to Harvard or to JFK/UMass. Green line trains could go from Kenmore to about 8 stops further outbound, which would relieve overcrowded cars and give the people living in Newton & Brookline a quick ride home, thereby increasing ridership. * Fix fare collection. It’s crummy for the Green Line, and its even worse for the Silver Line. One way to help would be to install working token machines at the stops. It would help relieve queues to get tokens at manned stops, and relieve the loading queues at unmanned stops. The machines could also accept credit cards, give change, and allow people to buy their monthly fare cards in many more locations.Just some thoughts off the cuff. All of these changes cost money; some quite a bit. What the T needs to do is come up with their list of projects, their costs and benefits, and go to the legislature to get direct funding for one of ’em. Then, the T needs to implement it cost effectively, and demonstrate the improvements.Ah, a dream world.

  2. charley-on-the-mta says

    April 20, 2005 at 2:21 pm

    stomv,Tell Deval Patrick and Tom Reilly. Seriously. We need them to work for the public transit vote.

  3. harry-forbes says

    April 23, 2005 at 8:39 pm

    Th article on the HK subway didn’t say anything about unions or labor-management relations. I wonder how they compare between HK and the Hub of the Universe.

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