MBTA On Time Performance for February

The Boston Globe ran a quick piece on Sunday that mentioned the best/worst commuter rail on time performances for February.  But how did Worcester and Fitchburg fit in?

It looks like things are getting better, even if Worcester needed a schedule change to make it happen.  According to MBCR spokesman Scott Farmelant, Worcester’s OTP is up 38% since September; Fitchburg’s is 20% better than December.  And, writes Farmelant, Worcester’s OTP was 94% between 2/19, when the schedule change took effect, and 2/29.

Overall, commuters enjoyed a systemwide 80.16% OTP in February, up from 77.3% in January.  So far, March trains have hit a 86.04% mark as of this morning

FEBRUARY 2008 OTP STATS:

South Station Trains

Attleboro 78.81%
Fairmount 56.75%
Franklin Via Fairmount 46.11%
Franklin Branch 75.92%
Greenbush Branch 94.86%
Kingston Branch 88.04%
Middleboro Main Line 80.03%
Needham Branch 80.55%
Plymouth Branch 85.05%
Stoughton Branch 73.75%
Worcester Main Line 83.57%

North Station Trains

Newburyport 84.79%
Fitchburg 81.55%
Rockport 85.29%
Lowell 84.56%
Haverhill 82.90%
Haverhill Line Via Wildcat 77.50%

The longest ride

Today’s news that the best chance for increased rail service to Boston may eventually be through the Fitchburg line was an interesting revelation.

But what would the hypothetical trip mean for commuters, already annoyed by trip times from Union Station to South Station?

Longer is better

One week in, it looks like the lower standards for commuter trains might be making a dent in the on-time performance. According to statistics from the MBTA, in the first six days of the new schedule (Tuesday through Sunday), on time performance was an outstanding 91%. And that includes an unheard of 100% on time performance last Thursday. But it hasn’t all been sunshine. On Monday of this week a CSX signal near the Westboro and Ashland stations failed, says MBCR spokesman Scott Farmelant, delaying all morning commute trains. And according to the daily commuter rail blog Train Stopping, at least three of the author’s inbound and outbound trips have been substantially behind schedule in the past week. Still, the numbers are an improvement over January’s 69% on time performance. Of course, that doesn’t mean the trains are actually getting there faster, just that they’re doing a good job of meeting the new longer schedules.

UPDATE: We’ve attached one of the MBTA on-time performance charts, for all you raw data geeks.  Feast away.  (Note: 2/18 was running on the old schedule)