MBTA Performance Reports Now Available Daily

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BOSTON – Massachusetts Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack today announced a new level of transparency at the MBTA, with the launching of the MBTA's Performance Dashboard.

For the first time, the public can track the daily reliability levels of the four subway lines and all 170 bus routes. It also marks the first time that performance data for all four branches of the Green Line is publicly available. The Dashboard gives the public the ability to look at the reliability of lines or routes for an entire day, or just during rush hour periods. There are more than a million passenger trips each weekday on the MBTA bus and subway systems.

"Our ultimate goal is to make the MBTA one of the best transit systems in the country," said Secretary Pollack. "The Dashboard reflects our priority of making data-driven decisions and in keeping us accountable when it comes to customer satisfaction."

The Dashboard reflects the same information used internally by the MBTA to improve the transit systems on-time performance. It focuses on four categories of metrics: reliability, ridership, financials, and customer satisfaction.

The MBTA Performance Dashboard at www.mbtabackontrack.com will have monthly updates on ridership and budget information. In addition, the site will include survey responses from several thousand individuals who are involved in regular communications with the MBTA about their trips and overall experiences on bus, subway, commuter rail, and ferry routes.

The launch of the Dashboard comes a few months after the MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board, in its first annual report to the MA Legislature, pledged to provide the public with more information about T services. As written in the report: "Performance metrics have a variety of audiences – riders, internal managers, policymakers, and others. The FMCB seeks to develop measures that are responsive to each group's interests. Further, it also seeks to continually update its measures to insure that performance measurement does not stagnate and is a source of ongoing improvement."

Today's launch is only the beginning for the Dashboard. In the coming months, the public will see a series of enhancements to the existing metrics and additional information, such as spending on capital improvement projects.

Other customer communication accomplishments include:

T-Alerts: Currently has 76,763 subscribers. That's a gain of 8,000 subscribers over this time last year12, and a gain of 36,500 subscribers over this time two years ago (the winter 2015 caused a major increase).
Digital Boards: First introduced on March 4, 2013 – a Digital Pilot Program operated at approximately 8 locations from 2009 to 2011, when it was completed. Digital Street Furniture was introduced in November, 2015. Six units of Digital Street Furniture were approved in December, 2015; while 2 more units were approved in February, 2016. Approximately 92 digital boards are active, with approximately 21 more planned to be deployed.