Before you hop on your regular commuter rail train Monday, you might want to check the schedule one more time.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is putting new timetables into effect on nine of its 12 lines. The change comes months after officials were forced to redo the new schedules because the agency’s first attempt enraged riders.
Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said the trains have been retimed to improve dependability: If a train was consistently late under its old schedule, for example, officials wanted to change the departure and arrival times so that they could accurately reflect how long it would actually take.
“Nobody had looked at the schedules in a comprehensive way in a very long time,’’ she said. “It’s always important for some perspective.’’
The new schedules have big implications not only for riders. If the changes help drive up the number of trains that are on time, that helps Keolis Commuter Services, the company that runs the commuter rail, with its bottom line. Under its contract, Keolis is fined for every late train.
In recent months, the service has shown improvements. In April, about 92 percent of its trains arrived on time. Adjusting for factors outside the company’s control, such as weather or police activity, about 96 percent arrived on time, according to the company’s statistics.
When the T first proposed its new schedules in November, the response was so heated that local legislators got involved. The complaints forced agency officials to halt their original plans so they could hold community meetings and tweak the schedules with feedback from the community.
Some regular riders are nonetheless concerned about what could await them on Monday. On some lines, stops were taken away from some stations so that they could be added to other stations.
On the Newburyport/Rockport line, for example, commuters could board one of 10 Boston-bound trains at the Swampscott station between 5 and 9:40 a.m. But under the new schedule, there is one fewer Swampscott trip. William Steinberg, a regular commuter on the line, worries that will further crowd the trains.
“The trains during that period are already packed, and so if you remove other trains, you’re not going to be able to hold all the passengers,’’ he said.
Still, far fewer riders seem to be complaining about the changes this time. Claire Blechman, who commutes from Somerville to Salem, had complaints about the schedules initially proposed in November. But at a public meeting, she spoke with T officials about how the schedules could better help those with reverse commutes like hers.
“Overall, the changes after the public input process were for the better,’’ she said.
The new schedules will also come amid other changes. On Monday, the agency will debut its new express train from Worcester to Boston. The nonstop weekday service will save about 30 minutes for riders.
Officials say they’re crossing their fingers for smooth commutes on Monday, and hoping that commuters have paid attention to the changes. Keolis employees handed out nearly 87,000 paper schedules to people at North, South, and Back Bay stations in the last week to remind them of the changes, according to Keolis spokeswoman Leslie Aun.
“We know they are creatures of habit, and even changing it by a few minutes can be disruptive,’’ Pollack said. “So we hope that there has been plenty of time to adjust to the new schedules.’’
The MBTA in 2040
What’s more important to you — making sure that the Orange Line isn’t packed to the gills every morning, or making sure that Allston-Brighton gets a commuter rail station near the Turnpike tolls?
State transportation officials want residents to weigh in on what the MBTA should look like by 2040, through an effort they are calling “Focus40.’’
On Tuesday, officials will kick off the campaign with a live event. In addition, Bay Staters can take a survey asking them about their transit priorities (available in English, Spanish, and simplified Chinese).
Pollack said the next five years will be consumed with billions of dollars worth of maintenance projects and hopefully the Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford. Discussing a long-term strategic plan means that other projects won’t simply be forgotten, she said.
“There are a lot of people with a lot of other ideas for either adding service or adding stations or doing other things that would make the T more responsive to the needs of the region,’’ she said.
Officials say they want Focus40 to be a “financially responsible, long-term investment plan’’ that understands the needs of the T and the highway network. Pollack said that instead of just revisiting ideas that have been kicking around for decades — such as a rail link between North and South stations — this could be an opportunity to get fresher ideas.
“There are more out-of-the-box ideas out there and we want to try and flesh them out by giving us the time and the latitude to really think in a new kind of way,’’ she said.
Strategic, long-term transportation plans seem to be all the rage these days. Boston kicked off an effort called Go Boston 2030, in which the city asked residents to share their mobility wish lists. The state transportation department has also revamped the way it produces its five-year capital plans.
On Tuesday, the T has invited several guests outside of transit to take part in a discussion about the future. The guests include David Chang, an entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School, and Arthur Jemison, the director of housing and revitalization at the city of Detroit. Pollack and Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash will also participate.
Tuesday’s event starts at 5 p.m. at Northeastern University’s Curry Student Center, at 360 Huntington Ave. in Boston. Officials will hold an open house from 5 to 9 p.m., and the interactive panel will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Nicole Dungca can be reached at nicole.dungca@globe.com.
