Does not look promising
Okay, with barely an inch of snow on the ground on Tuesday morning, Boston MBTA commuters experienced their first trip of the winter season. On Monday, the MBTA held a press conference announcing they were prepared for the worst. Back in June, Governor Charlie Baker, Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack and MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola announced an $83.7 million MBTA Winter Resiliency Plan for investments over the summer and over the next five years in snow removal equipment, infrastructure upgrades and operations during harsh weather to improve service reliability. So how did it go this first snowfall? We will let you be the judge. The following incidents happened on Tuesday:
- Red Line commuter had long delays because of a “frozen switch.”
- According to the Boston Herald, The MBTA had to free five 60 foot-long articulated buses that became stuck in icy slush in the Back Bay on Clarendon Street.
- At midday, a problem with an overhead wire near Chestnut Hill Ave. caused the T to replace the Green Line trollies with shuttle buses from Babcock Street and Boston College.
- Blue Line nightmare commute when the MBTA suspended rail service between Maverick station and Bowdoin station with shuttle buses. Evidently, a huge piece of metal was hanging in the tunnel. MBTA General ManagerFrank DePaola described the situation as “a little bit of mystery.” According to reports on twitter the commute was nightmarish.
On the bright side, Southie had little to no complaints about the bus commute downtown (except for one regarding a #11 that didn’t show up – but what else is new). If anything, the buses were running on time and were less crowded no doubt thanks to the holiday/school vacation week.
So do we think this speedy reliable service will continue for Southie through the winter. Come on, people, this is the MBTA we are talking about on a regular sunny day it has issues. Our prediction is crowded bus stops with commuters spilling out into the street, bus stops in need of shoveling, buses running behind schedule and gridlock traffic. We hate to be negative but we are realists. We say, expect the worst, hope for the best and keep a sense of humor. Make sure to tweet at us! #SouthieWinter Tuesday’s snowfall was barely anything and the worst is on the horizon because as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones says, “Winter is coming.”
Happy Winter!
