Well, this week has demonstrated that Boston just doesn’t function well after a blizzard. There’s been confusion from various authorities, but the biggest problem is that the city can’t handle the number of cars and transit commuters it needs to in order to function even at 2/3 speed. As a T rider, I like many others have found the commute especially taxing this week. The T’s usual problems (esp. lack of communication to its riders) were only compounded. And then there the understandable technical problems, as roads were insufficiently plowed and signals and switches frozen. The upshot has been an extra 45 minutes tacked on to each ride.
But my accumulated grumpiness had to take a pause after hearing the sad news that a T worker died in an accident on the Orange Line last night. Perhaps the snow drift from an adjacent track was freak and unpredictable, but I find it astonishing that workers rush in to repair tracks between train runs. There seems to be perpetual conflict and suspicion between the MBTA and its riders, but it’s moments like this that should make riders realize that delays are often despite the best efforts of MBTA employees.
Next time, perhaps Menino will be a little less eager to berate commuters into using public transit. At least until we figure out how to devote resources to snow transit as surely as we do snow removal.
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