Another “win” for MBTA riders?
Just 48 hours after the beautiful announcement that the Orange Line will fully shut down for a month, the T now says it must shut down the brand new part of Green Line north of Government Center for practically a month — an almost incomprehensible double whammy for besieged riders.
And even on the strains which might be nonetheless working, commuters must take care of overcrowded trains which might be working much less continuously due to federal security mandates.
The T on Friday additionally introduced yet one more delay — at the least the third one — for the opening of the a lot ballyhooed Green Line extension to Medford, pushing that again to November on the earliest.
Anyone right here imagine it would actually open then?
This ought to make for some chaotic commutes simply as college students are returning to high school and riders are returning to work after a protracted, sizzling summer time.
The T and the town of Boston nonetheless do not know how the greater than 200 shuttle buses changing the trains will get across the congested metropolis and surrounding communities served by the transit company.
Like a lot of the T, it’s all shrouded in secrecy.
Riders do not know what routes the buses will take and what stops they’ll make. It’s a recipe for a catastrophe.
“I’ve heard and felt that folks wanted bold and decisive action and what we are doing is bold and decisive,” T General Manager Steve Poftak mentioned.
Add idiotic, too.
Maybe extra folks ought to simply make money working from home, as one extremely out-of-touch MBTA official advised.
Riders really haven’t any purpose to imagine something T officers say anymore – in the event that they’re saying something in any respect.
Whether it’s a bus engulfed in smoke, a prepare bursting into flames, a door shutting on a rider’s arm, trains colliding or derailing, or an escalator all of the sudden going into reverse, the T has had fairly a run recently and appears incapable of dealing with the primary precedence of conserving folks secure.
The T isn’t secure, or dependable, or particularly inexpensive for individuals who should take it daily to get to work or faculty or necessary conferences.
It’s so unhealthy that even Sen. Ed Markey has stopped speaking about his Green New Deal and is now demanding the T set up main modifications, like making rides free whereas the Orange Line is shut down.
The historical Markey in all probability hasn’t taken the T because the 70’s however even he can learn the room. Riders are fed up and petrified of the subsequent calamity taking place to them.
The MBTA has misplaced all credibility and must be eradicated.
We’ve had sufficient of Poftak and his $40,000 bonuses on high of his $340,000 annual wage.
Give him one last kiss off and ship him packing.
Same for clearly inept Transportation Secretary Jamey Tesler, who’s in means over his head and made the outrageous declare that shutting down the Orange Line for a month was a “win” for riders.
Sadly, all these accidents and fires and mishaps are nothing new to the T or state Department of Transportation, it goes again to the Mitt Romney period, if not longer.
The T can’t say it’s simply unhealthy luck. It’s mismanagement and ineptitude.
Hard to know at this level who’s extra of a humiliation between Poftak, Tesler and Gov. Charlie Baker.
Fortunately, they’ll all be gone quickly — changed by extra inept appointees from soon-to-be governor Maura Healey.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”