MBTA free for evening commute after morning power outage left passengers stranded
BOSTON - The MBTA offered free rides to subway passengers during the Thursday afternoon commute after a power outage left thousands of commuters stranded that morning.
General Manager Phillip Eng apologized and promised to win back the trust of riders, but some were not in the mood for an apology.
"I didn't even get on at Haymarket and I'm going to walk to work," said Georgia O'Connor, who faced a 35-minute walk on a cold morning. She was among the frustrated, stranded riders who were stuck when the power was impacted on the Orange, Green and Blue lines for three hours.
Jo Au turned around and went home so she could attend a meeting online and then try again.
"It's just a lot of back and forth. I guess I paid for the train fare and have to pay again," said Au.
No train times, no lights with some stations left in the dark and riders using cellphones to illuminate their way until the trains got going again at around 9:30 a.m.
"North Station was dark, the escalators weren't moving and the trains, well, it was rush hour," said Ted Reidy.
The 30-year-old cable was one of seven connected to an electrical substation at North Station. When it failed, safety protocols were triggered and circuit breakers deactivated the others. It left Eng to apologize to the riding public once again.
"I want the public to know that we apologize for the inconvenience to their travel this morning. I know how disruptive that was to them," said Eng.
Riders complaining about a lack of information was also a problem for Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who acknowledges the MBTA is working to make improvements but communication is a key area.
"The concerns are pretty consistent across the board, we just want predictability," said Wu.
With a few hours of free fares, some riders were grateful but still frustrated.
"You're so inconvenienced in the morning, that's the least they can do in the afternoon," said Judy Coughlin.
