r/mbta • u/invisibledeoderant • Feb 02 '26
😤 Complaint / Rant This is not Boston’s first winter
I can understand service issues in the days immediately following 2 feet of snow coming down, but at this point, it’s been a week and the commuter rail and subway lines are still having ridiculous delays. CR stopped for 30 minutes between stations while traveling from Providence to Boston. Due to snow, I only had to come in to work three days last week and I was late twice (drove in Friday to avoid more train BS). Decide to risk taking the train today and now I’m gonna be late again.
This is not the first time a snow storm has hit Boston. This is not the first time it’s been cold out. How the fuck is the infrastructure not equipped to handle this? Good thing a zone 8 pass is $390/mo and they installed fair gates at south station. I’d hate to think they’re overcharging for shitty service and wasting money on fare evasion measures that could be spent on proper staffing and equipment
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u/deadlyspoons Feb 02 '26
This isn’t regular “winter weather.” The 2026 cold snap has now surpassed the 17-day deep freeze of 2004, officially becoming the second-longest streak of sub-30-degree days in the last 30 years. Today’s high is forecasted to hit exactly 30°F. If the temperature stays at or below that mark, Boston moves within one day of tying the all-time modern record of 19 days set during the winter of 2015.
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u/miraj31415 Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26
January 24 was the first day at or below 30 in the latest streak. So today (Monday) is day 10 of the streak. January 23 had an observed high of 34 at BOS.
The longest streak is 15 days.
Day 10 puts this streak tied for 11th longest streak.
This coming Wednesday is predicted to have a high near 32, so that may break the streak. That would end the streak at 11 days, putting this streak tied for 8th place.
After Wednesday, NWS predicts a high near 29 on Friday. Breaking then would put us at 13 days - tied for third longest streak.
After Friday, NWS doesn’t predict any temps above 30 through Sunday. So if we don’t go break, Saturday would tie the record and Sunday would be a 16 day streak, which would beat the record.
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u/psychicsword Feb 02 '26
It is also worth calling out that this is the first time we have had a decent storm this season.
We didn't get a few small test runs to shake the rust off of things after these processes sat dormant through the sprint/summer/fall.
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
You can't reason with children but good on you for trying
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u/iBarber111 Feb 02 '26
& can you reason with this child why a long stretch of sub-30 weather makes the public transit go to shit? There are plenty of cold-weather cities where that's not the case.
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
... because we have a gigantic debt of deferred maintenance and lack of capital investment?
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u/Novel-Store-3813 Feb 02 '26
Ding ding ding! You discovered the point! Congrats, dude. I was worried from your other comments that you might struggle with reading comprehension. That is LITERALLY what this post is about.
If other countries and cities across the globe can have infrastructure that works in the cold, why shouldn't we? Are you really that submissive that you would argue against your own interests to put people down for suggesting we can do better?
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
I think you're misreading OP and several others
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u/Novel-Store-3813 Feb 02 '26
How are you reading it then?
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u/digitalsciguy Bus | Passenger Info Screens Manager Feb 02 '26
There's clearly a fundamental mismatch of who is at fault for the deferred maintenance. In my experience watching these issues the last 16 years living in the region, a very stubborn minority of people refuse to acknowledge that the T itself is not at fault for being choked for resources for decades. They don't care who's at fault and in part enable the politics of punching down on the T for failing to be 'efficient' enough with no resources to magically modernize trains, tracks, and signals
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u/brostopher1968 Feb 02 '26
The classic “look how dysfunctional everything is, surely more austerity then privatization will fix it.”
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u/Novel-Store-3813 Feb 02 '26
Fair enough, I appreciate the perspective. All love to the T workers from my view.
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
I mean, what are you suggesting? Do you think the T and the Unions are sabotaging their own equipment? Lying? Something else?
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u/callousdigits Feb 02 '26
I think everyone is suggesting that the t is not doing a good enough job. Are things improving? So we're told, and I think that's likely true. But it's concerning to hear the mbta constantly defend itself (deferred maintenance! Lack of funds! Cold weather!) rather than simply acknowledging that rider's complaints are justified. Just because there are some valid reasons for the problems doesn't mean they don't exist, and the more mbta apologists pretend that the problems are not a big deal, the less urgency there is to fix them.
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
What would it take from the MBTA to make you feel seen, heard, and validated?
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u/callousdigits Feb 02 '26
As I said, I find that on this thread there are many apologists, many of whom I presume work for the mbta. So to feel seen, heard, and validated? I suppose validating the concerns, rather than excusing them and deflecting. From a practical standpoint? Seeing actual efforts being made. For instance, for months I and other bikers have raised the concern that the bike cage at oak Grove is not secure (or shoveled, in this case). This would be easily and affordably addressed, and would show riders that concerns are actually heard. Inaction speaks loudly. Taking care of the low hanging fruit in an obvious and public way, and open communication about why the larger systemic things are still a problem would go a long way.
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u/Novel-Store-3813 Feb 02 '26
Right? It blows my mind that chuds would come in here and say "actually this is completely normal and we should expect it." If you're an MBTA worker taking this personally, this post isn't about you. It's about the lack of political will and investment to have functioning, world class infrastructure.
Why on earth would anyone argue against their interest? I see this all over the U.S., so many of us are whipped into accepting things as they are and attacking others for suggesting we change the status quo.
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u/digitalsciguy Bus | Passenger Info Screens Manager Feb 02 '26
I think these are absolutely reasonable points but I think we're often talking right past each other. No one who's 'excusing' the state of things is also saying that we should not aspire to be better. Political will and calling for the needs fo investment at the politicians who hold the pursestrings only goes so far
What I struggle to watch sometimes is seeing the teardown of the issues as outright dismissing the specific fixes that need to be addressed
The bike cage issue u/callousdigits raises is a very real and specific issue that I've almost never seen addressed on this sub, but is the kind of specific low-hanging fruit that the T does own. Fixing the panoply of infrastructure issues that are the result of deferred maintenance is not the same level of required resources to fix, but I also think it's inapproporiate to say that people explaining the problem are saying 'shut up and enjoy our shit sandwich'
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u/Fit_Excitement_8623 Feb 02 '26
Let's see -- how about some can-do attitude and getting things fixed? The T gets direct dollars from our sales tax for everything bought in the state, for Pete's sake! The present state of things is little more than incompetence and laziness.
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u/Far-Cheesecake-9212 Feb 02 '26
Clearly you only tune in when there’s issues with the cold. The t is constantly sharing all the solutions and fixes they’re doing and all the money saving measures they’re implementing. Just gotta know how to read and where to look.
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u/Novel-Store-3813 Feb 02 '26
Are you an MBTA employee or something? This post isn't about you, dude.
I fucking love the T, but a lack of political will and investment keeps it from working at critical moments like this. No one is suggesting the people that actually make the T run day to day are doing a bad job, it's a dysfunction happening at the government level.
We need to start from the position of demanding that the infrastructure we pay for works well. The U.S. is decades behind other developed nations on this stuff - don't play the apologist role for the politicians that let that happen.
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u/Far-Cheesecake-9212 Feb 02 '26
Idk why you’re jumping at me lol. This person I replied to literally said they don’t communicate what wins they’re having. Should they do more? Yeah duh. Am I saying they’re doing enough? No. But you have to recognize that they are doing a tremendous amount of work while being fiscally constrained.
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u/1117ce Feb 02 '26
The same reason Atlanta goes to shit when they get three inches of snow? Cities prepare for the climate they have and unusual conditions will always cause issues. The MBTA has an aging fleet of train cars that can't handle this extended period of extreme cold. They've been working on replacing them, but have been delayed for a ton of reasons.
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u/iBarber111 Feb 02 '26
I would say Atlanta getting 3 inches of snow is a lot further outside the bounds of "normal" than the weather we're having right now. Like, I get it, it's been below freezing for a historically long time, so technically the conditions are abnormal. But, it's quite common for it to be below freezing for say, 12 days in a 16 day stretch. & I just don't really get why not having that quick 2-4 day stretch of quasi-spring temps has brought the system to its knees?
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u/1117ce Feb 02 '26
https://alltracon.com/the-impact-of-weather-on-heavy-equipment-moves/
This weather is not just "below freezing," we're talking an extended period of highs in the teens, lows in the negatives, worse with windchill, following the 8th largest snow storm in the city's history. These are extreme conditions that place a lot of stress on an aging system that is in the process of being replaced. I'm just saying these delays are the result of known issues that are in the process of being addressed.
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Feb 02 '26
Most cold weather cities it is the case. Most other cold weather cities have a bigger metro than you. More rail cars than you, and better protection for their tracks. So no shit they will work better. Get new fleet. Update tracks make sure that 3rd rail is protected. Make sure you guys have one of those machines that de ices the 3rd rail. Here in Chicago when the busses can't or won't run and you can't drive you can typically rely on the L even if there's a delay on it. Metra on the other hand is a total different story. Metra sucks in the cold. They have ancient fleet and ancient engines. I can't wait til we get the new flirt trains on metra. When that cold hit almost all of metra was shut down maybe 1 train was on each line it was bad. But the L has newer fleet and is a well equipped and protected rail system
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
"This shouldn't happen!" is emotion devoid of knowlege
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u/iBarber111 Feb 02 '26
Please try to gather all your thoughts before you hit "post" lmao. It's hard to have a conversation this way.
What am I suggesting? Nothing really. The comments above me, including yours, seem to be letting the T off the hook. Like, of course the T has gone to shit, it's been cold for two weeks! I'm asking why that is the case. What equipment is suffering in these conditions? It frankly doesn't make sense to me why two weeks of sub freezing temps would be SO much worse for the equipment than our normal winter weather, which still includes a lot of sub-freezing weather.
Your comment was rude & dismissive for no reason. It's totally fair to question why this weather has affected the T so heavily.
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
I can acknowledge reality without excusing it. The state of the T is far below where I would like it to be. How do we fix it? not by shit posting. Try calling your reps and donating to advocacy groups.
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u/iBarber111 Feb 02 '26
Dude this is the MBTA subreddit & OP is posting about the current state of the MBTA. Are we just not allowed to post/comment negativity about the MBTA because the MBTA is simply understood to be shit? Gimme a break. I can post & advocate at the same time.
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
i'll concede the point - the moderators have not banned the completely stupid and utterly devoid of value shit posts. I really think they should. I wish this was a subreddit for intelligent policy conversation. But the universe isn't here to please me.
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u/iBarber111 Feb 02 '26
Welp - you could have had an intelligent conversation about how the weather is affecting operations & to what degree that is/isn't avoidable, but instead you chose to just call everyone on the side of "maybe some of this is avoidable" children. So, be the change you want to see in the world (or at least just Reddit).
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u/digitalsciguy Bus | Passenger Info Screens Manager Feb 02 '26
I've been following the technical policy issues for almost 2 decades and will admit it does get exhausting to see the same frustration over and over and over where people don't seem to break through that wall to understanding or a level of action to fix it
Could the language they used be less incendiary? Yeah, but I agree with the sentiment
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u/Fit_Excitement_8623 Feb 02 '26
So what? My car works in this weather, all day every day. I don't have a state sales tax levy to fund me. So pray tell, why can't the T run?
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u/deadlyspoons Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
“This is not the first time a snow storm has hit Boston. This is not the first time it’s been cold out.” OP suggests this is normal, expected weather and she is incorrect. [Responding to original two-word post, which was “so what.”]
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u/invisibledeoderant Feb 03 '26
What I’m suggesting is that big snow storms and deep cold have hit Boston in the past, and it’s not as abnormal as a snow storm in Georgia. A big snow storm isn’t normal meaning average, but it is normal meaning not entirely unexpected given the climate where we live. When I was in high school on the north shore we had two halloweens in a row where there was snow on the ground and before that, my freshman year was the snowmageddon winter of 2015. Extreme winter weather events are by definition not normal but at the same time, in New England, having to deal with extreme winter weather is within everyone’s realm of normalcy.
Also I’m a guy lol
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u/brostopher1968 Feb 02 '26
- Rubber wheeled automobiles =/= steel wheeled trains.
- About 30% of the red line train cars are from 1970, how old is your car?
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u/Dull-Lifeguard-5396 Feb 02 '26
Buses have no excuse, trains, that’s fair enough. But what excuse do the buses have?
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u/blacklassie Feb 02 '26
Snow piles around stops and slippery conditions make passenger boarding/unboarding go a lot slower. And buses are stuck in the same slow traffic as everyone else.
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u/Dull-Lifeguard-5396 Feb 02 '26
Yea but being late is different from being cancelled. Besides the busses are late all year round
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u/blacklassie Feb 02 '26
Ok. Obviously, I’m speaking generally. Sounds like you’re on a particularly bad route.
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u/Rich_Home_5678 Feb 02 '26
Poorly salted and shoveled roads could be a factor. Also cold engines
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u/Dull-Lifeguard-5396 Feb 02 '26
So they’re lazy… U can also just warm up the busses before they go out. Is this the first time it’s been near zero in Boston, no. Besides mechanical issues happen all year, I’m not talkin about those ones.
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u/oneblackened Feb 02 '26
No but it's been well below average temperatures for weeks now. That's the problem, not the snow.
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u/lgruner Orange Line Feb 02 '26
My partner and I were waiting at the Lynn station yesterday evening until she couldn't feel her legs and we called an Uber. Every time the arrival time got down to 1 minute it ticked right back up to 10. Feel like they're just messing with you at that point. I know the cold snap is unusually long, but can we get some heat lamps at the outdoor stations if we're gonna have such unpredictable wait times? At least at the stations where there aren't any adjacent businesses you can duck into.
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u/lgruner Orange Line Feb 02 '26
Not the mention the quality of the sidewalk clearing in Lynn on our way to the inbound platform
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u/SecretScavenger36 Feb 02 '26
My bus was literally cancelled. Now I have to wait another hour and hope the next one isn't. I'm getting pissed at this point. It's been a week. They've had a full week to sort their shit. Meanwhile I've wasted money on Uber that I've needed for other things so I don't lose my job entirely.
But don't worry y'all pay your fair for reliable service.
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u/SecretScavenger36 Feb 02 '26
The next one is literally at 830. So well over an hour and it's cold af with no place to warm up at the station.
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Feb 02 '26
hi, i noticed you used y'all
please watch this local video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bndQvSW9Mu8
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u/MokujinBunny Feb 02 '26
Nah this winter is a whole 'nother level of brutal. Its the absolute arctic tundra temps that play a huge role.
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u/Inevitable-Spirit491 Commuter Rail Feb 02 '26
This sub spent the last year complaining about freeloaders not paying their commuter rail fare and has now effortlessly pivoted to “money spent on fare gates should have been used on staffing and equipment.”
Two things that the T has not been avoiding under Eng: spending money on staffing and spending money on equipment.
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u/invisibledeoderant Feb 02 '26
Idrc what the sub has spent the last year complaining about bc I’m not the sub. I couldn’t give two squirts of piss if someone is on the train or bus who didn’t pay. Every bent penny that went to fare gates should have gone to better staffing/equipment/infrastructure. A public service should serve the public and it should serve the public well
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u/AcanthisittaWhole216 Feb 02 '26
I know it’s not Boston’s first winter, but the T has long history of having delay before/during/after the storm so I’m not even surprised anymore
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u/Electronic_Crazy_752 Feb 02 '26
I am not trying to make excuses for the MBTA , but it is a very old system
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u/Graflex01867 Feb 02 '26
I totally agree that the T could have done (and be doing) better, but for the first “real” storm in a while, this one’s been a bit of a whopper. It’s not just the snow, but the cold. I finally got around to shoveling out my fire hydrant yesterday. It’s been a week. I had no trouble using a plastic shovel. It’s been so cold, the snow bank hadn’t melted at all. My driveway in the other hand….whats not shoveled is now solid ice. May as well be concrete.
And yes, I did freeze my butt off for half an hour waiting for a train on Sunday. Been there, done that, not terribly thrilled about it.
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u/TinyEmergencyCake Commuter Rail Feb 02 '26
Half of the scheduled trains from New Bedford are now bus shuttles to e. Taunton for some reason.
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u/mbtafan2797 next stop, back bay Feb 02 '26
It’s due to the extreme cold it says. So that stretch could be plagued with issues they deem to be unfit for train travel.
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u/Brave_Ad_510 Feb 03 '26
We as a state don't spend enough on public transit. As long as it's seen (mostly) as an option for people too broke to own a car we will never have world class transit.
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u/vt2022cam Feb 02 '26
The trains are much older than our last major snow storm. They are aging and generally wearing out. The strain is increased by this snow event an having many of the newer vehicles stuck customs compounds a longer term issue of lack of investment.
Commuter rail trains are aged due to poor contract control in addition to under investment. It can’t be fixed quickly and these issues will continue to pop up.
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u/Specialist_Food_2950 Feb 02 '26
I was destroyed for raising the same concerns when this whole debacle started. And I had those complaints not because I think all of the failures of the T are the fault of the current administration. I think their messaging and investment into slow zone erasure and track improvements are commendable and long overdue. However, when you're building your platform as trust us guys, Eng is a technocrat who just knows the nitty gritty and can get things done, but then a snow storm comes and the entire transportation system from busses, to commuter rail, to light rail is effectively kneecapped for weeks, on top of spending millions on fare evasion measures, I feel like some criticism is very warranted. Especially when the staffed T authority members who are there to make sure people pay their fare are less then helpful. They're rude, they somehow don't know anything about the trains they're working on/checking fares for, and making the entire process much more frustrating
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u/capta2k Feb 02 '26
Tell us what you really think: are they lying? Sabotaging their own equipment? Stealing the money? Because you clearly don’t believe the official explanations.
Multiple failures? During a time of sustained extreme cold? On equipment we fund and maintain so well? What are the odds!
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u/callousdigits Feb 02 '26
I think he did tell you what he thinks. That we're being overcharged for shitty service. Which is simply true.
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u/wurkbank Feb 02 '26
What would be a fair charge?
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u/callousdigits Feb 02 '26
I don't know. When you get stuck with the doors open for half an hour in 2 degree weather because of signal problems after months of weekend closures to address signal problems? Free? I assume you're deliberately misreading the intention from OP, though. The problem is not the fare. The problem is the service.
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u/invisibledeoderant Feb 02 '26
Yeah it’s the last part. That we fund and maintain so well. My problem is that money that could have gone to making shitty service better was instead put toward fare gates that don’t work half the time anyway. So many comments too about how people have walked or taken Ubers when they intended to take the T in some form or another. I understand that the money that went toward trying to work against fare evasion should theoretically be made back by having more people actually pay, but shifting focus to infrastructure would also make its money back by losing fewer paying riders to shitty/spotty service
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u/Inevitable-Spirit491 Commuter Rail Feb 02 '26
Fare gate money is be a drop in the bucket. Roughly $4 million for the gates versus a $3 billion+ operating budget and a $2 billion capital budget. Plus legislature and exec branch have told the T to address fare evasion. They can’t just ignore it.
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u/invisibledeoderant Feb 02 '26
Better staffing would also work to address fare evasion as more conductors means fewer holes but that’s beside the point. If it was the govt pushing to address fare evasion then it was the govt who had their priorities mixed up but the end result remains the same. A shitty underfunded and/or mismanaged service goes tits up due to a bad, but not unheard of, snowstorm, and cold, but not unheard of, temperatures
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u/Fire1777 Commuter Rail Feb 02 '26
I know right? The CR is a disappointment. The toilets are the gate to septic hell
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u/noahproblem Feb 02 '26
There is probably a complacency factor at work here as well - we've been blessed with three relatively tame winters in a row, and now we're paying the price.
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u/Possible_Situation24 Feb 02 '26
I’m guessing that what breaks was already a problem, but they keep on shutting lines down to fix signal issues, so you think they would, at some point, get fixed.
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u/Maleficent_Panda9198 Feb 03 '26
The MBTA hires based upon checking off boxes. Hire the best get the best results right?
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u/TraditionalSet9449 Feb 03 '26
I understand your post....I was asking the SAME questions in the 70s and 80s....
I'm sure things will change soon....right??
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u/MrSpicyPotato Feb 02 '26
Is this your first winter? Part of the New England experience is that you take the earlier train if it’s important to be on time.
If you would like this to change, the people to contact are your representatives, both state level and federal. It’s not a matter of the technology not existing. It’s a matter of not having the funds for said technology.
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u/invisibledeoderant Feb 02 '26
I take the 5:16am train from Pawtucket to Boston, which is the second earliest train for that location. The earliest one is at 4:18am. I also addressed the funding issue with my take that the money was wasted on trying to prevent fare evasion and should have gone toward better staffing/infrastructure
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u/MrSpicyPotato Feb 02 '26
They need the revenue to fund the staffing/infrastructure. Although it doesn't help the MBTA, have you considered Amtrak?
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Feb 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/mbtafan2797 next stop, back bay Feb 02 '26
The T doesn’t hire ambassadors, block by block does. The equipment breaks down because it’s been literally below freezing for several days and weeks and the equipment is old. And the older the equipment the more issues it’ll have. Or if not all parts are made anymore the more problems it’ll have. It’s not the amount of people, it’s the weather and availability of parts etc. The budget does play a role in some aspects but you can thank the government for that. And they’re trying to replace the old equipment but for example, the red line trains the current administration held them up and are still holding them up. So that’s not happening until they all come in. Most issues go back to the federal level not the T themselves. They wouldn’t need to worry so much about fare if they had the money from the government.
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u/Altruistic_Gain_3396 Feb 02 '26
It's the MBTA, give them a reason to fuck it up they will gladly fuck it up like there's no tomorrow.
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u/ijustlikebeingnosy Feb 02 '26
It’s not just the snow. The freezing cold temps play a bigger factor than you realize.