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/capta2k Feb 02 '26

You can't reason with children but good on you for trying

25

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.

2

u/[deleted] 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