How Satisfied Are You With the Commuter Rail?

Photo by Petroni Media Company

By Charlene Arsenault (Patch staff)

FRAMINGHAM, MA - January tends to be one of the most difficult months to achieve high-performance rates for the commuter rail. Colder weather and first snowfalls can pose issues.

Keolis Commuter Services, which operates the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail system, reported on Thursday that it finished with a 92 percent on-time performance rate for all lines, with some individual lines posting performance between 95 and 97 percent, for the month of January.

Keolis also said that when it adjusted for factors beyond its control, the success rate rose to 94 percent.

“These latest performance figures demonstrate that we can and will continue to improve service and reliability for our passengers,” said Keolis Commuter Services General Manager Gerald C. Francis in a statement. “We’re now focused on going further, improving not only our on-time performance but the service we provide our passengers each and every day.”

The MBTA has experienced a rash of scrutiny that escalated last year when services were suspended duringthe blizzard of 2015.

Shortly thereafter, Beverly Scott, MBTA General Manager, announced she was stepping down in April 11 amid the public backlash over poor transit performance during the snowstorms.

Early in January of this year, the MBTA voted to move forward on two proposals for a fare hike; one would raise fares around 5 percent, the other 10.

And in mid-February, a signal problem forced delays for nearly two days for those rails coming in and out of South Station.