MBTA Riders Sound Off: Delays, False Service Alerts

By Mike Bednarsky (Patch Staff)

Photo courtesy of Corey Ledin.

It’s no secret that the MBTA has a long way to go before passengers’ transit concerns are quelled. For starters, winter isn’t even over yet.

Back-to-back days of acceptable transit service was enough for riders to feel mildly hopeful. Monday, Feb. 23 and the following day were fine. Wednesday was not.

False commuter alerts compromised the Boston bustle. The confusion led to speculation that the company’s system was hacked. Boston.com reported that MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the error was a technical issue.

A delayed rush hour train on the Red Line sparked a flood of various MBTA complaints on Twitter:

There’s even a Twitter account, with the handle @lolMBTA, dedicated to recent MBTA pitfalls:

Riders are finding a way to get updates from other users as a silent treatment to the MBTA. The MBTA Ninja app aims to warn T riders of delays or service alerts by crowdsourcing updates. Blue Line updates were just added to the company’s arsenal:

One thing is for certain: the turning of the February calendar page will result in a collective sigh of relief for all of New England.