RIDERS TO MBTA: ‘STOP LYING TO US!’
People not happy with service or communication
T riders — outraged by the MBTA’s claim that a Red Line train was only briefly delayed Monday while they say they were trapped in suffocating heat — now say they can’t trust the MBTA.
One tweeter, Tim Blank, cited the Herald’s report about the medical emergency that tied up the Braintree line during the morning rush on Monday and wrote, “@MBTA spokesperson says yesterday’s medical emergency only waited ‘about’ 10 min before getting help. THIS IS A LIE! I was on that train, and yesterday’s live tweets confirm she waited 25 min. Stop lying to us, MBTA!”
A Twitter user named Hopesmomma wrote, “I was at #MBTA #NorthQuincy on the platform and it was definitely 25 minutes. They lie like rugs! I hope the person who fainted is okay.”
The MBTA, on its Twitter account, initially had said the branch was experiencing delays of up to 20 minutes due to a person requiring medical assistance on a train at North Quincy.
The T then issued a statement later on Monday, saying, “As a train was departing North Quincy Station around 9:10 a.m., it was reported that the emergency brake was pulled by a customer. Upon immediately investigating, an official found that a different customer was ill, the train was backed back into the station, and the ill customer was immediately met by emergency personnel to assist. The passenger was assisted off the train by EMS at about 9:20 a.m.”
T spokeswoman Lisa Battiston told the Herald in a statement Tuesday that the T had gotten the sick passenger off the train at 9:20, but it took longer to get the rest of the train up to the platform to let everyone else get on and off of it.
Riders on Monday also complained of sweltering heat — though the MBTA claimed there were no reports of the air-conditioning failing.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s office and the Department of Transportation both simply referred back to the T’s initial statement when asked about it and the lack of people’s faith in the transit agency.
Holbrook resident Juanita Gelpi told the Herald on Tuesday that her daily Red Line trips include delays “all the time,” and she doesn’t trust the T.
“They will say whatever they think people will want to hear,” Gelpi said.
The Red Line continues to be plagued by problems following a major derailment last month, when a car heading south on the Braintree line at JFK/UMass jumped the tracks and demolished several signal bungalows. The T has told riders that the heavy damage to the signal system in the area will cause continued problems, and that the arrival times of trains as displayed on the boards may not be accurate.
When asked if the T could reliably get him to his destination, Sean Leaver, standing outside the Braintree T station said, “Yeah, just not on time.”
Ryan James, a Quincy man whose Twitter bio says his account will be “ranting” about the T, wrote, “There is no transparency about the severity of issues the MBTA faces and no sense of urgency in fixing them. They know commuters really have no other options, so they don’t care.”
Kiril Dubrovsky of Marsh- field rides the Red Line from Braintree to Alewife every day, which he said takes at least an hour.
“It raises my blood pres- sure sitting on the thing, waiting,” said Dubrovsky, adding that he can’t trust the MBTA. “There’s a lot of greased palms and old boy politics in the past. I want someone to take the onus, take the reins, and fix it.”