Nope, No "I Think I Can"...

Last Thursday, 2/1, I went into the Boston office for the day.  As I always do I took the MBTA commuter train from Franklin into South Station and from there it's a 2-minute walk to the office.

The ride in on the 6:02AM train was uneventful and arrived on time as scheduled.

The ride out departed on time at 3:20PM but the train started having power issues after the second stop.  At one point we were idle on the tracks between stops for some ~30-minutes. The train was able to eventually limp into the Hyde Park stop, again where we sat for another ~15-minutes or so before we ALL had to deboard.  From there we walked about a quarter mile up and over to the other side of the tracks, where we waited another ~40 for the next scheduled Franklin commuter rail train, another train was NOT sent to pickup the stranded passengers.  Fortunately, it wasn't raining or snowing and not too cold, so could have been worse. Frustrated and hungry I didn't get home till after 6PM and was met by a dancing crossed legged Trixie.  Kudos to her for not having an accident in the house.

Now I understand unforeseen mechanical issues arise, that is not my issue.  Frustrating yes but these things happen.  What IS frustrating was the utter lack of communication by the onboard commuter rail crew as to what was going on, what the delay was, etc.  Also, the typical to be expected canned reply I received from the MBTA when I reached out to them regarding this issue.  They basically told me TFB and deflected my questions and never addressed what their policy is for keeping the on-train commuters informed or why a train was not sent to pick up the stranded.

For those not local and not following along, the MBTA has been riddled with problems and issues the last several years, from ongoing delays, pieces and parts falling from old train station ceilings onto commuters, lengthy repair delays, slowed commute speeds in sections deemed in need or repairs, derailments and on and on, all the while increasing fares.

Yes, the MBTA is a great service for commuting in and out of Boston, so we're fortunate.  However, there is a lot of room for improvements, upgrades and general all around communications.  They suck very much like the USPS!