Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Tell us: How would you grade the MBTA?
By Friday, the MBTA will be slow zone-free for the first time in over two decades. How would you grade the transit agency?
The seemingly impossible will become possible this week, as the MBTA’s speed restrictions are set to come to an end for the first time in over two decades, according to General Manager Phil Eng.
“We’re working on the last few restrictions on the Green Line,” he said on WCVB’s “On the Record” Sunday. “The system will be restriction-free for the first time in over 22 years — that’s as far back as our records go.”
The last slow zones will be lifted on the Green Line on Friday after a two-week service suspension. Eng vowed last year to eliminate the nearly 200 subway slow zones across the transit system by the close of 2024.
Advertisement:
The goal was part of his ambitious Track Improvement Program to update the T’s aging infrastructure by repairing and replacing miles of tracks and installing new signal and power systems.
And the plan has been a success story, despite criticism and some major setbacks – with even a week and a half to spare before the end-of-year deadline.
It’s been one hell of a year for Eng and the MBTA, to put it not-so lightly.
From near-miss safety incidents and pressure from the feds, to train derailments, service disruptions, and stations (literally) crumbling, there have been many challenges Eng and riders alike have faced since he began his post in April 2023.
Advertisement:
But despite it all, Boston.com readers gave Eng an “A” for his first year with the MBTA when we asked in April.
“He inherited an unmanageable mess,” reader Chris from Somerville’s Winter Hill neighborhood said. “Overall, the dude has done yeoman’s work and has my vote for local ‘Person of the Year’ in 2024.”
As the year and slow zones come to a close, we want to know: How would you grade the MBTA?
Tell us by filling out the form or e-mailing us at [email protected], and your response may appear in a future Boston.com article.
Sorry. This form is no longer available.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com