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‘Please fix the T’: Riders voiced frustration after a power issue delayed multiple MBTA lines during the morning commute
“Have you considered people need to go to work?”
Disgruntled T riders vented online Tuesday after a power issue caused delays on several MBTA lines during the morning commute.
Around 7:30 a.m., a power surge caused signal issues on all of the MBTA’s rapid transit lines and affected power in some of its stations, T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said in an email.
“Out of an abundance of caution, all trains were directed to stand by and await clearance to move again,” he said.
MBTA operations transmissions recorded by Broadcastify and reviewed by The Boston Globe indicated some passengers were stuck in a stalled elevator at the Copley Square station.
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Boston Fire Department spokesman Brian Alkins confirmed to the Globe that firefighters “did remove a woman from the elevator at Copley MBTA.” He said firefighters arrived at 7:55 a.m. and cleared the scene by 8:05 a.m.
The power surge happened when a transformer failed and tripped a circuit breaker at the MBTA power facility in South Boston, according to Pesaturo. The cause of the transformer failure is under investigation, he said.
Power was restored after about 10 to 15 minutes, with the signal systems coming back online approximately 25 to 30 minutes later, Pesaturo said.
Customers were kept in the loop via MBTA alerts, Twitter, and in-station and onboard announcements, he added.
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However, several impacted riders took to Twitter to voice their frustrations with the T, with some pointing to the lack of specifics in the agency’s initial tweets.
“More details needed. Do better,” one person wrote in response to the agency’s tweet first announcing the power issue.
Another added: “Need more transparency than this…..”
One person said the lights at the Red Line’s Harvard Station went off “for a bit.” The lights also appeared to be out at the Green Line’s Arlington Station around 8 a.m.
“[One hundred-plus] people just standing around at Malden with no updates on when any trains will arrive,” one person wrote in reply to the MBTA’s tweet. “Have you considered people need to go to work?”
Several users tagged Gov. Maura Healey in their complaints.
“Please fix the T, @maura_healey,” one person implored. “Please.”
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