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Court rules MBTA doesn't have to reimburse commuter-rail riders for missed rides in the winter of 2015
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Comments
Thanks for the quick
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response time.
A big problem with the suit (per opinion)
The plaintiff seemed to think that the delays were based purely on snow removal. Sorry, Ms. Rodriguez, but the problem was with the engines and cars malfunctioning in different ways. If the problem were snow removal, they wouldn't have run any trains.
It was an interesting defense and decision. The T did promise service, and technically, except for a few days, did provide service. Sure it was crappy service, but the trains did run. And by the trains I mean "some of the trains."
I do have to say that service
I do have to say that service on the trains I rode was really, really awful. They didn't even come close to following the reduced schedule. For several months past the last storm. I typically waited 45 minutes to an hour past scheduled time for the train to show up. And the apps/electronic station signs were not at all accurate, so I had to stand in the cold until it actually showed up.
The T never explained what happened. The official word was that they came up with the reduced schedule based on the number of working trains they had. So then why was the reliability so abysmal even for the trains they did have?
But a train showed up
Eventually. Which means that technically service was being provided.
Look, I'm not saying that things went well in Winter of 2015. I'm just saying that the justifications she used in her lawsuit were bad.
Now, if the T were running similar service this week, I think a class action lawsuit would be in order. That said, if you didn't know why the train schedules were out of whack back then, you weren't even trying to pay attention to the news. I'm not even a commuter rail rider, and I can tell you that the new passenger cars were having issues, the brake lines were giving out in the cold, and the older engines were having similar problems related to snow getting in the motors that us strap hangers were dealing with.
Not helpful
Not helpful if you lose your job or don't get paid because the T f****d up.
Act of God, my friend
And I think an employer would be a bit more understanding in this case compared to a typical T snafu (which are well documented here)
Plaintiff didn't lose her job, so the point is moot.
I followed the news closely.
I followed the news closely.
I don't understand why they determined how many trains they could run, and then those trains ran about an hour late. Every single day. Not just during a storm or the next day or two, but months later.
A given train is either fully working or it isn't. When the train finally showed up, it didn't creep along at 10 mph -- it ran at full speed. But there never was any explanation why the schedule was so meaningless.
I don't think you did follow closely
Adam was really good at posting things about the meltdown. The schedules were modified to account for the lost equipment. Eventually, more equipment came back online, and eventually a full schedule was resumed. Since the issue was mainly the trains (signals were affected in the short run, but that was easily resolved) the speed of the working trains was not an issue.
Yes. And I mentioned all of
Yes. And I mentioned all of those facts in my posts above.
I also said how the trains I rode did NOT stick to the reduced schedule.
My point was the trains they were running were going full speed -- they were not limping along due to mechanical issues. So there was no obvious reason why they should have been more than an hour late every single day, but they were.
Overcrowding
More people looking to get on fewer trains means more time at each station. We had this on the Orange Line, too. They went full speed when they were going because they did not have mechanical issues. The other engines were out of service, not going anywhere at all until their mechanical issues were resolved.
Ok, that could be a valid
Ok, that could be a valid explanation.
It would be nice if the T had acknowledged this. It would have been nicer if the alerts/app arrival info had been accurate. It would have been even nicer if they realized that the recovery schedule was wildly unrealistic, and had adjusted it so trains weren't showing up about an hour late every day for months. Or looked for ways to solve the problem, like adding more cars and conductors.
She's out $182?
BFD. How many times has she been waved on by indifferent personnel in her lifetime?
Monthly pass
Assuming she's buying a monthly pass, it doesn't really matter if she's waved on by indifferent personnel. Costs her the same whether she shows the pass or not.
True that
I was suggesting that at a different point in her lifetime, she may have been paying by the ride.