State of emergency at noon; T shuts at 3:30 p.m.

I read the article. For each person stuck on a train how many made it home that day thanks to public transportation? How many of them were happy to risk the chance of being stuck on a train in exchange for the ability to not have to sleep on the floor of their office or on the the street when the work in the thousands of jobs which are considered "critical".

Faced with the possibility of a big storm the MBTA can do one of two things:

1. Warn customers of delays, some being possibility long delays. But bring in extra staff and emergency plans. It's not like Boston hasn't seen snow before. This isn't a class 1 hurricane or a tsunami, or earthquake or anything else so extreme and strange. They should consider public transportation to be a critical service much like police, fire, and plowing.

2. Give up and preemptively close the whole thing down.

It's sad that people are satisfied with critical services being shut down during normal winter weather. Call me a bastard if you must but I think public transportation in Boston should be able to find a way of dealing with snow that doesn't involve pulling the plug and going home.

as I recall, on the Red Line, there are no plows for the tracks and it needs to run continuously through the storm to keep the tracks clear on the sections that run above ground.

I understand that the ped areas around the stations and platforms might not be cleared when the crux of the storm hits, but there is no reason to restrict passenger access to trains that are already running if the exterior conditions do not warrant it!

Some places of employment can't close. Like certain jobs that involve caring for people or property.

You are obviously "non essential". You may want to thank those that are essential to be taking care of business while you are home.
Just because a storm hits doesn't mean people don't get sick, homes catch on fire and even IT positions that are 24/7.

Not everyone has a cubicle job.

The MBTA infrastructure was actually worse in many ways during the 78 storm compared to today. The Green Line was still mostly very worn PCC cars and some of the problematic Boeing LRVs, half of the Blue Line fleet dated to 1924, the commuter rail fleet was worn out Budd cars on the north side and coaches from the 1920-40s on the south side.

The entire surface portion of the MBTA was shut down during the Feb 78 storm. Limited service was operated underground.
Here are some of the low lights from the two big 78 storms (a lot of people forget that there was a huge storm on January 20th 78, followed by the even larger storm Feb 6-7 78.

During the January 78 storm:
-PCCs were snowbound on the B, C, and E line requiring shuttle buses. Type 3 snowplows derailed several times while attempting to reopen the lines.
-Two Orange Line trains collided at Sullivan Sq. injuring 29
-Two Red Line trains on the Quincy Line (didn't go to Braintree yet in 78) stalled out in heavy snow near Freeport St. Dorchester. People (over 1000 passengers) were trapped on the trains for hours until the fire department was able to cut holes in fences and evacuate them.
-The MBTA had to cut power in the Orange and Red Line tunnels downtown because people began walking through the tunnels.

The February storm saw PCCs again snowbound on the B, C, and E lines and in this storm Wonderland Station was flooded (it din't reopen until some time in March 78). Service was curtailed on all lines, and initially resumed in the underground segments only. All bus service was cancelled. The storm ended on a Tuesday, and full service on the subway and trolley lines did not resume until the following Monday. Lines reopened gradually as they were dug out.

With that historical context in mind, the decision now to have a planned shut-down does not seem unreasonable. In 78, police and fire departments assisted hospitals, nursing homes, etc in getting staff in and out. I would not be surprised if that happens now, if the storms does turn out to be as predicted.

I understand people get warm, but she was standing directly behind the governor, in full camera range, and it was distracting and unprofessional.