While the MBTA works through the summer to get its Red Line back to normal service levels following a derailment last month, the battered public transit system's Blue Line left commuters looking for another way to get to work when it partially shut down Wednesday morning.
The MBTA said the partial shutdown of the Blue Line, which connects downtown Boston to East Boston, Revere and beyond, was due to a power problem near Government Center. The T told passengers on the Blue Line to expect delays and dispatched buses to replace train service during the morning commute peak.
"#BlueLine: Shuttle buses replacing service between Maverick and Bowdoin due to a power problem near Government Center. Please expect delays as buses are dispatched," the MBTA tweeted at 8:11 a.m. Wednesday.
At 9:35 a.m., the T tweeted that Blue Line trains had resumed service "with residual delays of up to 10 minutes due to the earlier power problem." The transit agency said it was phasing out the shuttle buses that it had put in place to move commuters. At 10:09 a.m., the T said normal service had resumed on the Blue Line.
While some T officials dealt with Wednesday's headache on the Blue Line others were monitoring a situation in Burlington, where a small van operating as part of the T's RIDE service got in a crash with another car, sending both drivers and the two passengers of the RIDE van to the hospital.
Burlington police and fire officials said the preliminary investigation "indicates that the driver of the car crossed the double yellow line and struck the passenger bus." The 37-year-old Randolph man driving the RIDE van, a 37-year-old and 61-year-old Woburn women who were his passengers, and the 72-year-old Natick man driving the car were taken to the hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening, police said.
Blue Line passengers took to social media Wednesday morning to air their frustrations with the T.
"Was sitting half in/half out of aquarium for over 20 mins. They finally backed up and let us out. I'm going to be like an hour late for work and gross from sweating in a humid car then walking to the green line," Kim C, or @kimcarv11, posted on Twitter around 8:15 a.m. "Thanks for the fare hike @mbta!"
The Blue Line power problem gummed up the morning commute about five weeks after a derailment that has plunged the Red Line into a summer of delays and just more than two weeks since the T raised fares an average of about 6 percent.
"Translation: the power is restored but expect to wait a long time on hot crowded platforms for a train you may or may not be able to fit into," Twitter user Meri Persisted, or @meriboston5, posted in response to the T's announcement that regular service had been restored.
Rep. Dave Rogers of Cambridge posted on Facebook that he got a text from a constituent who runs a small business and said 10 of her 14 employees had trouble getting to work Wednesday because of problems on the T.
"She says 'I can't run a business like this' -- The time for half measures is over !!! We need a 21st century, efficient, world-class transportation system and its going to take both new dedicated revenue and the best project managers we can find !!," Rogers posted.
As congestion on the roads and unreliable service on public transportation test the patience of commuters and residents, Democratic leaders in the Legislature have named transportation a priority for this session and House Speaker Robert DeLeo indicated that he is open to tax hikes or just about any other policy prescription to address the state's critical transportation needs.
Business groups have increasingly decried the Boston area's public transportation woes as a hindrance to economic growth. Traffic and congestion on the roads make for long and frustrating commutes by car, and the unpredictable nature of public transportation frequently makes workers late to their jobs.
Three weeks ago, Gov. Baker filed emergency legislation seeking $50 million for additional MBTA employees and third party contractors and engineering consultants who would work to expeditue capital improvements. The bill (H 3934) has not moved since it was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.
