I like that Brian McGrory makes a practice of calling attention to notable incidents that aren’t getting much media play. His column this week covers the 2 1/2 hour Red Line breakdown from Wednesday night (which, thanks to my first time homebuyers class, I blessedly didn’t get caught up in). I give the passengers a lot of credit for not railing against the T when they could tell workers were trying to get things moving the entire time they were stuck underground. But to be 200 feet outside the station, and not let the passengers disembark for two hours? It sounds unacceptable. Add to this the fact that there is NO cell phone service on the Red Line, and you can imagine how many family members or child care providers were stuck wondering where these passengers were. Given that we have an aging fleet and no money to make meaningful upgrades — not to mention a lack of willingness on the part of the public to pay more taxes to fix transit problems — perhaps the better approach would be prioritize cell service, which other subway lines have, so that these emergencies don’t turn into crises for families who rely on the Red Line every day.
Read Brian McGrory’s column here.
