By Lisa Randall
From a snowstorm on Halloween weekend to a high of 65 degrees Tuesday, Boston weather has been fluctuating between extremes this fall.
Despite the unusual weather, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) is already anticipating severe storms and planning ahead. The MBTA announced Nov. 3 on its website that it will run fewer trains and buses during harsh storms this winter.
While this will mostly affect commuter rails, buses and trains will also experience limited schedules in certain instances.
“I think that’s an awful idea,” middler business major Caroline Smith said. “The winter is when people rely on the T the most.”
Fortunately for commuters, it will take more than a few flurries to stop or slow transportation on the city’s subway and bus system.
“During routine weather, including cold and moderate snow, the MBTA will operate regular schedules,” according to the MBTA website. “In some instances, [it] may operate buses on snow routes or have minor delays.”
However minor the changes in the T’s operating schedule may be, the effects will be widespread, as the subway system is the sole means of transportation for many Boston citizens, including Northeastern students on co-op.
“A lot of the time I found myself calling my boss saying I’d been waiting for the T for 20 minutes,” Smith said.
She spent last winter on co-op in Cambridge, and used both the orange and green lines – when they were fully operating, that is. Though she said her boss was understanding, the unreliability made for a less-than-ideal commute and other employers may not be as understanding.
Many worry that if the reliability of the subway lines are lacking as is, the winter months will take a toll on the system’s ease and convenience as a mode of transportation.
Freshman Rebecca Jurbala is already anticipating how this winter’s T service will affect her punctuality at work.
“I already walk because the T is unreliable,” she said. “This winter I definitely think it would be even less dependable as a way for me to get to work on time.”
Jurbala’s commute using the MTBA would entail walking almost a mile to the Hynes Convention Center station and taking the C Branch of the green line to St. Mary’s stop. While the mile walk Jurbala will make to the station is an undesirable arrangement for snow and winter weather, she may not have any other options.
“As a student, I have limited time to get to work as is,” she said. “I don’t have time to wait for the T all day.”
For those like Jurbala planning to rely on the T this winter, the MBTA has launched a new website, mbta.com/winter to provide commuters with service alerts and regular updates. These aim to ease the inconvenience of fewer trains and buses. Such alerts will include shuttles replacing certain lines and buses straying from their regular course for alternate “snow routes.”
Though the effects are yet to be felt by commuters, the MTBA’s overall regulation of the reduction of service may combat the unpredictability of winter weather, leaving less students standing out in the cold, unsure of when their train will arrive. While running less frequently, riders will at least be in the know.
“I just don’t see how that would fix anything,” Smith said.
