Commuter Rail Riders 'Upset' With Service Before Bruins Parade
BOSTON (CBS) - Beautiful weather and a weekend day brought a record number of people out to the Bruins' parade. Fans anticipated a parking nightmare, but public transportation became a rude awakening.
"As soon as we got on the train it shut down," said Kevin Wiggins, who took the Commuter Rail in from Lawrence. Wiggins and his sister thought they'd have a head start leaving at 9:30 a.m. but said they didn't get to Boston till 2 p.m.
"Had the trains not taken so long, that I was upset about," said Wiggins. "But you live and you learn you know."
Other commuter rail riders reportedly had a less forgiving attitude.
WBZ-TV's Alana Gomez reports.
Mike Brooks says he was lucky enough to get on a packed train leaving from Lowell but their train passed a lot of stops on the way because it was too full.
Photos: Bruins Stanley Cup Parade
"People were pretty upset. We were just driving by and every stop we'd get to this sea of angry black and gold," said Brooks. "People were actually punching the train and everyone was flipping the bird. It was pretty bad"
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said there were a record 120,000 inbound riders on the Commuter Rail Saturday. That's more than the double the 67,000 passengers during an average weekday.
"We ran "super-sized" trains with more coaches to increase capacity. We more than doubled the number of trains that operate on a typical Saturday. We worked very hard to meet the unprecedented demand. It was a tremendous effort by the MBTA and MBCR," said Pesaturo.
Despite the complaints, many riders who left before 8 a.m. reported good service.
