MBTA Struggles To Keep Up With Bruins Fan Demand
BOSTON (CBS) - As an anticipated crowd of one million fans tried to make their way to the Bruins Stanley Cup victory parade Saturday, getting there proved to be a real challenge.
Parade-goers were urged to use public transportation to make their way into Boston, but unless you were up and out the door bright and early, you were likely one of many stuck waiting at local train and bus stops.
"We have enormous crowds on the MBTA today," T general manager Richard Davey told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 on Saturday morning.
"We are running rush hour service on our subway system and that is running well. On the commuter rail we actually had some shadow trains out to pick up passengers that might have been left behind by full trains."
Michael Dwyer managed to make it to the parade with his kids. They took a bus from Revere, and were among the lucky ones.
"About fifty percent of the stops, they just kept cruising on by the people waiting," Dwyer said. "The bus comes very frequently, but the people are coming in droves."
Dozens of people on Twitter are sharing similar stories of packed busses, subway and commuter rail trains flying right past waiting parade-goers.
- "trains are just flying through Winchester" @OriginalBea
- "greenline announces no stops at Copley. I guess it's too full." @webresults
- "stuck at Anderson Woburn!" @cynthia_maria
While most were complaining, some did come to the T's defense.
- "To ppl complaining the #mbta is unprepared: what were they supposed to do? Grow more trains overnight? Shoot annoying fans blocking doors?" @RideLikeCharlie
- "T service is way better than it was for the St. Pattys day parade" @DanMcDs
A major construction project on I-93 in Medford contributed to the need for northern commuters to use the MBTA.
The increased capacity was expected to last into the evening.
"We've got a Red Sox game tonight too," Davey said. "So we'll be running rush hour service through most of the day and then turning our attention after the parade to making sure our Red Sox fans can get out of Fenway tonight as well."
Davey urged anybody looking to take the T into Boston today to check mbta.com for service updates.
