MBTA offers free Red Line service for Tuesday PM commute after earlier derailment
BOSTON - A derailment on the Red Line early Tuesday morning forced the MBTA to bring out shuttle buses for several angry and frustrated commuters. To make up for it, the MBTA offered free Red Line service for the evening commute.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said a maintenance vehicle derailed at Park Street around 5 a.m. The T replaced northbound and southbound service between the Harvard and Broadway stations with shuttle buses for the morning rush hour.
Repairs to the track were finished around 10 a.m., normal subway service resumed and the shuttle buses were "phased out," the MBTA said in a brief statement on social media.
There's no word yet on what caused the derailment or if anyone was hurt.
Passengers lined up for several buses outside of the Park Street station. A commuter named Chris told WBZ-TV he was heading to South Station when he had to get off at Park Street. He decided to avoid the shuttle bus.
"I'm going to walk, yeah, it's a nice day," he said, trying to be optimistic.
Free Red Line Service
Service on the Red Line was free from 3 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
"We apologize to our riders affected by this morning's incident involving a piece of track maintenance equipment. Understanding the impact of this issue, the Red Line will be free this afternoon and through the peak evening commute," MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng said in a statement. "While this does not make up for your experiences this morning, we're committed to continuously improving everything we do. This is our duty because we care about the public that we serve."
Auditor's report on MBTA
The derailment comes two days after a new report from the state auditor's office found several issues with the MBTA's frontline customer service team, according to the State House News Service. The report from Auditor Diana DiZoglio said a vendor hired by the MBTA to provide customer service rarely performed enough station inspections and that some of the workers didn't have enough safety and operations training. The MBTA said the auditor's team used a methodology that "negatively skews the data."
For the latest updates on the MBTA's service alerts, visit their website.
