The state of the MBTA has become the focus of anger and frustration surrounding the weather. The frustration seemed to grow with the snow piles Tuesday, as the MBTA took the dramatic step of stopping all rail service to clear snow of the tracks.
I was among those trying to take the remaining limited bus service.
Boston’s downtown buses were busy and well occupied throughout the day. But out in the city’s neighborhoods, many fewer people were taking the bus than normal.
There was no one at the bus stop at Commonwealth and Washington Streets in Brighton during the morning rush hour — when there'd normally be a ton of people.
There was no one — even though this stop offered an amenity I came to realize was much-sought by bus riders: It isn't separated from the street by a 4-foot-high mountain of snow that had to be scaled in order to board a bus.
At a stop a few miles away there was no such luck.
"Look at this," said Kenneth Williams. "That should be plowed. You've got little old ladies trying to get across here! They can't jump over that snowbank. Or they fall. Get run over."
Williams was waiting alone for the 65 bus — which gets a lot of people to work in the Longwood Medical Area. Williams takes it to a part-time job as an admissions coordinator at a detox facility, and says it's pretty reliable.
"I don't have no choice," he said. "This is my only means of transportation. So I got to take what's given out."
Williams rips open the velcro cinching his coat to his wrist and looks at his watch. He says the bus should be here by now. They're not happy at work when he's late.
"Management looks at me like, what's up, again? again?" he said. "So that makes me look bad."
Williams says he should get good service for the fare he pays, and he's called the MBTA in recent days to complain. MBTA general manager Beverly Scott needs to be more aggressive, Williams says.
"She needs to get her act together," he said. "I don't like her attitude."
The MBTA needs to stop wasting money by repairing ancient equipment, Williams says, and instead dig into its pockets or get a loan for new equipment.
"There's going to be some changes, because the governor — the situation going on now — it's not making him look too good," he said.
Williams was raised in Roxbury and has a lot of family in the area, so he's committed to staying at least for the year and a half he has left before retirement. But everyone he knows wishes they could leave.
"I hear a lot of people saying, 'This is it, I'm moving to Florida,'" he said. "Especially older people: 'I'm out of here.' If I had some money, I would go myself."
Waiting with Williams was Pete Zuhisin, who checked the ETA on the NextBus app on his iPhone.
"From when NextBus says the bus is actually going to be here and when it actually gets here, it's probably about 15 minutes off or so," Zuhisin said.
Unfortunately, the only thing people have to do while they wait is check in with their smartphones. That means taking their gloves off.
"I just leave them off now, because, you know, waiting for that text, I guess," he said.
Zuhisin works in a lab and is from Ohio — and probably consequently says the cold isn't so bad. It's the waiting that gets to him, not knowing how long it'll last. And the NextBus app just adds another twist to the knife.
"You know the bus is coming, but it's not here yet," he said. "I don't know if it's better than not knowing. It's probably better than not knowing, but not by much. Actually, that's my bus right there."
After a wait of about 50 minutes in all for me, the 65 bus finally comes and Zuhisin and Williams get on. And then Zuhisin abruptly turns around and gets out.
"I forgot my wallet," he said.
Luckily his home wasn't far away. But that's what a winter like this does to you, he said later, it throws you off your game.
