Readers: What’s the most unsafe T station in Boston?
Following several incidents, an FTA investigation, and multiple lines shutting down, many passengers may be questioning their safety.
Safety issues have been an ongoing problem for the MBTA following a recent announcement by general manager Phillip Eng that the new Green Line extension will be closing due to a number of repairs.
“The scope of the problem is vast” Eng told The Boston Globe. “The ties, the wood supports that lay perpendicular to the rails, each have two metal plates that hold the rails in place and determine the gauge — or width — between the rails. But the T has found the rails in many areas are too close together,” Eng said according to the Globe.
MBTA
Ever since the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a 90-page report in August, which contained dozens of required actions to take in order to improve its safety measures, Eng has made the safety of both passengers and workers a top priority.
The FTA’s report found the T employs “too few workers,” with “too little training and maintenance, and weak safeguards.” Additionally, the report found the T’s long-term projects came at the expense of day-to-day operations and safety.
This report came after the FTA began an investigation of the T in April, which came following several safety incidents; including the death of a man that month whose arm got stuck in a Red Line passenger door that didn’t function properly, and a Green Line crash the summer before which resulted in dozens of passengers being taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.
Making matters worse, a recent MassINC poll surveyed 1,000 residents who take the T, and found that “70% have felt unsafe at least once or twice due to the condition of the trains, buses, stations, or other infrastructure.”
The poll was conducted in August, and released soon after the FTA ordered the T to make immediate changes to its safety measures, after workers were nearly struck by trains four times during the month of August.
However, safety concerns among T passengers are not a new phenomenon. In May, many readers shared they’re second-guessing riding the T following a series of incidents where passengers’ safety were put in jeopardy.
According to a Reddit post on r/Boston from 2019, users discussed which T stations they believed were the best and worse for passengers.
One user noted they “particularly disliked Chestnut Hill Ave” on the B branch of the Green Line in Brighton.
The user described the station as “literally two narrow strips of raised asphalt in the middle of the road, that are barely wide enough for an average sized person to stand on.”
“It doesn’t feel safe at all with cars whizzing by,” the user added.
We want to know: Do you have safety concerns at MBTA stations in Boston?
Tell us which MBTA stop makes you feel the most unsafe, and why. Share with us the form below or e-mail us at [email protected].
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