BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — With two derailments on the T system within days of each other one city official is echoing the call for a drastic change.
Shortly after a Red Line train jumped the tracks near the JFK/UMass station, Joel Pettigrew made the following suggestion.
(Image Credit: Boston Fire Dept)
"The MBTA should not be able to raise fares again until they have a year without derailments at least," he tweeted.
"Governor Baker and #MAPoli [legislators in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts] should not be able to cut funding to the MBTA if there has been a delay in the last month anywhere on the system. Stop punishing riders now."
Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu agrees.
"It was all I can do to whole back and not throw in some choice words of my own," Wu said to WBZ NewsRadio's Deb Lawler.
"It is incredibly frustrating watching what's happening," She said "Multiple derailments in a span of a week... more than a few months ago and it's not an unusual occurrence anymore for people to be frustrated, stressed out, and just late all the time because of what's happening at the T."
Wu said that the various issues with the MBTA is not sustainable for Boston.
"It's not good our economy or our traffic or our air quality. we have to do something about this," she said. "The issues are just are just too frequent, too serious,"
Listen to her full interview with WBZ NewsRadio's Deb Lawler below.