BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh wants the MBTA to hold off on rolling out July’s fare hike until upgrades are put in place to prevent incidents like the recent subway derailments that crippled parts of the Red and Green lines.
“I have asked the T two things. One is for representation on the board,” Walsh said Tuesday. “The second piece is asking them to hold the fare hike.”
Walsh went to say that the MBTA needs to make changes so riders get “adequate service.”
The mayor’s requests come after a six-car Red Line train derailed for about 1,800 feet at JFK/UMass Station last week, damaging the track, signals, switches, and bungalows.
Crews have since repaired the track, along with some switches and signals, but repairs are still being made.
Regular service resumed Sunday on the Red Line but commuters still experienced delays as trains continued to operate at restricted speeds because switches had to be operated manually.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak says that the public transportation service “regrets that the derailment occurred.”
Poftak says operator error has been ruled out as a cause.
More than 100 passengers were onboard a Green Line D Branch train from Kenmore Station to Fenway Station when it derailed in a tunnel near Kenmore Square earlier this month.
A third-party service is now reviewing all in-service, mainline derailments from 2017 to 2019.
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