MBTA

The MBTA's Been a Mess. Here's What Riders Really Think About It.

"I can give myself an hour to get there. I can give myself an hour and a half to get there. I still might be late."

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Plenty of MBTA riders have horror stories about something crazy that's happened to them on their commute, few worse than the story that roughly 200 people have to tell about evacuating an Orange Line train that caught on fire over the Mystic River last month.

With that incident and a slew of others in mind, we went out to ask regular riders of the T what it's like for them. Their answers: not great! And that was before the T announced an unprecedented 30-day shutdown of the entire Orange Line later this summer.

"I can give myself an hour to get there. I can give myself an hour and a half to get there. I still might be late," said Chris Reddrick, who lives in Dorchester.

"This actually just happened, but happens all the time. Frequently, it'll just die and just stop right on the tracks and all the power, the AC shuts off," said Crissy Schafer, from Allston. "So the summer– that's really lovely."

The MBTA announced Wednesday that the Orange Line will stop running for a month of repairs.

But the reviews aren't all bad — some people find it to be reliable, which echoes Gov. Charlie Baker's recent comments that the vast majority of trains are still running on time — especially if you compare the T to other transit systems in the U.S.

"Being from D.C., I do like the T better than the Metro, as much as it's been a headache. I do feel safe on it," said Kayla Pelletz, who lives in Kenmore Square. "I like that there's always someone there in the car with me and the driver. So I still– I haven't lost faith. It would take a lot more."

Watch the video atop this story for more of what T riders have to say.

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