For many MBTA riders, the winter’s first two big storms went just fine.
The state’s secretary of transportation, Stephanie Pollack, praised the MBTA’s performance, saying it looked as if the agency had learned its lessons from 2015, when a record-breaking winter caused the entire system to shut down for days at a time.
But for some passengers, particularly on the commuter rail, the news wasn’t so good.
After I wrote that the MBTA had generally performed well on Feb. 9, when a snowstorm canceled school across the region, one rider suggested I check out the numbers from the Fitchburg line.
That day, just 43 percent of rush-hour trains on the Fitchburg line were on time. Across all commuter rail lines, about 73 percent of trains were on time, a steep drop from the 92 percent rate the Thursday before.
The decline happened even though trains had far fewer riders than usual, since many commuters chose to work from home.
On Feb. 10, as the commuter rail dealt with snow accumulation and bitter cold, on-time performance at rush hour dropped to 62 percent. Only 73 percent of all trains ran on time.
Justin Thompson, a spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services, which runs the commuter rail, said the majority of delays were caused by people taking longer to board trains “to ensure safety,’’ as well as poor visibility, and downed trees or branches. Many trains weren’t badly delayed, he added. On Feb. 10, more than 90 percent of trains arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled times, he said.
Similar issues affected the company’s performance Monday, when schools again canceled classes because of severe winter storms. About 68 percent of rush-hour trains arrived on time that day, and 71 percent of all trains. The numbers improved later in the week: on Wednesday, for example, 85 percent of trains were on time, and 77 percent of rush-hour trains.
While a far cry from the disastrous performance in 2015, the numbers aren’t exactly stellar. But Thompson said Keolis remains positive.
“We are glad to have safely delivered a full level of service during back-to-back storms only two days after moving more passengers than ever on the MBTA Commuter Rail system during the Patriots’ parade,’’ he wrote. (On that day, Feb. 7, about 64 percent of its trains ran on time because of the massive crush of riders, more than 215,000.)
“There is always room for improvement, so we’ll be going over our winter storm plans in preparation for the next one,’’ he added.
Nicole Dungca can be reached at nicole.dungca@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @ndungca.
