BOSTON — After a bumpy first month include delays, cancellations, and bus substitutions, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has announced it will extend its introductory free weekend travel offer on the South Coast Rail extension through May.
The 37-mile addition to the MBTA’s commuter rail launched March 24, adding six new stations and bringing rail service to communities that had not seen passenger service for 66 years [see “MBTA launches South Coast Rail service,” Trains News Wire, March 24, 2025].
But the line has seen frequency cancellations and bus substitutions, with contract operator Keolis citing a shortage of qualified engineers and conductors. In a statement reported by Boston.com, a Keolis representative said the company apologized “to the passengers and communities served by the Fall River/New Bedford Line. Keolis understands your frustrations and we are working hard to improve reliability and resilience going forward.”
Keolis CEO Abdellah Chajai, appearing at an MBTA board meeting on Thursday, said the company is “actively working to improve the situation” by getting employees qualified, WBUR radio reports. At that meeting, MBTA CEO Phillip Eng called on Keolis to qualify every crew “on the whole south side to ensure they have more than enough employees to cover these shifts.”
Eng also said that any bus substitutions must be reliable; several incidents have been reported where passengers were stranded because buses did not appear. As of Monday, Keolis had been fined more than $51,000 over the service issues.
At least 18 trips were replaced with shuttle buses last weekend, the Boston Globe reports. The MBTA announced the extension of the free weekend trips — which were to end this weekend — in a press release announcing last week’s substitutions. More bus substitutions have been announced for this weekend, with buses replacing trains on five round trips both today (Saturday, April 26) and Sunday. Service will include some express buses for those traveling to and from Fall River and New Bedford. The schedule including the bus substitutions is available here.
So much for privitization …. contract operation. Keolis and MBTA have had how many years to plan for this?