MBTA Head Goes Off The Rails

While the MBTA fulfills its annual obligation of driving everyone mad, the head of the transit agency appears to be going off the rails a bit.

MBTA General Manager Luis Ramírez, who was just hired in September, had an adventurous Tuesday morning on Twitter. Ramírez blocked reporters from following him, made his account private, then reopened his account with a new name - @LMRAMIREZGM. He allowed at least one blocked reporter to follow him.

Despite the new name, Ramírez' mentions were full of angry T riders.

The social media scramble took place just days after he deleted some tweets saying "transit systems are not designed for Siberian temperatures."

Ramírez has been tasked with guiding the MBTA through one of the most brutal stretches of freezing temperatures in the past few years, along with a major snowstorm, conditions Deputy GM Jeff Gonneville called "hell on earth."

Ramírez is the MBTA's sixth permanent or acting GM since 2011. "...The T and its workforce will benefit from seasoned and stable leadership at the top," MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board Chairman Joseph Aiello said when Ramírez was hired.

Midway through the cleanup from last Thursday's snowstorm, Ramírez responded to a discussion on Twitter, writing, "The current temperatures are extreme and transit systems are not designed for Siberian temperatures." He also wrote, "No system in North America is designed for Siberian temperatures that last for more than a few hours. In fact, fire hydrants are freezing, house pipes are bursting. All local infrastructure is impacted."

Ramírez was responding to a discussion that involved former Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi and Kevin Ready, an aide to gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez, according to Ready.

The general manager's tweets were deleted but images of them dated Saturday were preserved and shared by MassInc Polling Group President Steve Koczela.

Materials from the State House News Service were used in this report

Photo by Osman Rana on Unsplash