This morning’s Globe picks up on the nightmare that has been the commuter rail for the past few weeks.

Customer complaints have risen as on-time service has declined, with 533 complaints in May, 654 in June, and 900 so far in July.

“Overall, it’s the inconsistency that’s really frustrating,” said Joe Fischer, 44, a commuter from Sharon who rides the Worcester-Framingham line to work. “Sometimes the service is spot on and the conductors are doing their jobs, and other times it’s not.”

Family responsibilities require me to drive in each day — the daycare doesn’t buy “the train was late” as an excuse for picking up the baby after closing time — but A. takes the commuter rail from Ashland. It has not been fun.

The Worcester line’s performance has drivin us mad the past couple of weeks. Sometimes it’s on-time. Sometimes an hour late. Always, the riders are kept in an information black hole, pining for updates about when they will actually get home, forced to wait and conjecture, only able to unleash their boiling rage through colorful text messages to loved ones. Sometimes several messages over the course of a few minutes.

I hope the Commuter Rail powers-that-be get their act together soon. I want to be the type of person who takes public transportation to work, but that’s not an option right now. And, God help us when we hit $5/gallon gas.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 27th, 2006 at 4:29 am and is filed under Boston, Grr. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.