Governor Charlie Baker says the focus on Wednesday should be about clearing sidewalks, streets and train platforms as Massachusetts digs its way out of more than two feet of snow.
“We’re going to continue to work on those throughout the course of the day,” Baker told the media at a 10 a.m. press briefing in South Boston.
The governor said the travel ban – which he declared fully lifted across all areas of the state Tuesday night at midnight – “worked as we hoped.”
When discussing power outages across the state, Baker said: “The cold, which is obviously going to be an issue for all of us the next couple of days … actually helped us with respect to the power outages.” Due to the snow’s “fluffy” nature, the governor added that the state was able to avoid power outage totals in the six figures.
As of Wednesday morning, Baker said there are still 10,000 or 11,000 residents without power.
“The communication and the dialogue between state officials, local officials and federal officials, as well as private organizations … has been exemplary,” the governor said. “We’ve come out of this in relatively good shape”
Stephanie Pollack – who will formally assume her role as MassDOT Secretary on Thursday – also spoke during the briefing, addressing specifically the state of the MBTA Wednesday morning. “The morning commute was as good as we could have expected, given the circumstances,” Pollack said.
The T saw a lighter-than-average ridership during the morning commute, Pollack said, noting that the commuter rail experienced the most significant delays.
Pollack called out the T’s commuter rail operator Keolis, directly. “We’re going to be looking for a better performance [from the commuter rail] this afternoon,” she said. “They signed a ‘No Excuse’ contract.”
The MBTA is providing some level of service across all modes, Pollack said, adding that 40 bus routes are operating on designated snow routes and the Mattapan high speed line is using shuttle buses at this time.
When Gov. Baker stepped back to the podium, he was asked by reporters how he felt he handled his first blizzard at the helm of the Commonwealth. “I’m not going to grade my performance,” Gov. Baker said. The local, state, federal and private agencies “all get an ‘A.'”
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