Boston learns the joy of deep snow

And as Boston natives have never been accused of being the sweetest of creatures, things are getting snippy in Beantown. Lots of snow and an ancient transit system have exposed the flaws.

Her ordeal was typical of many residents, who soldiered through the more than six feet of snow that has piled up in the last 17 days. With no chance to melt, the snows have paralyzed this city, brought commerce to a near halt and sent roofs crashing down on numerous buildings, including a music store in Rockland, 30 miles southeast. Among the damaged goods was a $500,000 rhinestone-studded piano once owned by Liberace.

Most glaringly, the storms have exposed the vulnerabilities of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which operates the region’s decrepit, fitful subways, buses and commuter rail lines. The underfunded system, which carries 1.3 million people a day and is $5.5 billion in debt, has been plagued in the last 17 days by breakdowns, fires, power losses, delays of two and three hours, and scenes of commuters having to disembark and pick their way along snow-covered tracks.

As the latest snowstorm bore down on Monday, the transit agency took commuters to work in the morning, but Gov. Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in the afternoon, and officials shut down the system at 7 p.m., stranding — and infuriating — many who had no way to get home.

C. J. Louis, 26, who works for a car rental company near Logan International Airport, said he was sent home early because of the shutdown, which cost him three hours of pay.

By Tuesday morning, with a record 77.3 inches of snow having accumulated here in a little more than two weeks, the subway remained idle as crews tried to clear tracks, unfreeze switches and repair damaged cars. The system is to resume limited service Wednesday.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Ms. Adelstone, 29, a speech pathologist, who was waiting for her second bus. Still, she doubted residents would be willing to pay higher fares to fix the system.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” she said. “Because not much has been done thus far, people are bitter and angry, and it makes them not want to pay for it.”

And the transit system will get nothing from the state which just elected a Republican governor more noted for his ability to skim big fees from pension funds than run a state. The good thing is this may now become the common winter environment so they may actually learn to live with it.