WGBH News Focus: MBTA

"I Knew You Were Trouble" is the latest offering from singer-superstar Taylor Swift. The song currently sits at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. A pair of local violinists have capitalized on Swift's song, turning their cover into a hit in its own right. Here are Rhett Price and Josh Knowles with a remix of "I Knew You Were Trouble."

There they were last week, in wheel chairs blocking traffic on Beacon Hill. A group of four seniors and the disabled planted themselves in front of the State House; they hoped to get the attention of lawmakers debating a funding bill for overhauling and updating the state’s aging transportation system.

Ibby Caputo talked to MBTA foreman Guy Place, who told her he likes the night shift, and that, in addition to needles, rats and cockroaches, you've got to watch out for the shrimp.

Additional fare increases and service reductions will be required at the MBTA unless the Legislature approves additional funding for the authority, MBTA officials said Tuesday, less than a year after raising fares and accepting a state bailout.

Public transportation remains shut down in the Boston area in the wake of the massive blizzard.

The MBTA discovered a crack in a rail on the track between Harvard Square and Central Square on the Red Line, slowing travel between the two stations during the busy morning rush hour on Wednesday, according to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

Gov. Deval Patrick has made news recently with a hefty multibillion investment in the state’s transportation system. Long ago, local leaders bankrolled their own costly endeavor that’s become a staple for Boston commuters: the Tobin Bridge.

Winter weather is a given in Boston. So is the challenge cold weather poses for its public transit system. Equipment freezes and fails to work resulting in service disruption and delays. When temperatures fell into the teens last week, an old, weak cable started to smolder. Power to the green line was shut down for three hours, and rush-hour passengers were forced to slow down. 

The MBTA is taking steps to avoid massive service disruption like we saw last week on the Green Line.

From the Inauguration to the MBTA's persistent failings, it's been a heck of a week for headlines. Scroll through the Storify below to see just a few of the week's newsworthy events through the lens of social media.

The frigid morning came to a halting start for thousands of Boston commuters after an electrical problem forced a two-hour shutdown on sections of the city’s subway system.

Passengers were evacuated from the Green Line this morning due to a power outage caused by an ignited cable at Arlington Station. The MBTA is investigating the outage. Service on the Green Line was suspended from Blanford Street on the B line, Kenmore on the C and D line, and completely suspended on the E line.

Everyone in Massachusetts who drives or takes public transportation will eventually pay more for the privilege.

Lawmakers and Massachusetts residents will have to wait a few more days to hear how Gov. Deval Patrick plans to pay for the $13 billion in additional transportation and infrastructure investments he believes are needed over the next decade to keep Massachusetts competitive.

The big new transportation plan outlined by Governor Deval Patrick and Transportation Secretary Richard Davey today contains plenty of things to get excited about. From brand-new subway cars to self-serve RMV kiosks to a new Springfield-to-Boston train line — and that's just a partial list — the Patrick Administration's proposals contain something for seemingly anyone who routinely needs to get from Point A to Point B in Massachusetts. And that's most of us.

MBTA officials say they are considering canceling a $190 million contract for new double-decker rail cars because the work has been plagued by chronic delays and shoddy workmanship.

When Beverly Scott became the new manager of the MBTA in December, she inherited a slew of challenges. Perhaps the most daunting is balancing a very unbalanced budget — to the tune of a $132 million deficit.

Accompanied by wheelchairs and walking sticks, MBTA riders on Monday listened to a presentation on the transit system's court-mandated accessibility improvements and provided feedback on areas that still need improvement.

Former Superior Court Judge Patrick King, who has been appointed independent monitor of the settlement, lauded the "outstanding" work providing working elevators at stations — with construction of Park Street elevators expected later this month — and said that bus operators had improved their rate of properly securing wheelchairs and scooters from 8 percent in 2004 to 95 percent this year.

As public comments made clear, there is not yet complete access to the system.

"I do understand we're not perfect. Things happen. There is improvement to be made, and we will continue to work on that," said Acting MBTA General Manager Jonathan Davis at the meeting on Monday afternoon. Davis said the MBTA has a "commitment to see that the system is 100 percent accessible by 2020."

According to the riders who spoke at the meeting, the needed improvements include both equipment, such as buses that are completely accessible, and MBTA employees who always follow the right protocols.

On July 22, 2002, a group of people sued the MBTA, alleging discrimination because they were not granted equal access to buses and trains, according to federal court documents. In 2006, the MBTA and the group of riders agreed on a settlement and King was assigned to oversee the plan.

"I don't want to be left out in the snow anymore," said Joanne Daniels-Finegold, who uses a wheelchair and said that when she is picked up bus operators sometimes leave her outside while making the arrangements inside the bus to accommodate her. A Braintree resident, she said she shovels out her own bus stop and said more bus stops - not just the busiest ones - should be cleared of snow by the MBTA. Some of the people in the room were named parties to the lawsuit, including Daniels-Finegold.

With plans to shut down Government Center station for a period of about two years and a cost of about $90 million, the MBTA will bring elevator access to the station serving the neighborhood around Boston City Hall, King said. More work is needed on developing external bus speakers, which announce the route number, that can withstand the region's frigid winters, King said.

Other stations, including Boylston and stations along Commonwealth Avenue, are not required to become handicap accessible in the settlement agreement, King said. He said space considerations prevent the stations along Commonwealth Avenue from becoming fully accessible.

Bus drivers have a device in their buses where they can press a button to alert management that someone has parked, blocking a bus stop and in the first 10 months of the year, drivers have issued 37,000 alerts, with the most parking violation alerts at a stop on Mount Auburn Street in Watertown, according to King.

King also saw the possibility of a technological and legal leap in how tickets are issued to people who block bus stops.

"Perhaps at some point the next logical step is to provide the T with authority to issue tickets without actually going to the bus stop," King said.

The new MBTA general manager is on the job in Boston. Beverly Scott has left a 5-year post running the transit system in Atlanta. This week she's been riding the T. WGBH met her on the Silver Line platform at South Station.

This has been a crazy week, and Thursday was one of the most jam packed news days ever. First, word that Mayor Menino would break his six weeks' silence. Then, Tim Cahill took the stand in his corruption trial. Next, a Boylston street trolley crash that injured dozens of people, followed by a massive black-out in Cambridge, not to mention Mitt Romney’s lunch with Pres. Obama.

Our Week in Review panel tackled all of these stories, plus Thumbs Up Thumbs Down, with Emily Rooney.

A 2-train collision at the Boylston St. MBTA station sent 37 people to the hospital on Thursday. Several patients complained of head and neck pain and were immobilized, according to Boston Emergency Medical Services.

An MBTA spokesman says a subway trolley has bumped into the back of another trolley at the Boylston Street subway station and some passengers are reporting back and neck pain.

Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said there was no derailment and no visible damage to the trolleys after the slow-speed accident at about noon on Thursday.

EMTs set up a triage area in the station and broadcast reports showed some people on backboards with neck braces.

No further details were immediately available.

After the state auditor found a $101 million discrepancy in fare records on Sept. 27, MBTA acting general manager Jonathan Davis told Greater Boston’s Emily Rooney that the discrepancy was not due to theft but rather to a software glitch in the machines that record deposited fares. "I have been out on the system and have viewed the security surrounding both the collection of that cash and the transportation of that to the money room for eventual deposit in the bank." Davis said. "It is done through a very secure environment."

The MBTA failed to account for $101 million over the past 5 years, according to a state audit released Sept 27. State auditor Suzanne Bump spoke with Boston Public Radio about the findings.

It's the end of an era in greater Boston: As of July 21, the MBTA is no longer accepting T tokens as a form of payment.