Saugus man petitions for MBTA reimbursements

Cameron Pond estimates that he has paid the MBTA roughly $8,000 over the past decade for shoddy service, but now he’s had enough. After weeks of repeated snow-induced shutdowns T’s rail, bus and ferry systems, Pond is demanding a refund.

The 27-year-old Saugus resident last week launched a Change.org petition asking the T to reimburse riders who have been left out in the cold for most of February with unusable monthly ride T-tickets in their pockets.

Unlimited T passes cost from $75 for unlimited subway and bus rides, to $362 for a monthly rail pass. T riders make about 1.3 million trips a day.

The petition is addressed to MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott, who will resign in April, and to Gov. Charlie Baker, State Rep. Robert DeLeo and State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg.

“I think this latest snow crisis has really opened people’s eyes to just how bad system is,” said Pond, an insurance agent who’s lived all over the Boston area.

He’d collected more than 460 signatures by Sunday’s Metro deadline. Pond said he’ll check T ridership numbers before setting an endpoint for the petition.

He fumes at T money being funneled into station construction projects at Government Center, Assembly Station and Wonderland.

“Nice stations mean nothing when I can’t get to work,” said Pond, adding that he feels bad for his friends who are paid on an hourly basis.

“If you’re not a salaried employee and you miss work because of the snow, you don’t get paid,” he said. “That motivated me to do something about it.”

T Spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the transit agency is debating how to handle refund requests.

“We are continuing to have thoughtful discussions about doing something for our loyal customers who have been significantly inconvenienced in recent weeks,” he said.