In the face of service cuts, others push for MBTA to move in the opposite direction entirely Updated December 16, 2020, 2:30 a.m. Email to a Friend When will we start treating T like essential service it is? Bravo to your two op-ed writers on Monday, Dr. Jon Santiago and Abdallah Fayyad (âProtect essential workers by protecting MBTA serviceâ and âPublic transit should be freeâ). Cut MBTA service during a pandemic? Run fewer trains and buses, thereby inviting overcrowding? Curtail or eliminate night service on which night-shift workers, including those in health care, rely? Put more hurt on economically disadvantaged communities, which are already reeling from job losses and food and child-care challenges?