Michelle Wu to protest MBTA fare hikes with volunteers at T stations

The Orange Line morning commute on the MBTA heading inbound in January.David L Ryan/Globe Staff/Globe Staff

City Councilor Michelle Wu announced plans to protest the upcoming MBTA fare hike on the first day the higher rates are slated to go into effect, after a Red Line derailment created havoc for riders last week and continues to cause residual delays.

Wu said Thursday in a series of tweets that she hopes to have volunteers at every station and on the trains during the morning commute on Monday, July 1, to “rally our ridership & empower every commuter to push for solutions to fix the T.”

“Those of us who take the T every day are fed up with inaction to fix our public transit system, and sick and tired of being told that the MBTA is moving in the right direction,” Wu said, in an apparent reaction to Governor Charlie Baker’s defense of the MBTA in the immediate aftermath of the derailment. “Beginning July 1st, riders will be paying even more for the choice between unreliable service or sitting in the worst traffic in the country.”

Wu said she’d hold an event Sunday dubbed the #BostonTParty for members of the public interested in participating.

MBTA fares are rising by about 6 percent under a plan approved by the T’s governing board earlier this year. At the time, Wu spoke out against the hikes and called on the agency to eliminate transit fares altogether, writing in an op-ed for the Globe that eliminating fares would “benefit everyone who uses the roads and breathes air.”

After two train derailments this month caused major disruptions to the system, several city officials have criticized the transit agency for continuing with plans to raise ticket prices. Mayor Martin J. Walsh called on the agency to postpone the fare hike until after repairs could be completed, and an online petition with similar demands has reached nearly 8,000 signatures.

The T board rejected the idea at a meeting Monday.