Like DC apparently, Boston has had some serious long-deferred maintenance. The commuter rail at least also has a reduced schedule and no longer has an express train from further out--so I'm a good 2 hours door to door if I use transit to go (rarely) into my city office. Driving is more flexible but it's just as slow at rush hour.

Well DC I know they had some serious train defects that took trains/lines out of service for repairs for some time and caused capacity reductions.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/09/22/met...

NYC they are running fewer trains so even if overall ridership is down, the trains are as crowded or more crowded than ever. Further in NYC due to homeless/migrant population growth falling through the cracks, the subway ends up being the shelter of last resort. Finally violent crime on the subway increased substantially over covid, and while down is still not at 2019 levels. So while waiting longer for a train, you are more likely to be dealing with a general sense of crime/disorder/etc.

In the case of the LIRR:

https://gothamist.com/news/lirr-riders-still-miffed-over-jam...

https://nypost.com/2023/03/06/hell-on-wheels-bklyn-shuttles-...