London has cut down service on trains to the point that the many who must still travel to work are packed together dangerously in them.

Boston and other cities are cutting train and bus service and presenting this as some sort of safety measure. This is announced as a measure to reduce contagion, and we are asked to take for granted that it does so. Perhaps it is a sacrifice that is supposed to cure by magic.

If the aim is to reduce the amount of travel, making travel more risky is a perverse way to do it.

If the number of riders falls very far, it could happen that some bus or train trips are useless and wasteful. If there are typically one or two passengers in each bus on a certain line at a certain hour, perhaps it is a harmless efficiency to cut the number of bus trips then and there in half, and have three or four riders in each bus. But this should not be carried too far.

I have not been on a subway train since a week ago, and I don't know how many riders there are nowadays on Boston trains at various times. I don't know whether Boston currently has the problem reported from London. But the MBTA should know, roughly. I do think the MBTA should explain just how this measure is supposed to help protect passengers, and the facts about how it is working out.