Finding a seat on the light rail may be more difficult — at least for the next few months.

This probably isn’t a newsflash for those of you who ride regularly, as the train shortage began nearly a week before the MTA issued an advisory to the public. Friday’s official notice attributes the delays and overcrowding to mandatory inspections, required after one train’s wheel cracked last month.

Single-car trains will likely be running through the end of the summer, when the inspections are expected to be completed. To provide more cars for the main line, service between Mount Royal and Penn Station has been suspended and replaced with a bus route. The MTA plans to provide substitute bus service to riders if additional problems arise.

Many riders seemed more annoyed by the lack of information than the delays themselves. The single-car trains began running on Tuesday, but no service advisories were posted at the stations or on the website until Friday. Customers who registered for MTA’s e-mail updates — “for those who want the latest information on schedule changes, service disruptions, and other news” — received no messages in their inbox.

Are there any former public-transit commuters out there, who now commute by car instead? What made you abandon the MTA — customer service problems, overcrowding, too long of a trip? Something even weirder? (I have a few anecdotes myself from my Metro-riding days.)

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