Perhaps it's time for local colleges to offer courses on how to ride the T

I stand corrected about the Red and Blue.

The Orange Line definitely does not have dedicated wheelchair spaces, but that's probably because the cars are so old (like the older Red Line cars).

well, the "newer" silver-exterior 018xx trains do, at least.

You should have stopped at "this person should have held the case upright". That is correct, and that's the only part of your comment that has relevance here. Nobody is complaining about him/her actually bringing the instrument on the T. By leaving the case in the aisle, this kid is just begging for an expensive lesson in public transportation etiquette.

Don't blame that fail on the MBTA. That's all your own fail.

And maybe it's time for riders to stop using the T as their personal U-Haul. If it can't fit on your lap or between your legs and you think taking it on the T at rush hour is cool, you need a smack.

. . .

You live in Brookline and want sympathy for trying to bring a futon on the T? L O L

You sadly, and obviously, missed my jab at the fail whales who actually do try to bring on everything but the kitchen sink. (My personal favorite are the pretentious Super Size Stroller douchebags though: double-wide, or triple long, with one of Satan's screaming imps seated inside; parents oblivious to their hellspawn's volume and how much room the 10-wheeled conveyance takes up. Pro-tip: if the stroller is as long as the T is wide, you might be a nutty granola bar.)

Let's be realistic though: some people who can't afford a cab, a Zipcar, a personal vehicle. And sometimes, they need to get around town with something bigger than a neon pink fanny pack. What would you have them do? Fucking walk?

It is PUBLIC transportation, for the good of all. I agree there's a lack of common courtesy by a subset of riders. It doesn't mean users should be denied carriage based on what they have to lug around the nation's antique-iest "subway." Holy crap, what if the MBTA employees paid attention to what was happening in their vehicles? Token pleas to "move to the center of the car" do nothing. They need to start holding trains at stops, speaking up to specific riders, and shaming people into finding a shred of civility for a few minutes.

Also, another one of my dumb ideas, but maybe the lazy ass "police" sitting on the Park Street sidewalk in their goddamn SUVs should ride the rails, providing both safety, decrease in fare evasion, and some tips on how to not be a douchebag? Aren't all the rethuglicans and t-baggers always yammering on about safety and security? That's right. They are, but don't mean it if one of their fat bastard union hack contributors has to actually do, you know, like some fucking WORK.

Boston. This town is just so ... fucking, Boston, you know? Hub of the universe? HA. It's the hub of itself. A giant, gaping, hairy, sucking rimmer in need of a lubejob made of bleach. Thus spoke jerkface.

You get buses that leave Sullivan Square, Wellington, and Davis cut down to one per hour, short routing, or disappearing all together.

I don't mind walking a half mile to the 94, but the 134 is gone by the time I consider the end of a reasonable rush hour.

In Seattle, Washington DC, Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago, Portland, NYC ... you can live without a car even if you are ten or more miles from the city center because the schedules and routes acknowledge that people need transportation for a variety of shifts and don't just own cars and take transit to get to work in the central city along extremely rigidly stereotyped pathways. If you can't get from Medford to the jobs in Kendall Square four miles away without taking three buses and wasting an hour and a half, someone isn't doing much serious thinking.

Notice how some of these cities have doubled in population in the last 20 years ... like, because you can get around them easily in the new "not employed for life" labor market?

It is not unusual (I did avoid rush hour though when I lived on the green line). Plenty of people don't own cars in Boston so I'm not sure why it's so shocking to see people with stuff with them on the T.

Of all the things I think are wrong with the T, people wearing backpacks are not even on my radar. Even when said backpacks hit me. Now, people who refuse to move away from the doors so I can get in and out, that's another story.

My apologies for contradicting your statement. I am both a commuter and regular user during off times. I do carry groceries on subways and buses, as well as books from the library, purchases from other stores and anything else that I need to carry. At the same time I also put into practice recognition that ultimately the T is about moving people, not things, and therefore respect the limits of space.

Nevertheless public transportation needs to accommodate all REASONABLE needs of its public. Whether as frequency, occurrence and comfort of the rides, need for carrying a reasonable quantity of objects that are essential to daily life (e.g., groceries). On the other hand we all have a responsibilities to recognize the necessary limits when utilizing a shared service.

However, the ideas of accommodation, reasonableness and responsibilities seem to be old fashioned 19th century concepts that are all sent to the back of the bus in favor of self-centered behaviors such as LOUD MP3 players, loud cell phone conversations and loud portable video games, etc.)

Add to that annoying loud announcements from the T's big brothers, PA system advertisements, noisy trains, poor air conditioning on many subway trains, delayed and expressed trains....

Is the T primarily a system for transportation or is the transportation component a means of corralling and training human beings to be nothing more than cattle awaiting their slaughter?

I don't know what Boston you live in, but everything you just said in that comment is mostly the opposite of everything I ever see. People do use the T to go shopping (and bring those items they bought back home), go to work with their tools of whatever trade it is they practice, and even the post office! What a concept! Commuters make up a sizable amount of the ridership, but the T serves everyone.

And as for buses... When I lived in Somerville and didn't have a car, bus service was fine if I was going to or from work at rush hour. If it wasn't rush hour, the bus ran hourly. Once an hour! That's as close to useless as you can get. Now that I live in Dorchester, there is exactly one (1) bus route that I would consider vaguely useful (and actually, I'd probably ride it all the time), but it stops running entirely at something like 7:30 or 8pm, making it beyond useless. If it's not the 1, 39, 66, or a small handful of other routes, the MBTA doesn't give a shit about buses.

That time would be when you need to arrive on-time.

Seriously, if you tried, could you be more of a pill? I mean, really?

Some college students (including Berklee students who "splurge" on $30k p/year educations) actually are broke. The picture that prompted this thread is out of context. Was it taken at 5:30 PM outbound or 7:00 AM inbound? Was it a duece or a single? Was the rest of the train fairly empty or balls-to-backs?

Absent that information, you might wish to take your self-righteous indignation elsewhere.

Not every "hoarder" has an alternative. Not every "hoarder" has a friend with a car. Not every "hoarder" has the ability to take a goddamn cab. Some "hoarders" are Poors. And while you may loathe the very existence of "hoarders," I loathe the fact that you're even on the T.

Why don't you, with your fucking tight-ass ideas on what dumb people should be allowed to take on the T, fucking get a Driver? A guitar and a binder is not using the MBTA as a "uhaul" or "hoarding." The way this kid placed his shit was (perhaps) insensitive: again, absent the context of the circumstance, you're essentially claiming that that Poors shouldn't ride the T. The very opposite is true. Poors are the ones who benefit MOST from public transit.

For demonizing people using the MBTA as a sustainable, green, cost-efficient way to traverse Boston, speaking as a rider of the MBTA I say, go to bed, would you please?

The very first thing I said was "get a sense of humor." Get one, and we'll talk. Til then, piss off back to the burbs with your mediocre children.