Blue Line

Fabulously Out There reports she was on the Blue Line this morning when a woman in her car began to collapse onto the floor just past Maverick inbound:

... At which point I dropped my purse, tore the iphone out of my ears and dropped on the ground into the hot tea said girl had just dropped and softened her fall.

All I could think was "don't let her head hit the ground, woman. Don't drop her!” Next thing I know, 80% of people step back and the lady on my other side totally stepped up too.

"Hit the emergency button," she yelled. One dude looked at me and I said "No, seriously dude, hit the button."

And, KUDOS to the MBTA because when we arrived at Aquarium, the MBTA dudes were already walking up to the train. ...

Fabulously, a native of Germany, adds she's thankful for the three days of first-aid training everybody in Germany is required to take before they can get a driver's license.

Dead train near Central Square for you Red Line fans; broken train at Airport inbound for you Blue Line loyalists.

District A-7 relays a report from Transit Police about a woman who couldn't shake an alleged weirdo as she walked home from the Wood Island T stop around 1 p.m. yesterday:

The victim boarded a Blue Line train at MBTA Government Center Station along with a male who stared at her while on the train and followed her as she changed seats. The victim exited the train at MBTA Wood Island Station and the subject continued to follow her. The subject then approached the victim and asked her name. As the victim entered her home, she realized the subject was still watching her. The victim states the subject frequently boards the Blue Line train at MBTA Government Center and stares at her.

Staring Man is described as 28, 6'4", Hispanic or Middle Eastern, stocky build with a long scar on his face toward his neck. He was wearing a knit cap and a brown corduroy jacket.

The Orange Line remains above water and so is still stopping at State Street, where the main burst, according to reports from Channel 4 and the MBTA Transit Police Intelligence Unit.

An Illinois man is being held in lieu of a total of $25,000 bail for allegedly treating Orange and Red Line trains as his own personal canvas, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says.

Jim Clay Harper, 24, of the well-to-do Chicago suburb of Wilmette, was arraigned today in West Roxbury District Court on two counts of vandalizing property for allegedly spray-painting "ETHER" on trains at the Forest Hills T stop. He was already being held on similar charges involving Red Line trains in Dorchester, and is also suspected of tagging Blue Line trains at Orient Heights, according to the DA's office.

$2.8-billion project cut from state wish list, Wicked Local Cambridge reports.

Also gone forever: The long-fabled Blue Line extension to Lynn, our own Arborway reports.

On the plus side: The Silver Line is still going to become an even longer bus route.

The MBTA reports a disabled Blue Line train at Airport inbound.

Compressing all MBTA subway service for an entire day into a four-minute video:

James Kebinger explains how he created the video using MBTA scheduling data recently released by the state.

At Wood Island, the MBTA reports.

And admission is only $1.70.

Alex Howell is impressed by the new Maverick station on the Blue Line, now, finally, open.

Copyright Alex Howell. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

If the state can pay to study extending the Blue Line at one end to Charles/MGH, even though it has no money to actually build the extension, the least it can do is pay to study extending the Blue Line to Lynn at the other end:

... "Careful analysis has shown the tremendous value to commuters and local businesses of extending Blue Line service beyond Wonderland Station to Lynn," said Secretary Aloisi, "and we are committed to moving forward on this critical project." ...

Remember this the next time you go through one of the T's bag screenings: Betsy reports that when she got on the Blue Line at Government Center on Friday, she saw an unattended bag under the seat across from her. After years of being barraged with post-9/11 warnings, she reported the bag to the driver. Who proceded to do absolutely nothing. She couldn't stand it, so she got off the train at Aquarium, just in case. And then she called the MBTA safety department, which, when she finally got through, did nothing.

... I am disappointed. I am not happy. And you owe not only me an apology, but you owe an apology to every person who was on that Blue Line train yesterday headed to Wonderland at 3:00 p.m. You compromised not only my security, but that of each passenger and employee on that train and the stations, and you compromised the security of Boston. ...

Oh, you know: Stuck train at Harvard. Nothing new. But signal problems at Wood Island on the Blue Line? The Blue Line?

In a city that now officially encourages people to ride bikes to work, there's an entire neighborhood that can't. East Boston residents who work downtown can't use the Tobin or the harbor tunnels and, as Kate Hutchinson discovered, T inspectors are now enforcing a pre-10 a.m. ban on taking bikes on the T:

... I left my house a little later that I usually do, because I know that the trains running to Bowdoin have fewer passengers after 8:30 am, and there would be more room for my bike (which is not that large to begin with). I paid my fare and went through the gates at Maverick, and was stopped by a T inspector, who informed me that I can't bring a bike on to the T until 10 am. I understand that he was enforcing policy, but I have never before had a restriction on my taking a bike on the T during peak hours. To his credit, the Inspector didn't let me get on, but I snuck on while he was distracted, in the last car of a six-car 8:50 train. There was penty of room on it for me and my bicycle. (In fact, there was plenty of room on the four trains that went by prior, while the Inspector was holding me on the platform.) ...

UPDATE at 9:20 a.m.: Looks like the power is back on and some trains are moving again, but slowly, since the signals aren't working.

9:30 a.m. Joe Pesaturo: "Power is being restored, but all lines are experiencing delays. An investigation into the cause of the outage is underway." T now advising people to not take the T.

9:50: Boston Police report the Red Line still dead due to signal problems.

1 p.m.: NECN reports the T is blaming "a private company doing routine maintenance" on the system. More to come at a 1:30 news briefing.

People stuck on trains all over the place:

Red Line.
Orange Line.
Green Line.
Blue Line:

*MAJOR* mbta fail. no power at Maverick T station. no buses. making people walk to airport to get buses. in a cab now.

No lights at Back Bay station; commuter-rail tracks almost pitch black.

Nykwil proposes the MBTA buy one million hamsters and wheels as a power supply.

Michael Femia: Maybe the T shouldn't have diverted all of its power to David Ortiz.

From the T web page:

Blue Line service is being diverted due to medical emergency at Revere Beach Station. Substitute bus service will replace regular train service between Wonderland and Orient Heights until further notice. Please allow extra time for your commute. 5/8/2009 10:41 AM

As of 11:50, the bussing is still in effect. No ETA as to when normal service will be resumed. Must be a serious incident at Revere Beach, as the delay actually made the WBZ traffic reports as well.

Revere Beach was inundated with class-skipping Boston teens on that wicked-hot day last week. One terrified Revere city councilor wants metal detectors at Revere Beach station because "every other teenager who got off the train had a knife or a weapon." How does he know?

Fabulously Out There tweets workers were busy sterilizing trash receptacles at Airport station this morning:

Cool! I was just about to lick one!

Fabulously Out There is puzzled by the cheery 'Bedbugs are Back!' ads on the Blue Line.

Wicked Local Somerville reports the MBTA is looking at connecting the Red and Blue lines at Charles/MGH - and wonders:

Would be nice if they concentrated their money and time on ongoing projects like the Green Line Extension and solving disputes like the placement of the maintenance facility in Inner Belt instead of coming up with additional ones in this economy.

After the St. Patrick's parade:

So there I was, sitting outside the barber shop in Terminal C, today, waiting for my wife. An older gentleman was getting his hair cut. And in a booming voice, he told the barber how much he'd spent in parking today after driving down from Manchester- what with a trip to a hospital off Brookline Avenue, lunch and then the airport. He sighed:

I'd take the rattler out to the airport if I could.

The rattler! I didn't know anybody still called the subway that!

The Globe interviews the person who held that poor woman's hand as she died at State Street station.

The Globe reports the elderly woman fell around 10 a.m., part of her clothing got caught in the escalator and she wound up dying. However, officials are investigating whether she had a heart attack before her fall.