Green Line

The Globe reports the alleged butterfingers was packing a loaded gun on an outbound trolley just before Newton Centre; a rider dropped a dime and police arrested him and three pals.

MBTA Transit Police say Robert O'Neil's pants were not bulging early this morning because he was happy to see them, but because they were stuffed with a "large pair of cable cutters" he'd allegedly used to snip and try to remove Green Line signal wires running along the tracks at the Brookline Village trolley stop.

O'Neil, 43, of Medford, faces arraignment today in Brookline District Court on charges of larceny over $250, vandalizing railroad signals and trespassing.

MBTA and Brookline police arrived at the station around 2:10 a.m. after somebody called 911 to report a guy clipping cables and piling them on the tracks.

another power problem on the Riverside Line - with buses replacing streetcars between Reservoir and Riverside. Here's the official alert:

Alternate shuttle bus service will replace Green D-Branch trains between Reservoir and Riverside Station due to a power problem. Please expect significant delays and seek alternate transportation where available. Â 9/7/2012 7:42 PM

Note that the MBTA has posted this exact same alert about the wire problem at least four times since 6:20. They obviously don't understand that people don't need to have their phones on to get messages.

Of course, if the Green Line ops folks had any common sense, they would run half the available C cars in a loop outbound via Beacon Street and inbound on the Riverside line, and run half the available D cars in a loop outbound via the Riverside line and inbound via Beacon Street - instead of overloading the C line by telling people to go to Cleveland Circle and get the buses from there.

And I can only imagine how long it's taking folks to get past Government Center eastbound (my scanner doesn't work in the building I'm currently in). Step # 1 when there's a "problem" affecting the C line seems to always be to short turn most of those trains at GC.

Tremont Street in 1897.

Today's the 115th anniversary of the opening of the oldest subway in North America - the tunnel between Boylston and Park Street. The scene above, from the Library of Congress, shows Tremont Street in the months leading up to the tunnel opening, when above-ground trolleys still ran down Tremont, even during construction of the tunnel.

A dead trolley at Reservoir, dead trains at Kendall and somewhere on the Ashmont line, signal and track problems on the Fitchburg Line and, oh, yeah, a freight-train derailment on the Haverhill line meant all sorts of fun for commuters this morning.

Stuck car in Brookline. Photo by MBTA

UPDATE: Seems to be a national epidemic.

The MBTA reports a woman who says she was only following her GPS's directions wound up stuck on Green Line trolley tracks in Brookline early Monday.

According to MBTA Transit Police, Natalie Thibeault of South Attleboro was driving in Brookline shortly after 1 a.m. on Monday when she consulted her GPS to see what she should do next:

According to Thibeault, the GPS told her to take a left turn onto Beacon Street. Thibeault stated she took the left when the GPS said to, and drove onto the inbound tracks. Thibeault stated a male who was passing by in another vehicle, told her she was fine and to continue down the tracks and get off them at the next intersection.

At that time, Thibeault continued down the tracks and when she didn't think she could make it any further she attempted to put the car in reverse. Thibeault said the tires to her vehicle spun but the car did not move and the vehicle became stuck.

Police issued Thibeault a citation for a left-turn violation and for impeded operation.

Major flustercluck on the Green Line this morning thanks to a "track problem" somewhere between Kenmore and Park that the T said meant only 15-minute delays, but which actual riders tweeted were more like an hour - when they could get on a packed train at all, which people actually on those packed trains emphasized might not be much of a blessing, given how the T seemed to have rolled out its fleet of trolleys without air conditioning this morning.

At 8:39, Katherine Bragg tweeted:

Have been waiting at Brookline Hills for more than 35 minutes. 4 trains, all completely full, have come.

Anyone want to help get the MBTA to get rid of the closed door policy on the Green Line?

Checked and no one else had set up Facebook page so I did. Welcome any and all suggestions. It's only going to get worse when school starts in the fall.

URL is www.facebook.com/MbtaLetYourPeopleGo

Thanks.

Boston to a T explains the limits of automatic vehicle identification on the Green Line.

Red Line riders wait for a train, because what other choice do they have? Photo by Robby.

A dead train at Haymarket, you say? The Red Line attempts to trump that with a dead train of its own at Park Street AND another one at Harvard. How can Orange answer?

Meanwhile, speaking of competition, Landon Kolsky proposes an MBTA Olympics:

Events include high evasion jumping, baby stroller hurdles, 100 meter dash to the Red Line, and Curling.

Only problem, he adds:

The opening and closing ceremonies will be delayed due to a signal problem, they will apologize for any inconvenience.

UPDATE: An overhead wire became an underfoot wire on the Riverside line around 9:30 p.m., leading to busing, passengers being forced to evacuate trolleys to walk back to stations, etc.

Maybe the trains just couldn't bear all the weight of soccer fans heading to Fenway. Or the anguished ghosts of riders past were reaching up and grabbing the wheels of the trains. Whatever, Perry reports:

Wow! It took 3 green line trains and 90 minutes from govt ctr to kenmore! Way to suck, MBTA.

Officials at Govt Ctr tell you to go to Park to catch a D train and the 1st D train is packed from Govt Ctr.

Megan Mix adds:

At Kenmore, have been trying to make my way home from park st for over an hour. Get your act together MBTA or I'm finding a new city.

At one point this morning, dead trains and signal problems meant simultaneous delays on the Red, Green and Blue Lines. Ol' Grampa Orange Line, however, confounded the delay gremlins.

A man with a record that includes stalking and witness intimidation was charged with groping a woman on a Green Line trolley Tuesday evening - and then trying to chat her up later when he spotted her as he drove away.

It's SNAFU at Park Street, where people are sardined on platforms waiting for trains to move. At 6:38, Nikki Frankel tweeted:

MAJOR delays on green line. Been at Park St. for 20 minutes with no movement. PA said service has been "temporarily halted".

Tlukowski tweets:

3 D line trains, sitting on the Park Street platform for 10+ mins.

At 7:07 p.m., Pat Haley tweeted it took his trolley 45 minutes to get from Copley to Park.

Mike Miccoli reported from Government Center at the height of one of the afternoon's storms:

Turnstiles at Govt Center aren't working. Of course, there are millions of tourists confused. Now I know what hell looks like.

Line to get into Govt Center is backed up into the rain. Of course, there's only one frantic employee trying to manually open each one.

Thankfully a true Bostonian used his hand to enter thru turnstile and let everyone in. MBTA worker not pleased, but hey, problem solved!

Sure, there were hot trains and stinky people on the Red Line, and no doubt some Blue Line cars had the AC cranked up too high, but for sheer misery, nothing beat the Green and Orange Lines this evening: Dead trains, one rider who wanted to be dead and wandered onto the tracks, Red Sox fans, that single-door policy above ground and, oh, yeah, stations that appeared to stretch straight down to Hades. Herewith a report from what Alison Preston Baldyga dubbed the MBTA Sweat Fest 2012:

Rob Grover reports an incident on a Green Line trolley at Park Street last night that makes you wonder - again - how well T workers keep up with their own written policies, in this case the one that says passengers can take pictures. In a series of tweets, he writes:

3838 at Park St. at 9pm, the motorwoman flashed interior lights on & off, screaming I can't take pics. Why am I harassed about this?

So aggravated @ the T staff harassing me about taking pics, even after they updated their photo policy weeks ago. I pay more for this?

The car was practically empty and I was taking pics of the interior w/ my phone.

I've printed out the policy before but that didn't stop 3 T staff @ Lechmere last yr. telling me I still needed a permit.

What really ticks me off is that I didn't even have my formal camera w/ me. I was taking pics on my phone!

I'm waiting on the day someone uses the See Something Say Something app & a T cop says "you still can't take pics".

Boston Fare Strike is planning some fare evasion starting at 6 p.m. today at Park Street. The goal is to protest the recent fare increases, natch.

Bring an instrument or a noise maker and be ready to celebrate Fare Free Friday!

Mats Tolander reports on (and photographs) an incident on Comm. Ave. by BU's Warren Towers yesterday that ended with an MBTA cop spraying a belligerent guy in the face with pepper spray and cuffing him.

News item: MBTA may sell station names - and one of the first of the new stations could be Emerson Boylston.

Emerson Boylston knew what they say: Gentlemen never drink before 11 a.m. or east of Tremont.

Boylston was no gentleman. As he sat in his office on the wrong side of Tremont, he was pouring his second shot of the morning when his first appointment of the day walked in. Samantha Lowell tried apologizing for being late - something about falling asleep on the train and only being jolted awake at Peoples Federal Savings Bank State Street ...

Earlier:
New 'n' improved MBTA map.

Yesterday at Park Street (start around 1:25 to see the fare-evasion action). Didn't appear to be any CSAs or transit cops to make a stand against the roughly 50 Occupy MBTA protesters.

Ari Rizzitano explains:

When headed north on the Green Line, waiting for a Lechmere train is like waiting for the skinny Tetris block.

Our roving UHub photographer assures us that's Mike Dukakis getting onto a crowded Green Line trolley at Longwood this morning - just like he used to do when he was governor.

Joe Pesaturo at the MBTA reports:

At 12:17 p.m. today, an intoxicated man stumbled and fell beneath a Green Line trolley that had just made a stop at Haymarket Station. Preventing a tragedy, customers on the platform alerted the trolley operator of the situation before the train started to move. The MBTA would like to express its gratitude to the customers who "Saw Something, and Said Something" before it was too late. The man was not injured.

If you guessed Friday afternoon rush hour, you win! Unlike the people now stuck waiting for shuttle buses to get them around the downed wire at Newton Centre, who lose.