The T

Heading home after lunch with my inamorato, I was caught in the afternoon rainstorm. I boarded the CT1 bus at the corner of Huntington Ave and Massachusetts Ave. The CT1 is the "Express" version of the #1 bus that runs all the way from Harvard Square, Cambridge down Mass Ave to Dudley Square in Roxbury. It has fewer stops than the regular #1 bus.

Me (boarding): "Does this bus stop at Tremont Street?"
Driver: "Hmm ... Well ..."
Me: "Not sure?"
Driver: "Not sure."
Me: "Let's see what happens?"
Driver: "Let's see what happens."

It may not have been his regular route.

FYI: It does!

The Herald reports on the girl charged with partially blinding a man on a 28 bus by throwing bleach in his face during a robbery.

A Roxbury 15-year-old was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail today at her first court appearance on charges she threw bleach in a man's face during a robbery on a 28 bus last week, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Lai Lawnnie Douglas, 22, had her bail set at $20,000, the DA's office says

The DA's office provided this account of the attack:

Will also try even harder to eliminate the herding instinct among buses on 15 lines that carry about 40% of bus riders, the T reports.

Transit Police report they are investigating three attacks by "rowdy and unruly youths" on Red Line riders between Ashmont and JFK over the past week. Patrols on the line have been increased.

Douglas, per Transit Police.

Updated, 6:35 p.m.

Transit Police report they have arrested Lai Lawnnie Douglas, 22, on charges she took part in a robbery/bleach attack on a 28 bus on Sunday. Her arrest warrant charges her with unarmed robbery, mayhem and indecent assault and battery.

A juvenile, not identified because of her age, is also charged and has been picked up, police say. Police say they know who the third suspect is and are looking for her.

Innocent, etc.

All but Orient Heights on the Blue Line and Charles/MGH now have electronic countdown clocks to let passengers know when the next train should arrive, the MBTA says.

The T adds it's improved the algorithms used to calculate arrival times, in particular at stations right at the beginning and end of lines, for "an elevated Countdown experience."

Orient Heights, currently under renovation, should get its clocks when overall renovations are done in 2014; Charles/MGH this fall.

The Green Line could get countdown clocks sometime before the end of the century.

Sought.

Transit Police report they are looking for a woman packing bleach and two accomplices for an attack on a 28 bus early Sunday.

According to police, a man sitting on the bus in Grove Hall resisted getting robbed by the three women, around 2 a.m.:

A substance believed to be bleach, was doused in the victim's face during the assault and subsequent robbery. The victim was assisted by others in flushing his eyes after the assault.

When found, the women will face charges of unarmed robbery, mayhem and assault and battery. If they look familiar, contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or via an anonymous text tip to 873873.

The Salem News reports on the jury award for Samantha Mattei, injured in a May, 2009 collision blamed on trolley driver Aiden Quinn texting his girlfriend while operating the train.

The T argued that Mattei had some of her conditions, which her family says forced her to drop out of college and will require home care, before the crash.

Dead train at Blandford. Photo by Boston Frankie.

Every other Green Line branch is now back to normal operations following the fiery wire problems at Copley, but not the B, due to a dead train switch problem at Blandford, which means continued bustitution between Babcock and Kenmore.

UPDATE, 1:10 p.m.: B Line back to normal operations.

Kenmore busway a bit crowded this AM. Photo by Nikki.

Downed wires at Copley and the resulting fire around 10 a.m. mean no service and lots of grumpy commuters forced to go upstairs for buses at Kenmore Square, shuttling between there and Arlington.

Scott Lovejoy wonders why more people didn't hop on bikes at the nearby Hubway station.

MBTA bus drivers have also been attacked with cups of urine, WBUR reports.

No, this has nothing to do with Big Dig financing or fare increases. Derek watched an actual shell game in action at Back Bay station tonight. He reports:

This is the first time I've seen a crew working the shell game on the MBTA. The crew suckered one woman, now they're working on a guy. He's not buying it, tho. Not yet at least.

Can three-card monte be far behind?

Eric Kaminsky reports T workers are telling people to walk over to Downtown Crossing if they want to get anywhere.

Transit Police report arresting a man from a Pittsburgh suburb at the Sullivan Square Orange Line stop last night before he could get the tar beaten out of him strangle a local following the end of the Penguins' O-4 series.

According to police, officers arrived at a disturbance around 11:30 p.m. at the station to find Ryan Baessler, 29, of Carnegie, PA, with his hands around another man's throat and screaming insults at him:

Orange Line service was halted around 8:45 this morning as police worked to remove a guy who for some reason decided to get on the tracks at Haymarket.

Transit and Boston Police are looking for three suspects for a shooting at the busway at Ashmont station around 10:20 p.m. The victim was taken to Carney Hospital with a grazed leg.

Two of the suspects are black, in black hoodies, both about 5'8" with slim builds. The third is white, in a gray hoodie, also about 5'8" and slim. They may have run onto either Carruth Street or the Mattapan trolley line.

Personally, I think the new alerts are just plain awful, as compared to the old ones.

Say there are Green Line signal delays at Copley Junction:

Under the old system, the alert would read something like:

The Orange Line was shut in both directions after a woman was struck by an inbound train at Stony Brook around 2:45 p.m.

The station was evacuated and the T put together alternate bus service in both directions between Forest Hills and Ruggles.

Her death comes the day after riders at the Mass. Ave. station helped a man off the tracks after he'd fallen on them.

Update: Transit Police report the victim was white, apparently in her 30s and was near the south end of the station when hit.

UPDATE, 6:10 p.m. Service has resumed, but is a mess.

Around 9:45 p.m. on the outbound side of the Orange Line station.

Nakia Hill tweets:

Omg! I just witnessed some brave passengers help a [man] who fell on the train tracks as a train approached. They saved his life!

Curt Nickish also saw his rescue:

He's bleeding but being attended to.

Casey was right there:

He fell right in front of me. I almost told him not to step but couldn't. I keep thinking I could've stopped him. But there was no time. He didn't realize he was stepping off.

A Marblehead man admitted today he head butted an MBTA bus driver at Wonderland last July, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

John Kerivan, 48, headed into court asking for a suspended sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to assault and battery on a public employee. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Ozbolt, who headed up the prosecution, asked for 18 months. Chelsea District Court Judge Benjamin Barnes headed off further discussion and gave him three months in jail.

According to the DA's office, Kerivan boarded a T bus at Wonderland station around 10 p.m. on July 23 - and promptly began screaming at the driver:

When the bus driver tried to calm him, the evidence would have shown, Kerivan head-butted him, knocking the driver off balance and disorienting him.

MBTA Transit Police found Kerivan in the station a short time later and took him into custody. The driver was released from duty for the day and received treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Happened around 5 p.m., service was halted in both directions. Cop got her kid, both got off the tracks and service resumed a few minutes later.

Transit Police report arresting a man on charges he tried to steal a woman's phone out of her hands at the Tufts Medical Center stop on the Orange Line last night.

According to police, Joaquin Armaiz, 43, went up to a woman walking towards the platform around 7:40 p.m., grabbed her by the shoulders and demanded her phone:

The victim refused, the male then forcefully attempted to rip the victim's cell phone from her hands. A struggle ensued which caused the victim to fall down a set of stairs resulting in minor abrasions to her facial area. The victim was able to maintain possession of her phone. The male attacker fled the station running out onto Washington Street.

Police say an officer spotted a man matching the victim's description at Tremont and Boylston. She was brought there, IDed him and Armaiz was bundled into a Transit Police cruiser for booking on a charge of unarmed assault to rob.

Wood Island is the last/first stop on the Blue Line right now, thanks to a recalcitrant switch at Orient Heights. Buses, anyone?

The Worcester Line has trouble in cold weather. It also has trouble in warm weather - the MBTA just announced speed restrictions on the line because of the high temperatures.