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It's like the entire country and Canada and some of their friends rode the T

By adamg - 7/31/12 - 9:11 am

The MBTA reports total T ridership passed 400 million in the 12 months ending June 30, the first time its ridership numbers have ever been that high.

The ridership increase was experienced across all MBTA modes, including buses (5.9% growth), the subway (5.2%), and trolleys (8.0%)

T officials credited several factors, including the improving local economy, the availability of real-time transit info for bus and train riders (except on the Green Line) and "an overall improvement in MBTA service reliability."

How Mr. T Announcer Guy knows which stop to announce on the Green Line - and why you can't track the trolleys

By adamg - 7/30/12 - 9:14 am

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

Red, Orange Lines compete to see which is worst

By adamg - 7/27/12 - 5:42 pm

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

Ever feel like a rat in a maze in a laboratory on the T?

By adamg - 7/27/12 - 10:46 am

Steve Annear reports the white coats from DHS are back 'neath the streets of Boston with their fancy monitoring gizmos, takin' measurements and checkin' out the airflow. But don't worry - they're not spritzing people with killed bacteria.

Boston's other police department has a blog, too

By adamg - 7/27/12 - 10:40 am

When MBTA Transit Police see something now, they blog something - but so far with fewer puns than their counterparts at BPD.

Some would say it never left

By adamg - 7/27/12 - 8:27 am

Andy Metzger notes that the same week the T began collaring large numbers of fare evaders downtown, ads promising "Mischief is back in Boston" began appearing on fare gates.

Green Line ghastlier than usual

By adamg - 7/25/12 - 6:41 pm

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.

Cambridge figures out how to curb traffic in Kendall Square

By adamg - 7/25/12 - 8:33 am

The Globe reports car traffic in Kendall Square is dropping even as employment is increasing. Credit goes to employer incentives for bike riding and T taking - spurred by city regulations that require landlords to foster car alternatives in exchange for permission to build new parking spaces.

Storm vs. Orange Line: Storm wins

By adamg - 7/24/12 - 7:11 pm

Train-stopping tree. Photo by MBTA.Train-stopping tree. Photo by MBTA.

T misses that elusive four-fer

By adamg - 7/23/12 - 8:19 am

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.

At least two in custody for knife fight at Stony Brook T stop

By adamg - 7/22/12 - 4:34 pm

Brian D'Amico reports State and Boston police flooded the area around the Stony Brook stop on the Orange Line after a knife fight shortly after 4 p.m. - even as people nearby celebrated Boston's ties to the Dominican city of Bani in the annual Convite Banilejo. A State Police helicopter and K9 units were brought to the scene to look for a third suspect.

Cops pinch alleged Green Line groper

By adamg - 7/20/12 - 11:26 am

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.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports Douglas Ewald, 51, had bail set at $3,000 for the alleged incidents during the Tuesday afternoon rush hour.

According to prosecutors, Ewald groped a woman between Park Street and Kenmore even after she deflected his first attempted groping, told him to keep his hands to himself and them moved to another part of the trolley car. Then, the DA's office says:

Citizen complaint of the day: Vandals mar large public sculpture in Charles Circle

By adamg - 7/20/12 - 8:54 am

Charles/MGH

An aggrieved citizen reports:

Distasteful ad on beautiful public sculpture-MBTA station.

OK, now that we've all had a laugh at the expense of that woman in the motorized wheelchair on the T

By adamg - 7/19/12 - 7:14 pm

What are the privacy implications of the MBTA releasing that video?

Gridlock on the Green Line

By adamg - 7/19/12 - 6:45 pm

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.

Voyage of the damned on the Worcester Line

By adamg - 7/18/12 - 7:34 pm

Desperate riders on the 5:35 p.m. train to Worcester were left wondering what they did to deserve the hell they found themselves in as they sat motionless on the tracks in Newton for more than an hour as inbound trains kept passing them.

At 7:08, the appropriately named Disgruntled Rider reported the train was still sitting in Newton - more than an hour after the train would normally be pulling into Natick.

A few minutes later, he added:

Desperate times call for desperate measures: One man does more than just curse the rain at Government Center

By adamg - 7/18/12 - 6:09 pm

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!

Everywhere you go, they'll be watching you

By adamg - 7/18/12 - 7:48 am

The Globe reports the MBTA will use federal grants to bolster its camera network with thousands more cameras.

Report from the MBTA Sweat Fest 2012

By adamg - 7/17/12 - 9:13 pm

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:

How to turn your cell phone into a CharlieCard

By adamg - 7/17/12 - 8:39 pm

First, get some acetone.

H/t AlertNewEngland.

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