Firefighters quickly knocked down a fire in an escalator at the Government Center T stop shortly after 7 p.m., but heavy smoke forced them to evacuate everybody from the station and ask the MBTA to have Green Line trolleys bypass the stop until the smoke could be cleared.
A delayed citizen asks why the T can't have two card readers on every bus - one for normal people and one for the first-in-liners whose CharlieCards come up empty. The city will no doubt forward this to the T.
Ed. note: A couple weeks ago at Washington and Cornell in Roslindale, I saw a most amazing thing - a guy waved other people onto the bus before him because he knew he had to add more value to his card and he didn't want to hold everybody up. You go, good sir!
The Globe reports the T is halting the sale of 12-ride punch tickets good for six months because too many people were managing to get extra rides out of them. They'll be replaced with 10-ride tickets good for just a month.
On the B line, that starts somewhere between Copley and Hynes, Five Thousand Words a Day reports:
The change is far from gradual, yet you never notice it until you look up and see that the quite nuclear family from Rhode Island has been replaced by a conspicuous gaggle of 12-15 bros who have taken pre gaming to a new level.
Liam considers the future of the area around the Forest Hills T stop after the Casey Overhulk comes down:
A Medford man and his Winthrop girlfriend were arraigned today on charges of armed assault with intent to murder for a March 24 incident on the Blue Line that left a rider unconscious and with serious injuries that might have been even worse if the man had managed to get access to his knife, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
The MBTA board agreed today to fare hikes and some service cuts starting July 1, the Globe reports.
Firefighters responded to a fire on the tracks between Downtown Crossing and Park Street reported around 9 a.m.
Power, of course, had to be shut off to let firefighters onto the tracks, causing delays for riders. The T rolled out shuttle buses for the trip between JFK and Harvard.
The Boston Fire Department reports some trash near some switching equipment caught fire.
Why does this make me think of bacon strips?
PETA has asked the T for permission to hang snakes from subway grab bars as a way to convince people not to buy snakeskin purses or something, but says it'll hang snakes even if the T says no. Ball's in your court, MBTA: Will you charge PETA $650 per snake?
UPDATE: The MBTA's Joe Pesaturo says:
The Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership has posted this video along with other photos and renderings of the proposed stops along the fabled Green Line extension.
Tom Bruno breaks the news:
MBTA counts loose change dropped onto subway tracks, announces $133.4 Billion surplus.
He adds that to avoid the 9.8% fee at the local CoinStar machine, they opted for a Stop & Shop gift card.
A trash fire on the tracks just before Chinatown outbound around 1:40 p.m. shut service to Forest Hills. MBTA workers extinguished the fire themselves, but Boston firefighters went into the tunnel to take a look.
The last major trash fire near the Chinatown stop was almost exactly a year ago.
Amanda Wild forwarded this video from this morning's Red Line nonsense, adds:
Latest stats from the T show continued growth in ridership - February's numbers are up 8.1% over last February's. The T credits overall employment growth in the region, higher gas prices, better real-time bus and subway arrival info and increased service reliability - which might be news to people who got stuck on the Red Line this morning due to yet another dead train, this time at Harvard. LC reports:
The MBTA said today savings in everything from group insurance to electricity purchases mean fares will go up an average of 23% come July 1, rather than the far higher increases originally forecast.
However, the T is also counting on $51 million in savings that would require legislative approval, including $4 million in tort reform.
Although most riders will be spared the deep cuts initially proposed, the T said it will eliminate weekend service on the E line past Brigham Circle and on the Needham, Kingston/Plymouth and Greenbush commuter-rail lines. Eliminated entirely: The 48 Jamaica Plain Loop bus.
Ongoing allegations of drug activity & prostitution result in the Mayor's office pulling out the ol' Scarlet Letter. Bring back the stockade!
Yes, we have no CharlieCards.
Boston to a T snapped this fare machine at Park Street today. In a word: Wha?
Some people just knee the Red Line.
Dot rat Adam Myerson likes the Red Line so much, he had it permanently affixed to his leg. He reports it took four sessions at Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in JP to get the whole thing - both train and the Fields Corner stop - on track.
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