One inconveniences commuters with its ads.
The other inconveniences commuters with its ads, but gets permission from the MBTA to do so. So, hey, who's going to the free Jewel concert at the tail end of rush hour at South Station tonight?
Update: The T has pulled down the story/press release, but you can read the original here, the rather different slant in the Herald story and your basic dyspeptic BadTransit report on Mac Daniel here.
Tim McIntire reports he saw the guy he knocked into two days in a row at the Malden T stop this morning - taking care to use a different set of stairs.
Boston Police report a gang of black and white teens has been mugging people coming out of the JFK and Shawmut T stops in the evening.
Took the Orange Line to Chinatown this morning to renew my license. Adding value to my CharlieCard was a snap, there weren't any crazy people (or fetid pools of vomit) on the train, the Registry people were pleasant and I was probably in and out in 20 minutes.
I know: Shocking!
Yesterday, Tim McIntire bumped into some guy with his large gym bag on the stairs at the Malden T stop. This morning, he did it again - and this time words such as "Buddy" and "RELAX" were exchanged:
... A very New England exchange. Not only did I never used to call people "buddy" (or "pal" or "Sully"), but I've learned the hard way that "relax!" is generally what a New Englander yells when he's trying to stop himself from punching you in the face. ...
BadTransit considers the $510-million (and counting) Greenbush commuter line, which will serve perhaps 1,800 daily commuters. What if they'd instead spent all that on extending the Green Line to Somerville (or rather, if they'd started doing that 10 years ago) or the Blue Line to Lynn? Think that would have been a better investment?
Yesterday morning, Chip got to wait 20 minutes in the cold for an 80 bus in Ball Square (two out-of-service buses lumbered by in place of the 7:40 bus that never showed up). Then in the afternoon, he had to wait 30 minutes for a D trolley at Fenway before some T employee finally bothered to tell the shivering masses the trolleys weren't running because of a downed power line at Reservoir.
Mike Mennonno ponders them as he observes a gaggle of young black guys on the Red Line, all bitch this and dawg that as the train hurtles toward Somerville from Park Street:
A couple weeks ago, the Globe's Mac Daniel all but called Ron Newman a liar for saying there was gold in them thar tossed-aside CharlieTickets.
HAH! We said then DON'T DOUBT THE NEWMAN. Official proof comes in today's Metro (the CharlieTicket of local newspapers: you find them lying around all over the place): As of late last week, the Somerville resident had 30 tickets worth $55.
Ryan McGee gives his initial impressions of the finally-renovated North Station: The shiny things are great; the commuters are more out of shape than ever.
Up to an hour this morning - must've been fun - Cindy and Jeff report:
...As expected, we saw our share of cold weather-related "brrr-eakdowns" today. ...
So this 75-year-old MBTA engineer files an age-discrimination complaint, alleging her bosses were giving her almost no work as a way to force her to retire.
But the state Commission Against Discrimination has ruled there was no discrimination - because her co-workers were also being allowed to sit around doing nothing all day as well.
The Quincy Patriot-Ledger has the Onion-like story. Via Charlie on the MBTA.
Charlie on the MBTA posts one Green Line commuter's saga from this morning: 40 minutes from Kenmore to Government Center.
The T Riders Union set up a few polls over on our site on how riders feel about the fare hikes.
We're going to collect the results of how riders feel and present them to the MBTA, so head on over and feel free to leave comments as well: http://www.ace-ej.org
Charlie on the MBTA gets e-mail from somebody who praises a driver on the 7 bus in South Boston and decides February should be T Employee Appreciation Month because the majority of T workers are decent, hard-working folks trying to do the best they can in often bad conditions.
So huzzah, T employees. Except maybe for this person.
Above: Erinob sums it up.
Ooh, look, you can already buy I Survived the Mooninite Attack t-shirts!
Todd Vanderlin posted about the gizmos two weeks ago.
Michael on ChaosFactor: It's equal parts amazing, damning, and jaw-droppingly stupid that the city of Boston could be brought to a stand-still by 5 modified Lite-Brites.
Mass. Marrier: It kind of makes you wonder how they'll react if there is a real threat.
TC sums up:
Deval Patrick: "There is not a reason for anyone to panic, but there are reasons for us to be vigilant."
But Patrick, Menino and Police Superintendent Ed Davis aren't saying what the things they recovered are. Davis referred to "an individual" as being to blame; said there might be more news later this evening.
Davis said police are still being vigilant around state and city buildings, hospitals and bridges.
Menino called the things "bombs" several times before correcting himself; said whoever's to blame is not going to like what's going to happen when they're caught.
Long, long lines waiting for customer service. Wasn't fixing that at the Registry one of Dan Grabauskas's crowning achievements? Any chance he'll ever get around to replicating that on the T?
Also, Mr. G., as long as we have your attention, Lewis Forman has some issues, both in general and with the Blue Line in particular.
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