is their web site- specifically the part that lets you plug in the address and you can find the buses, trains, etc. around that area. The MBTA definitely has a lot of issues, but after riding it almost daily for many many years, I felt like sticking up for it a bit too.

And there's a settled law suit to prove it. Yes, it was a rather frivolous suit but still worth noting.

Andy Moes, long time Boston radio personality (RIP) actually sued the MBTA back in the mid-80s, alleging that using the phrase "Rapid Transit" on its map charts in the trains amounted to false advertising. The T settled the suit, removing said language from its posters and charts. But, funny enough, in recent years I had begun to notice the words creeping back onto the small maps of the individual lines that are positioned over the subway car doors. Hmmmm, since Moes died in 2001 is the T thinking they're in the clear?

People love to gripe about public transit no matter how good it is. Proof of this is the hemming and hawing you hear in DC about the Metro. For those of you who haven't ridden it, its a futuristic underground transportation system, about 30-years old that runs virtually on-time all the time, is spottless and virtually crime-less, has little signs that tell you exactly when the next train is coming, and has an automated fair collection system. A dream, right? Ha! You hear the exact same complaints in DC about the Metro as you do here: it doesn't go enough places, its always packed, fare increases stink, its dirty (HA!), the metro cops are facists (for not letting you throw litter on the ground!), the machines are hard to use, they didn't build line out to my neighborhood fast enough because they have something against people who live there, etc.

People need to chill about public transit and the T in particular. These are complicated systems that are difficult to run even when they are brand new. They also cost a fantastic amount of money to operate and are always, always under-funded. Virtually every line on the T is more than 50 years old and some of it is much older. Moreover, its inherited a heavily unionized workforce which, for good or for bad, makes it difficult to change anything quickly service-wise. Then don't forget all the projects it gets told to do by the legislature without anyone ever asking it, like building new heavy rail lines to New Bedford, (because that can be done for free, right?)

Is the silver line great: no. We'd all like to have tracks down washington street. Should the T honor its legal commitments, yes. And someone should appropriate the money to make that happen (i.e. not repeal the state income tax). Is it anoying when a charlie machine is out of order? Yes, but they mostly aren't and I, a ludite, have managed to learn how to use them so everyone else can too. But for the most part, the T gets you where you want to go without the hastle and cost of a car, which is exactly what it is supposed to do and, overally, works just like, or better than, every other public transportation system in the world. So just breath deeply and get on with things.

How they get those ads that cover the entire buses onto the actually buses?? This is a bit unrelated to the original post, but I'm hoping someone might be able to solve the mystery for me. The best idea I can come up with (and I'm sure I'm completely off) is that it's somehow applied with huge high speed air guns- like hair dryers. Any thoughts??