Orange Line

Orange Line riders north of Boston to face two years of periodic weekend, night bus service

adamg — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:32:11 +0000

South End Patch reports on impending bustitution north of the city to let the MBTA build the new Assembly Square stop in peace. There's no set schedule yet for the "diversions," but the T says what will start out as sporadic shutdowns will grow more frequent as the station progresses.

I for one welcome our new T-riding alien overlords

adamg — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:08:28 +0000

"Cookbooks for sale," this sign at Forest Hills probably says.

Police: Two blasts of pepper spray not enough to subdue would-be Orange Line phone thief

adamg — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:00:57 +0000

MBTA Transit Police report that even after two shots of pepper spray yesterday afternoon, a Chelsea man collared for trying to steal an Orange Line rider's phones managed to flee an officer - who managed to catch up with him and finally subdue him on a commuter-rail platform with his baton.

Police say an officer on routine patrol inside Back Bay station noticed two men holding down a third just inside the fare gates to the Orange Line around 6:40 p.m. According to a police report, one told the officer the man had tried to steal his phone down on the platform but that he and another Orange Line rider grabbed the guy, later identified as Jonathan Pagan, 20, and marched him upstairs in search of police.

Police say that after hearing their stories, the officer told Pagan he was under arrest. According to his report:

Stabbing at State Street T stop

adamg — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:28:16 +0000

Alert New England reports somebody was stabbed in the throat by the Old State House entrance to the State Street T stop around 9 p.m. The T shut down the station to let police investigate the incident.

Christopher Baer tweeted not long after:

I saw a man holding a cloth to his throat getting into an ambulance outside State St. T station a few minutes ago.

Update: Suspect described as black male in 20s, in a black sweatshirt, dark jeans, black shoes and a black hat with a purple brim.

You don't need to travel to the Quincy iParty for your phallus-shaped implements

adamg — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:23:57 +0000

Just hop on the Orange Line.

Fed-up Orange Line riders have each others' backs

adamg — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:44:58 +0000

Jamaica Plain Patch reports on a late-night incident at Stony Brook station in which four riders teamed up to capture and detain an alleged cell-phone thief - despite some punches from the guy's accomplices.

Man wanted for Orange Line indecent assault

adamg — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:19:05 +0000

MBTA Transit Police report they are looking for a man who attacked a woman on an Orange Line train somewhere between Downtown Crossing and Malden on the afternoon of March 30.

Police say he sat down next to the woman, began talking to her and then indecently assaulted her. He may have been drunk at the time.

Police describe him as black, between 20 and 25 and 5'7" or 5'8".

Orange Line service to Forest Hills shut by trash fire near Chinatown station

adamg — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 17:54:05 +0000

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.

3/31/12 - 1:40 pm

East Boston man charged as serial T smartphone thief

adamg — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:39:10 +0000

And now he faces deportation as well, the Metro reports.

T hits quadfecta

adamg — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:30:29 +0000

At various points this morning, the Green, Red and Blue lines all had problems due to dead trains (at Kenmore, Park and Bowdoin, respectively). No doubt feeling left out, the Orange Line this afternoon developed switch problems.

It was not, however, a rare perfect quadfecta - those only happen when all four lines shut down simultaneously.

Roslindale barbers getting more adventurous

adamg — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:38:59 +0000

Fly guy on Boston's flyest subway line.

On Saturday, Melissa Gibson spotted this dude at Jackson Square on the Orange Line with rapper Rick Ross's visage shaved into his hair. She reports "Phill da Barber" in Roslindale did the honors.

Anybody know where in Roslindale Phill strops his razor?

Copyright Melissa Gibson. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Fully armed and operational Best Buy station now in place at Forest Hills

adamg — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:47:41 +0000

Nothing beats battleship gray.

You look at the Best Buy vending machine in Forest Hills and you wonder when they're going to take off the sheet metal and get it back into operation. In fact, as I learned today from one of the guys at the newsstand next to it, you can already buy stuff from it. But this time, they've hidden all the merch well away from prying eyes, given what happened last time to their supposedly impregnable glass-fronted vend-o-matic. So now you have to know that, in fact, the touch screen works and you can buy stuff just as if you were on your laptop, only the stuff is dispensed immediately upon payment.

Orange Line passenger charged as screaming cop biter

adamg — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:51:43 +0000

Boston Police report an off-duty cop returning home from a detail at the Garden last night had to subdue an out-of-control passenger who, after refusing to stop harassing other passengers, turned on him and sent him to the hospital with minor injuries.

According to police, the cop, heading toward his car at Forest Hills around 11 p.m., perked up when he noticed Aisha Abdi Yusuf, 22, screaming at some men at the other end of their train car. When he asked her - "quietly," police say - to knock it off and sit down, she turned on him:

The T doesn't like getting up on Monday morning any more than you do

adamg — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:12:29 +0000

Broken trolleys on the Green Line, borked signals on the Orange Line, non-functioning lights on the Red Line at Park Street. But at least the Blue Line was working just fine.

Oh, and don't be so smug, morning drivers: Storrow inbound was FUBAR.

How to avoid spilling your coffee at a subway stop

adamg — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:55:56 +0000

Don't try riding your bike up the escalator while holding a cup in one hand. SC reports watching in amazement today as a guy rode his bike down the Orange Line platform at Forest Hills, then tried to ride it up the escalator:

He got stuck at the bottom & spilled his coffee everywhere. ... Got one wheel on and lost control while still on the seat.

Wonder if he's the same guy spotted riding his bike down the Orange Line platform at Back Bay last month.