The Lone Rider reports the second new train has gone into service on the Blue Line - and provides updates on train painting/refurbishing on the other lines.

Meanwhile, Joey, new to the US, reports on a fun day at Revere Beach today - which ended at the Blue Line station where she watched a guy beat up a cop and two strangers jump onto the tracks to pull up a drunk guy who'd fallen there:

... I thought that was so brave! Luckily there was no train approaching otherwise it could have ended in a nightmare...what a day!

Hilarity ensues when the power goes out and the substitute buses are routed to South Station:

... Another thing about the Silver Line is that all of the T employees were yelling at people not to board them when they arrived. This is pretty strange, considering the Airport station is not on its usual route. So apparently the MBTA were re-routing Silver-Line buses with the sole intention of taunting everyone late for work stuck in a huge crowd. ...

It's the feel-good Blue Line story of the day, featuring some thug wannabe sprawled across two seats, an old white-haired man who gets on the train and a blogger who reaches her limit.

One of these days, alarms will start blaring at a T stop and people will actually pay attention. But not today, and not at Downtown Crossing, Jenny Frazier reports:

... It took me my entire walk up to the Orange Line to realize that not a single person, including myself, batted an eyelash at the heinously loud alarms. Instead we all just continued on our merry Bostonian way. ...

However, there's good news at State Street, where Fabulously Out There reports on how the MBTA has fixed the ankle-twisting stairs between the Orange and Blue lines.

Yes, it's another episode of "Compare a busy, decaying Blue Line stop to the stunning, rarely used Courthouse stop on the Silver Line." Today's contestant: Fabulously Out There, who reports from the decaying steps leading from the Blue Line to the Orange Line at historic State Street station:

... There is a woman sitting on the stairs and a MBTA dude standing in front of her.

My immediate thought? A drunk? This early. Jesus christ. Then I noticed her business attire clothing and while I am walking down the stairs I am noticing several chunks of one of them crumbled on the floor.......then I pass the lady and she's in tears holding her ankle talking on her cell phone while the MBTA guy talks on his walkie-talkie. ...

Earlier:
Maverick vs. Courthouse.

To maintain their blood pressure, regular users of the Blue Line's Maverick station should probably avoid the Silver Line's beautiful, little used Courthouse station:

... The Maverick Station in East Boston that has a thousand times more use and serves the local public on a daily basis, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Now it has apparently been put on the back burner as the under funded, poor quality of materials and lack of oversight and caring of our local publicly elected officials should be in the spotlight. ...

Fabulously Out There reports she loves the Blue Line driver who looks like Santa, and that anybody who gets on the one new train (you know the one) with a nice hot cup of coffee had best not be drinking it when the train comes into a station:

... Apparently it's an impossibility to bring that train to a somewhat gentle halt.

I kind of enjoy it. I know to hold on, but damn, I have landed on my ass once almost...and when I see someone put that cup of hot java to their lips as the train approaches Aquarium or State Street, my little German heart starts beating with a calm beat of "Schadenfreude" ...

Boston Police report arresting a pair of East Boston teens on charges they tried to slice a guy up at the Government Center T stop around 4:20 p.m. today.

The victim, in his late teens or early 20s, was slashed in the arm, but is expected to survive.

Police charged Juan Chavez, 18, of East Boston, with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and affray. Another teen, 15, was charged with disturbing the peace and affray. Both will be arraigned Friday in Boston Municipal Court.

Channel 5 reports the fight started inside the T station, then spilled outside onto City Hall Plaza. Channel 7 reports the pair fled toward Downtown Crossing, where they were arrested.

Machetes seem to be a preferred weapon among Eastie thugs.

Statistics from the American Public Transportation Association show that while the use of public transit in the U.S. increased 2.1% last year, it decreased 2.9% in the region served by the MBTA. The change in subway usage was particularly striking: Down 7.8% here, compared with a 3.1% increase in other US cities with subways.

Via Robert David Sullivan, who wonders if our decrease is due to all the times last year subway service was replaced by shuttle buses. The fare increase might also have had something to do with it.

The MBTA finally rolled out the first of its new Blue Line trains today, and SignalPAD was there to take one of its first runs. Over the next 18 months, the T says it will replace the current 70 old cars with 94 new ones.

Eastie's Lewis Forman is looking forward to the quieter, more comfortable ride promised by the T.