bloggers on the T (January 26th edition)

A sample of some blogging comments concerning the T in recent days

Colleen our Subway Knitter announces the winner of her mitten raffle for Rosie's Place

15: Minutes of fame.

105: Comments left for my original mitten post (the most ever for a single blog entry).

100: individual donations to Rosie's Place.

$1,625: total amount of donations, in US dollars. That's sixteen hundred twenty five US dollars in case you need it spelled out. I'm swooning as I type this.

2: fine articles about 1 pair of mittens.

1: Handknit hat

Caroline sends Bad Transit a copy of a letter she emailed to Mac Daniel

Today people along the Fitchburg line waited 25 minutes in 10-degree cold because when it is cold, the train is delayed. Also when it is hot and there are not enough cars with air conditioning. Also when it rains and switch boxes are flooded. Also when there is snow. Don’t forget wet leaves on the track. Can’t run trains on time if leaves fall in New England, you know. Where are these MBTA people from? And don’t they read the weather report?

Gary was also on the Fitchburg line Friday morning

This is the kind of day for which I reserve the phrase "utterly and obscenely cold." The 410 inbound train on the Fitchburg line ran 15 minutes late. Two of the cars were unheated, so passengers packed into the remaining cars. Some people got onto that train by mistake, thinking it was the 420 local which runs 20 minutes later. The Red Line subway wasn't much better; I had to wait about 10 minutes and then squeeze into a packed train.

Greg on myspace.com writes about his 2 weeks working in the T complaint department last summer.

For about 2 weeks last summer, I worked in the complaint department of the MBTA as a temp. Here is a list of my 5 favorite complaints that I heard in that two week span. These are actual complaints and responses.

Ken wonders if the T really understands who Charlie was

Listen, guys. You do realize that the song was about "Charlie" who was stuck on the subway system because he lacked money for exit fares, yes? I mean, the song was critical of the MBTA and its boneheaded fare policies.

So are you sure you want to invoke Charlie as your new mascot?

splurby on livejournal.com decides to take the T up on their offer and "Write to the top".

Dear Mr. Grabauskas,

I want to express my great disappointment with your "Write
to the Top" program, which claims that if I "write to the appropriate
person" then "he or she will respond." Below are two messages that I
wrote to Tina Beasley, the first on January 19 and the second on January
24. Ms. Beasley has not bothered to take the time to respond to either of
these correspondences whatsoever...not even with an unsatisfying, canned
"Thanks for writing. We appreciate your feedback." Not a single word.

B-Line All Stars waits for the Green Line Friday morning..and waits and waits

Only, I would be warm if I was moving - no, instead, I got the pleasure of waiting 15 minutes for an inbound Greenline; those of you who don't know Boston, the MBTA above-ground trolleys have a maximum of two cars per train service. Imagine being in NYC where each subway car was only an eighth to a quarter as long as it needed to be for efficient service. Now take away one of those cars, for, due to some unimaginable reason, the second car sat in the dark, not accepting passengers. Why even have a second car?

RoTa makes some observations about BU students and the B Line

You are going to take a cab instead of just walk half a mile? You sure showed the T by throwing your money away on a cab instead. The kids don’t seem to get that the T isn’t losing anything by them not riding - the T wasn’t making any money off of them in the first place, as they were riding outbound FOR FREE. Yes, the loss of that NOTHING will surely cripple the (already mostly crippled) MBTA.

Anne Marie marvels about a MBTA application for her PC

My dad also told me about an MBTA program for PCs that you can download from the site http://www.secondkiss.com/mbta/ . It is so cool ... you can get the schedules for the commuter rail train for every stop as well as the maps for the commuter rail and the subway.