Public Transportation

Love That Dirty Water

How can you resist this view? Even though I now live in western Massachusetts, I frequent Boston. You know, just pretending like I still live there. There’s something about that city that makes you fall in love with every good and bad thing.

For example, the T. Now it costs $2 for a ride? Ouch. Six years ago all outbound rides were free. However when I got on that squeaky trolley, I did breathe a sigh of relief and said “Ahhh public transportation.”

Funny to think five years ago I moved to Boston thinking it’ll be my temporary home while I’m in college. Now I can’t even imagine leaving New England!

Parents Weren't Joking… Look Both Ways Before Crossing

My mom used to tell me ALL the time, look both ways before crossing.

No matter how many times I have run to the store across the street for a bag of chips, a distant shout of “Remember, look both ways before you cross! Green light doesn’t mean anything. Look both ways!” never failed to echo down the street multiple times.

And I know, for a fact, my mom isn’t the only mom out there who nagged her children like this.

We all have heard it, and we are all too good at letting it escape out the other ear.

Unfortunately sometimes we need sad reminders to remember, looking both ways, something as simple as that, can cost us our lives.

In October alone, two separate incidents concerning pedestrian safety made news.

One accident on Commonwealth Avenue left a Boston University sophomore injured. The other on MBTA’s T track left one alum dead.

Of course these two accidents are different in that the girl on Commonwealth Ave. was rushing to her class and according to the reports, the BU alum may have been intoxicated when he was hit.

They are, however, in a way exactly the same in that both victims neglected to pause before walking out on to the road / T-track.

I understand I myself am guilty as well. Sometimes I take too long to straighten my hair in the morning or I am just having too much fun with friends making that long walk back home on a weekend night.

Regardless, bottom line, we should ALL be careful no matter what time of the day…

Daily Free Press article about the T victim.

BU today article about the Comm. Ave. accident.

Driving Under the Influence…[of the newspaper?]

Why, oh why MBTA? Yesterday an MBTA bus driver was caught reading a newspaper while driving. A driver of the car in front of the bus saw the bus driver in his rear view mirror. Sure, creeping on the the person behind you in a stop-and-go traffic isn’t abnormal, but spotting a public transportation driver absorbed in a reading material behind the wheel is quite abnormal.

The random driver obviously snapped a couple shots on his handy dandy Blackberry and sent the pics to MBTA. The bus driver is subsequently suspended without pay for 10 days.

(Picture courtesy of WBZ)

I don’t mean to sound like a snob, but why do we have so many problems with MBTA here in Boston? According to a recent survey conducted by Mercer, Boston is ranked #37 as the nicest city to live in the world. That means we probably have a great standard of living, relatively low crime rates, good education, etc. But no competent public transportation?

While I was in London, all I heard about the T involved derailed green line, delayed B-lines, red line on fire and replacement bus service that never came. Geez!

My life in Boston inevitably depends on the T – especially in inclement weather conditions and to get to and from my internship and jobs. It sure is frustrating when I have no idea why I have to wait at least 20 minutes for a T to come, why the bus stop is half destroyed or why the bus map doesn’t tell me where the bus stops next. Moreover, why won’t the MBTA website let me see the balance left on my Charlie Card?

MBTA, let’s take baby steps and try to improve this situation. In the near future, if I can see some of these changes, I will seriously love you forever.

1. Let us see the balance of our Charlie Cards on the website! We can already add money or monthly passes online; so it’s a matter of some html works?

2. Air traffic control at airports manage 100’s planes daily. Can’t we hire someone to track where the T is and let us know if there will be a delay? Maybe a system like Brussels where we can see on a digital map where the train is? Maybe a system like London where a board tells us how long until the next bus?

3. I would love love love to be able to sit on clean seats and NOT play frogger around trash on the buses.

4. The awful screech noise pulling into Boylston St. Stop has GOT TO GO.

5. This is one of the more obvious ones – what’s up with lack of trains on B-line? More green line trains, especially B-lines, please.

Every time I get on the T or the bus, I think about the good times in London where public transportation always ran on time, always came when expected and always alerted passengers during delays.

But I do appreciate MBTA when I hear about heroic T drivers and when it gets me to different places. In the end, I remain a hopeful MBTA passenger, wishing for some improvements in the future!

http://wbztv.com/video/?id=89736@wbz.dayport.com (T Driver Article)