The SWAT team hits the T...

I'm a big proponent of fare enforcement and increasing penalties for those caught not paying.  But what I saw this morning was just sad.  I got to the stop and there were approximately eight employees scanning passes as people arrived.  C'mon, this is just overkill.  You could have had one undercover employee sitting on the train in the back doing the same thing and actually catch people who don't pay.  It looked like a small army.

Until they stop people from walking through the open gates at Government Center, you're going to miss the real fare evaders.

Fashion tips

Today's fashion tip: Don't do your make-up on the T.  I'll give her credit, she didn't go flying or poke herself in the eye every time the train moved, but the woman who was standing across from me really needs to find a better place to do her makeup.  Between the blush, the eyebrow tweezing and lots of other female things that I didn't fully understand, she spent a good 15 minutes prettying herself up.

And in other news, "that guy" turned out to be a woman today.  I'm pretty sure that if she had blasted her music any louder, the people in the next car could have heard.  Which leads to an interesting question: If you start to lose your hearing due to music volumes, thus causing you to turn it up, will that only accelerate the process?

It could be worse; it could be the Washington Street Silver Line

What a mess.  I had to take the Silver Line the other day and it almost made me thankful for the Green Line.  I don't know why these buses can't drive in the rain, but after the first bus showed up, which I just missed, it was almost twenty minutes until the second one came.  As usual, back to back to back.  Nice scheduling, guys.

The Green Line at night

I'm not sure who does the scheduling for the Green Line, but there have to be patterns that occur.  For instance, at 10pm on a Saturday night, there are people going outbound from the city.  All these little one-car trains?  Not so much.  It gets as bad as rush hour.  Now, I understand that you don't want to overuse your resources on a time of day that you don't get many people.  But let's get serious, here.  You should be able to mine enough data to figure out when something is going to go wrong.

The late commute

I made the mistake of going in late this morning.  Hey, the kids apparently want breakfast.

The train was packed, and with all the usual suspects.  To the person on my left: If you are carrying a large bag, it is polite to place it on the floor.  If you keep it in your lap, it will overflow into my lap.

To the person on my right: Hey, it's That Guy!  Dude, you're 50.  You're too old to have the Phil Collins blasting so loudly that I can hear it through your earbuds.