D Line follies during rush hour

Apparently, the D Line broke yesterday.  C Line trains were packed and breathing was, well, difficult.  Oh, lady standing behind me, I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so if you are looking for a place to stand, a simple "excuse me" will do the trick and everyone will try to make some room for you.  Don't give us snarky comments after you go flying.

Sarcastic kudos to the driver who made the announcement for people who boarded on the back to come up front and pay their fares.  The only way to get those people up front would be for them to get carried along the top of the mosh pit.

Advisory Board recommendations

Well, let's add another bit of complexity to the situation.  The MBTA Advisory Board issued a set of recommendations that included a nice little mix of pain.  It was happy to absolve the T of a number of responsibilities, including the transit police and ferries, while pushing some of the costs on others elsewhere.  That would take care of just over 40% of the budget.  Another 45% or so would come from a 25% fare hike, which is unpopular, but necessary.  The final 15% would be "a little of this and a little of that," including a $.50 surcharge on event tickets and wage freezes for MBTA employees (Welcome to our world, guys!) and a few million bucks from local institutions and advertising.

I guess this proposal is good, at least from the point of view of the MBTA.  It minimizes the increase in fares while maintaining virtually all current routes.  Of course, if you are a Massachusetts taxpayer that doesn't benefit from the T, you're kinda screwed.  Furthermore, what happens the following year when expenses spike or employees want raises?  I really hope the band-aid holds, since I don't want to see the pain if we need stitches.

Signal problems

Arrived at work 15 minutes late today due to switching problems on the Green Line.  Of course, these things happen, except they had the same problem Friday.  I don't know what's worse: either they haven't fixed the problem from Friday, or they did fix it and it happened again.

The driver only slammed the door in passengers' faces once this weekend out of my three trips.  That's a pretty good ratio.  How sad that the employees view the customers as the enemy.

Rush hour jerk

This week's winner is the woman who shouted, "Everyone, it's rush hour, take off your backpacks!?" and then started to swing her backpack-sized purse around while trying to read.  Hypocrisy at its finest.  What's good for me is, well, good for me.  Not so much you.