The saga has become very sad...

First, to those five idiots wearing costumes: You look like Warren from "There's Something About Mary," except he has more on the ball than you do.  Nice job, disrupting a meeting to the point where nobody could participate.  There's democracy in action for you. 

Next, to the people standing outside in the morning scanning cards at the station.  Look, I know you are trying to prevent fare evasion, and it's a nice idea.  But you're pissing people off and not doing much good.  If I want to evade, all I have to do is tell you that I'm paying with cash and then get on in the back, anyway.  You are getting those people who get on the train and couldn't make it to the front because it's too crowded, but that's not a problem at Washington Square.  Furthermore, most people this far out have passes.  It's a nice show, but a waste of time.  On the plus side, the drivers open the back doors more consistently now.

So there's a 23% fare hike on the table.  That seems fair, as the T hasn't raised prices in five years.  Of course, I hope the board is this tough when it comes to contract negotiations with the union.  We all pay a large chunk of our healthcare costs while having had flat salaries over the past several years.  No reason the T's employees can't do the same.  Don't like it?  Let them strike.  I have no doubt you'll be able to find other drivers quickly.

Three out of service stops and a couple of weenies

After being out of town for several days, I got a nice welcome back from the T.  My first train, which did not have any actual problems, went out of service at Kenmore due to a breakdown at Boylston.  Sure, why not?  That's only four stops later.  One "gentleman," and I use that term loosely (as indicated by the air quotes), pushed his way to the front of the scrum so that he could be the first one on the next train.  Oops, sorry weenie.  The next train also declared itself OOS after we got on, so the weenie was now the last one to get off the train to get to the next train across the platform.  Needless to say, he managed to weasel his way to the front of that scrum, also.

But he was nothing in comparison to Weenie #2, who was on the next train.  We now had two OOS trains worth of people trying to get onto an already mostly-full train, so we crammed ourselves into the sardine can.  A stop later, I was able to press off the door and saw that W2 was sitting in one of the seats next to the door and had his suitcase on the other seat.  Had someone punched him, there's no way that they would have been able to find twelve jurors to convict.

Another lovely day.  Glad I wasn't going beyond Gov't Center, as the train went OOS there, my third of the day.

More friendly T drivers...

Thanks to the T driver who slammed the door in my face and then sat on the tracks doing nothing.  There seems to be a pattern.

Once again, I am reading of people who are want the T to maintain current service and pricing while closing a $166m gap, led by those five idiots in superhero costumes.  Guys, enough already.  We've been through this.  It sucks, but something has to change.  Until you're ready to change the name of the stop to Coca-Cola Park Street Station, we're losing some routes and paying more.  Perhaps the state or Massport can pick up some of the bills, but we're going to end up paying for them one way or another.

C Line follies: a double!

Ahh, that's the C Line train that I know and hate!  Waiting for the inbound train with about forty people, since a train hadn't shown up in ages.  Finally, a train pulls up.  Even better, it's empty!  And it pulled right past us, bells-a-ringin'.  We crammed onto the next train that showed up, only to have it go out of service.  Why?  Who knows.  Get off, get back on the third train I have seen today.  Go a few stops and this one goes out of service, too.

Yeah, better accelerate that order of new cars.

Dear drivers:

Dear T drivers:

There are cuts coming.  Not just to service and discount fares, but to your compensation as well.  Yeah, I know, you have a union, blah blah blah.  But the MBTA needs to balance its budget, and you guys are part of the problem, which means you will be part of the solution.  So if I were you, I'd be going for the hearts and minds of the passengers now, not when your spokesperson starts telling the world how unfair it is that you will have to pay a higher portion of your healthcare costs.

Here's what I'm going to remember over the past few days: Last week, when it was pouring rain, you wouldn't open the back doors to the train.  It's rush hour, which means that there are dozens of people trying to board.  Thanks for making us wait.  Likewise, I was running for the door at Gov't Center and your driver slammed the door in my face.  Then you just sat on the track waiting but wouldn't open the door.  Gee, thanks.

I understand that you guys have very little power in the world, and your job is the one area where you get to exercise that power.  Hope it makes you feel better, because passengers remember, and you won't end up getting much sympathy when negotiations come.  The rest of us have been doing more work for less total compensation over the last few years.  You will be joining us.