The T
Friendly East Boston man offered toke to wrong person at Andrew station
By adamg - 5/16/12 - 4:59 pmSo this guy from East Boston strikes up a conversation with another guy sitting on a bench in the busway at Andrew station yesterday afternoon. He's feeling mellow, gets a joint out of his right jacket pocket, lights up and offers his newfound friend a toke.
Unfortunately for the man, the guy was an undercover Transit Police officer, assigned to anti-drug duty at the South Boston station, police report.
Transit Police report the officer summoned other officers and they confiscated the man's cigarette - and the two additional bags of pot he had in his pocket. Fortunately for him, he was holding less than an ounce, so he was only issued a $100 citation, police say.
Inevitable becomes more concrete at South Station
By adamg - 5/16/12 - 2:01 pm
New fare schedule on a fare machine. Photo by MBTA.
The T began slapping new fare schedules on fare machines at South Station today, in advance of July 1's increases.
MBTA starts useful service and the Herald won't stand for that
By adamg - 5/16/12 - 7:07 amSeems that when a big convention is in town, the MBTA runs special Silver Line service to the airport straight from the convention center, rather than making people carry their bags on that long walk to the nearest Silver Line stop and crowding onto a bus there.
Are you outraged? The Herald is, to the point of displacing its long-running Indian Joke of the Day series from the front page, which today features end-of-world fonts to accuse the T of stealing "all" its buses to service fat-cat conventioneers. Who, the Herald grudgingly admits, pay their fares just like rest of us - but only after the paper's crack investigative unit did some undercover surveillance:
On Friday, a Herald reporter and photographer observed people at the convention center paying regular fares to board the nonstop airport-bound Silver Line buses. The drivers did not take normal Silver Line routes or make any Silver Line stops before dropping passengers at Logan Airport. A driver said the buses provide conventioneers with rides to the airport. A bus tailed by the Herald did not follow the Silver Line’s dedicated bus route, instead driving directly to the Ted Williams Tunnel.
The horror!
Ed. derail question: Why is the convention center stop so far away from the convention center?
Another train hits somebody, who dies
By adamg - 5/15/12 - 10:51 amThe Globe reports an outbound Franklin Line train hit a trespasser around 12:30 a.m. in Norwood, several hours after an inbound Acela train struck and killed a trespasser in Sharon.
Train service halted between Providence and Boston after person hit, killed
By adamg - 5/14/12 - 5:00 pmMBTA Transit Police report a "trespasser" on the tracks was struck and killed by a Boston-bound Amtrak train between Mansfield and Sharon late this afternoon, and that both commuter-rail and Amtrak service is now halted as police investigate. Buses are on the way to pick up passengers, MBCR says.
Zach Lanier tweets:
Currently on Amtrak #2160, sitting between Providence and Rte128. Our train hit someone crossing the tracks; fatality.
Rob Goodwin, also on the train, tweets:
I feel horrible for the Amtrak crew. I don't know how I would cope in their shoes. Having a tough enough time coping with it in mine.
Why you don't want to be on the tracks in Mansfield or Sharon:
Bike beats car, Red Line in race from Davis to Kendall this morning
By adamg - 5/14/12 - 9:08 amRush Hour Race pitted the three transportation modes in a battle to the death, um, fastest commute this morning between Davis Square and Kendall Square. LivableStreets reports bike won, followed nine minutes later by the T. The car sputtered in last.
Steve Annear reports that, yes, the bicyclist stopped for all red lights.
The finest hand-crafted subway map in the world
By adamg - 5/14/12 - 8:48 am
Dani B. reports one of the maps on Red Line car 01632 looks "a little different" from all the rest.
Must have been going for a job at the T
By adamg - 5/10/12 - 4:46 pmLast year, Jack DeManche put together an unusual resume.
Via Almondette.
Police: Two blasts of pepper spray not enough to subdue would-be Orange Line phone thief
By adamg - 5/10/12 - 4:00 pm
MBTA Transit Police report that even after two shots of pepper spray yesterday afternoon, a Chelsea man collared for trying to steal an Orange Line rider's phones managed to flee an officer - who managed to catch up with him and finally subdue him on a commuter-rail platform with his baton.
Police say an officer on routine patrol inside Back Bay station noticed two men holding down a third just inside the fare gates to the Orange Line around 6:40 p.m. According to a police report, one told the officer the man had tried to steal his phone down on the platform but that he and another Orange Line rider grabbed the guy, later identified as Jonathan Pagan, 20, and marched him upstairs in search of police.
Police say that after hearing their stories, the officer told Pagan he was under arrest. According to his report:
Fairmount Line train hits, kills trespasser on tracks, police say
By adamg - 5/9/12 - 7:37 pmMBTA Transit Police report a train on the Fairmount Line hit somebody this evening in South Bay by Massachusetts Avenue. The person died; train service was halted for about an hour as police investigated.
