Tuesday, December 23, 2008

My $250 per month buys me this level of service

The door on car 222 has been broken for at least a month, unable to close the final 9 inches.  Today was special; it was unable to be opened more than nine inches.  This will be interesting when we get to Shirley when all passengers have to exit out of one door at the front of train.

Sent from my G1...

Thursday, December 11, 2008

In the private sector...

...these incompetent morons would be out on their asses.  4:24 PM and there are 7 trains leaving in the next 30 minutes.  There also happens to be 6 trains in the station. But, up until 1 minute ago, none were announced (I couldn't get out the camera out in time to snap the empty board).

I've used mass transit in DC, Chicago, Montreal and San Francisco and on average, they had their trains available for boarding at *least* 20 minutes before departure.  Here, we're lucky if we get to board 10 minutes before departure, and even luckier if we depart on time.

There has to be a way to tie compensation to performance in the public sector.

Sent from my G1...

Friday, December 05, 2008

I was wrong...

...it can get worse.  4:45 and no sign of the 4:40 express.  This the 3rd or 4th night in a row this has happened.  I predict the MBCR is going to be the next industry asking Washington for a bailout.

Sent from my G1...

I would have sworn it couldn't get any worse

Imagine my utter lack of surprise when I entered North Station this afternoon to the sound of a cat being tortured.

Apparently the elders of North Station, in their wisdom, have decided that the low bass voice of the text-to-speech PA system is too easy to understand in the cavernous space that is the waiting area for trains.  So, added to the mix is a bunch of ethnic folk song rejects caterwauling their oh-so-politically-correct holiday songs that I don't recognize.

Does anyone at the MBTA or the MBCR have even an ounce of sense?  Hell, does an ounce of sense exist in the collective body?

Sent from my G1...

Thursday, December 04, 2008

This is sure to go over well

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1136685

I'm not opposed to the idea in general, but the overall comfort factor of commuting is going to go down as I will now get to listen to even more complaints from my fellow commutants.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Okay, that's just weird

So I hop on to the Red Line at Porter Square, and there's this guy typing away on his Mac laptop with his hands covered by the thin sheet of packing foam that must have come with the laptop.  Sure, I can see one wanting to protect the screen when it's closed, but to leave it over one's hands while typing?  Either he's practicing touch-typing or he's paranoid about people seeing what he's typing.

Yup, coming up on Kendall and he's still doing it.

It's not the worst thing I've seen on the Red Line, but it is one of the weirdest.

Sent from my G1...