Tim chronicles one day on his way to work, from getting stuck in the Alewife rotary on the way to the T stop to almost not getting off at Kendall because the doors on his Red Line car don't open (with a detour at Harvard when his train goes out of service):

... I walk to the stairwell because the escalator is being overhauled. This escalator is broken at least 3 times a month and now it seems that they are trying to fix it permanently. With any luck it will now only be broken 2 times a month. On the stairwell is the usual white bucket overflowing with a mysterious brown liquid. The liquid is dripping from the ceiling, landing on the bucket and then overflowing down two floors worth of steps.

I could understand if there was an unexpected leak, but this bucket and the brown goop is there every day, rain or shine. I'm sure there isn't anything bad in the goop; after all, this must be all very carefully supervised. ...

Ooh, look! Here are some Alewife photos, including one of the usual white bucket overflying with a mysterious brown liquid. And here (by the same commuter) is a description of Alewife:

... Just walking in that station, getting hit with the smell of yuck, looking at the cracked glass ceiling panes and watching all of the cracked, "white" (with 4 inches of black soot piled on top) pipes from above drip in every direction- all I can think is GROSS. ...