Green Line

Blecch: B Line

adamg — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:26:10 -0400

Jess Mullen, who lives in Roslindale, just got a job near Packard's Corner in Allston. That means taking a B train out from Copley. And that means being sucker punched by the B line:

... Day 1 (Tuesday): I was pissed because I was waiting at Park St and it felt like the center of the earth. NO TRAINS CAME FOR 20 MINUTES. Then when they did come, they were the D and E before the B.

Day 2 (yesterday): At BU Central, they decided the train would go non-stop to Harvard Ave. Because we were on BU campus, the ground was covered in the previous night's vomit, and the smell wafted up to all the people crowded on the ghetto platform. ...

Green Line ads that make those Legal ads seem tame

adamg — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:52:26 -0400

Betty Noir wonders which ad geniuses came up with the side-by-side ads she saw at a Green Line station this past weekend - one comparing an AirTran flight to a roller-coaster ride, the other for some seafood place - possibly Legal - (yes, them again) that tries to gross you out with "murky bodily-fluid-brown color scheme and postapocalyptic imagery."

Screaming babies on the T

adamg — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:23:47 -0400

If it's morning rush hour and you're about to get on a trolley with your baby and he is screaming his head off, should you stop boarding and wait until he calms down? Martin wishes a woman on the B line this morning had done just that:

... Please, out of common courtesy to your fellow passengers, many of whom are still half-asleep or are trying to enjoy some last "quiet" time before they get to the office, have the decency to tend to your child - or better yet, wait until he/she has quieted down and then get on the train. Thanks. ...

Trolley vs. truck in Brigham Circle: A draw

adamg — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:37:40 -0400

Inbound E train pins a big rig to the curb.

Green Line driver suspended for Driving While Asleep

adamg — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:47:07 -0400

CSA who ignored passenger complaint to be disciplined as well.

Driver can't return to work until passing a "fitness for duty" test (unspecified what that entails: staying awake during an entire Swedish movie without subtitles?). Yes, it's the same driver and incident reported on here.

Ben Alper suspects:

Riders sensed something was amiss when the train passed without stopping through Kenmore, Cleveland Circle, Providence, and New York City.

No, Green Line drivers are not like halibut because halibut don't fall asleep

adamg — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:23:21 -0400

This is the sort of thing that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in trolley drivers:

Several people, including a Boston magazine staffer, witnessed a T driver repeatedly drifting off to sleep between Hynes and Coolidge Corner shortly after 6 p.m on June 17.

Nobody was hurt, but the story gets even better when that staffer attempts to report the incident to the T.

Never wave $100 bills around in a BHA housing project

adamg — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:08:41 -0400

Boston Police report a teen was beaten and robbed in the Franklin Field housing project yesterday.

Police say an acquaintance of the teen stopped him as he walked through the project and asked him if he had $5 for food:

The victim reported that he told the friend that he had no small bills and only had $100 dollar bills, which he showed to him. The victim reported that he walked away from his "friend" and soon thereafter noticed that there was a large group of people from the nearby basketball court following him.

He was then knocked to the ground, kicked and hit in the head with a hammer, police say, adding they arrested a 16-year-old on an unarmed-robbery charge in connection with the case. The victim was taken to Carney Hospital, expected to survive.

Meanwhile, four alleged thugs (one from Erie, Pa.) learned that Green Line trolleys don't make the best getaway vehicles because if police chasing you from a robbery hear you've just gone down the outbound stairs at Copley, they're going to radio ahead and have you pulled off the train at Hynes.

No evidence of cell phone use in D Line accident

Kaz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:48:13 -0400

After examining Ter'rese Edmonds' cell phone for usage leading up to the May 28 crash on the Green D Line, the Middlesex District Attorney declared today that there was no evidence to suggest she was distracted by her cell phone in any way. No e-mail, text messaging, phone calls, or internet use was going on in the minutes prior to the crash. What exactly caused her to miss the signal and go 30 mph too fast that day into the rear of another train leaving a stop signal is still unknown.

Something fishy at the T

adamg — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:44:19 -0400

Let's see: Green Line trolleys are falling off the tracks and getting into fatal smashups. Downtown Crossing is catching on fire and Red Line trains have to slow down so they don't fall off the Longfellow. And what is the Boston Carmen's Union so upset about it was threatening a work action?

Yes, of course, Legal Seafood ads on the sides of trolleys, one of which has a talking fish exclaiming how the conductor of the train has a face like a halibut. Stephen MacDougall, president of the union, carps that the ads make his members feel like crappie:

To say they are angered and offended is to put it lightly. I will tell you this: If they don't come down, we will not drive those trains. ... Who the hell wants to say they have a face like a fish? I happen to like to eat fish, and I like seafood, and I like going fishing, but I don't want anybody saying that I or any of my members look like a fish.

Have no fear. Responding swiftly to the crisis, T management immediately ordered the ads removed.

The Outraged Liberal also discusses this fluke campaign.

MBTA to train operators: Get off the phone and drive

adamg — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:34:15 -0400

No more on-the-job cell-phone use, people.