OK, so we know it was pretty bad on the Orange and Green lines this morning. But how awesomely bad was it? You have to read Some Assembly Required's account of the mishegas at Wellington:

... The train sat for a minute, and people were starting to wonder why it didn't go on its way. Then the PA announced that this train WAS going back to Oak Grove after all. Everyone oozed grumpily back out of the train and onto the platform, including all those who had been on the train to begin with, and shortly after a second, empty train came in on the opposite platform, again from the "wrong" direction. The PA announced that THIS train was the one going into Boston, and everyone oozed onto that one. I continued to wait and observe, and both trains continued to sit.

After a minute or two the PA guy, who by this point was probably starting to really hate his day, informed us that BOTH trains would be going into Boston ...

Don Martelli reports that when he got to Wellington this morning, he found "major delays" on the Orange Line, which he didn't expect since he didn't get any e-mail or text messages from the T before he left home:

Check my email. Check my blackberry. No messages.

Major FAIL MBTA. Major.

Ryan: Orange line is an absolute disaster this morning.

StevenMB is not much happier out in Brighton. He tweets:

Waited 45 min for MBTA 501 bus that runs every 7.

Boston Police report arresting a pair of darlings from Dorchester on charges they'd been sticking up people with iPhones and other electronic devices around Downtown Crossing and on the Orange Line. In addition to charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and intent to rob while armed, the two alleged thuglets, aged 15 and 16, are also charged with threatening somebody who talked to police.

Innocent, etc.

Mike Mennonno finds a good candidate involving somebody pining for some guy whose fly happened to be open at the Mass. Ave. stop on the Orange Line.

Third Decade hopped on the Orange Line this afternoon and took a seat across from a guy transporting six boxes stamped with BIOLOGICAL SUBSTANCE CATEGORY B stamped on them - five of them in a large, and open, plastic bag stamped with a large BIOHAZARD logo.

With the T teetering on bankruptcy, it sort of makes sense to sell every last surface to advertisers. But if the T is going to let an advertiser splay banners in front of the giant red ring at Back Bay station, so that they only way to fully appreciate it from the outside is with your head cricked at an odd angle at the doorway, why not save some money and just turn the thing off?

In all the years this ad's run on the T, how many people do you think have actually taken Swahili?

The Globe reports a worker shuttling a computer backup tape between a Harvard Law clinic in Jamaica Plain and the World's Greatest Law School lost the tape on the subway and now there are 21,000 client records (including 13,000 with social-security numbers) out there somewhere.

The school says even if the tape falls into the wrong hands, the numbers are safe because the database is "protected by a password," which, really, guys, is not all that reassuring. But also, one could ask why they're entrusting this to a tape and a subway-riding courier to begin with, when you've got this InterWebs thing with VPNs and stuff.

September marked the ninth straight month that ridership on the T was higher than the same month a year earlier, according to the T's Joe Pesaturo, who adds that September's overall numbers were the highest in the ten years for which the T has records (well, except for the Green Line, which actually saw a slight dip in ridership in September compared to the year before - Ed note: Thanks for spotting that, David!).

It'll be interesting to see what effect the increases in parking fees at T stations will have.

Excel spreadsheet with the data.

MBTA police say they've arrested a man for robbing an ALS patient in a wheelchair who was waiting for an elevator at the Malden Center Orange Line stop.

Scott A. Marra, 39, of Malden, is charged with grabbing the man's wallet out of his hand, then running out of the station, on July 14. According to a statement:

The wallet contained cash, medical ID cards, a credit/debit card, and an MBTA pass for people with disabilities. Following the robbery, the victim's credit card was used to make two separate $100 purchases at a Malden gas station. In addition, the Chelsea man's MBTA pass (which is to be used only by persons with disabilities) was being fraudulently used.

MBTA Police say they were able to track Marra through the credit-card transactions. He's scheduled for arraignment on Monday in Malden District Court; he's currently being held at Transit Police headquarters in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Innocent, etc.