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.

William provides photographic proof that the extra-long 39 buses are every bit as effective at completely blocking traffic on Centre Street as the old trolleys were.

I think my number was five, although I could've gotten that down to one if I hadn't also tried to scrape off my wife's car in addition to mine.

Don Martelli, meanwhile, turns into one of those crabby bloggers the MBTA is always ignoring:

When conditions are icey, can you please alert bus riders on the 110
from Revere to Wellington Station in Medford that the bus will be
bypassing the Park Ave hill due to conditions? You have a website.
Use it. How about text alerts? ...

And Alison Driscoll tweets from South Station:

Nice, train late again and noone knows why. No T alert either. ...

A 16-year-old from Roxbury was stabbed to death around 9:30 tonight on the Rte. 28 bus, at Blue Hill Avenue and Harvard Street.

Sarah Colvin peers down a bus tunnel in Harvard Square.

Karin reports her commute from South Boston to Copley Square took 40 minutes today. On a route that is, as she measured, 2.35 miles long. That represents an average speed of 3.5 m.p.h., which is roughly the speed at which the average person walks.

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports a Suffolk Superior Court jury today ruled that a T driver was "100% responsible" for a 2005 accident in which the South End woman was hit by a T bus while she was in a crosswalk at Washington and E. Newton streets. The bus crushed her leg. The jury awarded her $3.98 million; interest makes up the difference.

Alicia reports the driver on the 9 bus in South Boston this morning was not grumpy:

... Today, as I breathlessly boarded the bus, while fumbling for my pass, the driver smiled brightly and said, "Good morning!" Completely caught off guard by her greeting, I said, "uh, hello..?"

"Thank you!" she said smiling again, when I pressed my card to the reader and found a seat. Last night, most of the nation collectively sighed in relief and is ready for change. Based on my experience this morning, people are happier already! ...

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.

Channel 5 reports the shocking news (to them, anyway) that Green Line and bus drivers often wave passengers on without bothering to see if they have passes or money. It was, at least, good to see Dan Grabauskas acknowledge that fare collection is, indeed, a priority at the T. Again.