I saw an amazing sight while driving down 95 South, near Burlington. Coming down 95 North was a Blue Line subway car! It took me a minute to realize that it was being hauled by a truck. Who knew that the blue line cars would ever appear on route 95?

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.

Eeka composes lyrics for commuters on every single subway line.

Michaela reports that on a Blue Line ride from Maverick to Government Center yesterday afternoon, not only did the conductor not pick up the phone, he or she left the PA on so all the passengers could enjoy the ringing, too:

What's the deal, MBTA? Why didn't anyone pick up a phone that was ringing in the conductor's cab? So annoying. I'm actually pretty intrigued no matter how annoying it was. Who was on the other line? Who called the train?

Lewis Forman is not a happy Blue Line camper this week. He recounts a 25-minute wait for a train during rush hour this morning - which follows a 20-minute wait on Wednesday and a 14-minute wait on Monday:

... I was the only one in the station when I missed the train at the beginning. By the time I was stepping onto the train and looked behind me, Maverick Station was yellow safety band to back wall packed with increasingly angry and frustrated people. Some asked the MBTA "officials" that were there but were just sent back to wait with everyone else with a shrug and not even an attempt to use the walkie talkies that were attached to their hips. Just another case of the high quality customer service you expect from a transit system.

Hopefully this gets ironed out or some explanation is provided. However a trip to work that normally takes 30 minutes door to door for me is now almost a full hour. At that rate, I could swim from my condo, and walk to the Hancock building. ...

Photo.

The T announced today it's adding more cars to the three lines during rush hours - and making some service enhancements to some bus lines - starting this week.

The news comes as the T also announces continued record ridership: The T carried 34.7 million passengers in July, compared to 31.4 million the previous July.

The biggest jump will occur on the Blue Line - which saw a 25% jump in ridership - where six-car trains will begin regular rush-hour service the week of Sept. 15 (although they will not initially replace all of the four-car trains).

Some additional cars on the Green Line will mean at least 2.7% more passengers will be able to cram into trolleys at rush hour, while the Red Line is gaining three additional trains during the morning and afternoon commutes.

Bus changes:

There's a fire at Government Center T station.
It was repoerted @ 10am, but they're still announcing it now, without any details.

Alex Howell snaps a Blue Line rider wearing possibly the biggest belt buckle on the subway.

Fabulously Out There reports on a perv rubbing up against her on the Blue Line:

... My suggestion for you: Go to the store. Get yourself a nice Penthouse magazine and your almost used up jar of Vaseline and some tissues and, you know, take care of business at home, because next time, this German might actually SAY something to you, and trust me, there is a lot cursing depth in this blond head. ...