Park Street

Maybe it was better when T alerts weren't so specific

adamg — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:24:24 -0400

T alert of the day, explaining what was happening at Park Street last night to delay Red Line service.

The next depressed Red Line train is now approaching

adamg — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:30:34 -0400

Lys wonders why the Red Line seems so depressed these days while the Green Line is positively jaunty:

... I was coming back from Central, on the Red line, and I noticed how many people riding back looked as miserable as I did. I saw two different women crying, and everyone just seemed to be lost in their own tired and negative thoughts. Maybe the stress of Cambridge, with Harvard and MIT right there, is too much for the fragile human psyche to handle. As I looked around the train, no one was making eye contact, and shoes, fingernails, and blank space were very popular.

I get off at Park Street and switch to the Green line, and the tone is much more peppy. The train fills up with tired but happy students for BU and BC, and people are actually laughing! I am trying to maintain a level of melancholy, but it is difficult with all these wise-ass students around. ...

Park Street blues

adamg — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:08:41 -0400

Nick is getting more than a little tired of trolleys that don't stop where they're supposed to (C trains stopping on the other side where the E trains normally stop) and trolleys where the conductors tell people to "stand by."

A request from a Red Line busker

adamg — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:13:51 -0500

The Accidental Fiddler would rather you hold onto your money than toss coins at her from the train:

... It's surprisingly painful to be smacked in the ankle with a quarter.

Maybe the MBTA should revise Red Line schedules, too

adamg — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:58:26 -0500

"Switch problems" at Park Street this morning meant John Greiner-Ferris missed a 9 a.m. meeting because his normal Red Line commute of 25 minutes turned into a 70-minute mess. But, he adds, at least he didn't have to deal with the invisible white markers and the tiny slots for folding up dollar bills at the Framingham commuter lot.

MBTA Police to investigate pervy Red Line incident

adamg — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:19:43 -0500

UPDATE: That "somebody" was actually the MBTA police chief.

Cool: Unlike some Red Line employees, MBTA Police DO care about reports of diddling Red Line riders. Deb Geisler posts that she got a call this morning from somebody at T Police asking if she could put them in contact with the student who got brushed/laughed off by a couple of Red Line employees (one a supervisor) when she told them about a guy playing with himself on the train:

... "I'll be happy to give the student your contact information." I meant it. And, since the student was 20 feet away from me at the time, this was an easy promise to keep.

She was rather gobsmacked. Me, too. ...

Pervs get green light on the Red Line

adamg — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:00:06 -0500

Deb Geisler is a professor and reports on a meeting she just had with a student. Seems the student was on the train when some guy started playing with himself - but that when she got off the train and told the conductor, he did absolutely nothing:

... She got to her home station and complained to an MBTA supervisor. She was told that public exposure (1) wasn't a crime, (2) happened all the time, and (3) wasn't worth their doing anything about. (In fact, the supervisor said, "I guess they're targeting redheads now.")

She asked about the MBTA's claims of safety. "Oh, we don't include these incidents in that report." ...

She also told Geisler the supervisor told her they could not get surveillance tapes from Park Street because the cameras there don't work.

Green Line riders get up-close look at trolley tunnel

adamg — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:41:32 -0500

Gnomi was on an outbound C car around 5:15 p.m. yesterday when the trolley stopped in the tunnel just past Park Street. After about 15 minutes:

... There was a garbled message from the conductor that said something about "evacuating," causing all the people around me to look at each other confusedly, but at that point I put my knitting away. A couple of minutes later, there was moving at the back-back door of the car, and people started moving. We were being evacuated back to Park St. (about a 1/2 block walk through the tunnel), where there was another C train waiting for us. That train ended up even more crowded than the original C, but we eventually all got on and were moving through the other side of the tunnel (we passed the stuck train, and we saw that the people on the front car had not been evacuated and were still waiting). ...

How perfect: Park Street fire erupts just in time to ruin evening commute

adamg — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:07:52 -0400

A small trash fire at Park Street that a single MBTA employee put out by himself managed to screw up the evening commute for thousands of people: The Red Line was shut between Harvard and JFK and Green Line trains didn't stop at Park Street.

Rob Sama is fuming:

I walked all the way from South Station to Harvard Sq, was turned down by one shuttle bus for being "too full" and lied to by another cop about trains running, only to get to Charles MGH and find trains NOT running, only go get to Harvard SQ and find a load of people getting off a train. WTF? ...

But at least Rob got some exercise. Marcy Dewey gets steamed at an MBTA flack who proclaimed the disruption "brief:"

I got on the Red Line train at South Station at 5:00. We did not start moving down the track until 6:15!! That is not BRIEF! Especially on a Friday!!! Especially when you are underground, without cell phone reception, and - worst of all - CLAUSTROPHOBIC. ...

Mwbworld reports she got stuck on the Orange Line in the morning (remember that?) and the Red Line in the evening - and finally got home to JP to find out her power was out:

... So why do I live in Boston? It's not the "cheap" rents. It's not the convenient and dependable public transportation. ...

Oh, driving was no walk in the park this afternoon, either: At one point, the turnpike westbound was jammed from Westborough 20 miles back to 93; the turnpike eastbound from Rte. 9 in Framingham to at least Weston (for my own sake, thank goodness for Rte. 9). The Expressway was a mess, all in all, just not a good day to try to get anywhere in the Boston area. Or as Sonia puts it: Another crappy commuter day.

One arrested for Park Street double stabbing

adamg — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:47:01 -0400

Christopher Casey, 22, of Dorchester, will be arraigned today in connection with a Monday double stabbing at the Park Street T stop, according to the Suffolk County DA's office. He faces charges of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and carrying a dangerous weapon.

Officials say they are looking for other suspects in the incident, in which two people were stabbed after a fight on the steps leading from the Red Line to the Green Line around 11:45 p.m., Monday.