Trains fail, commuters wail

I rolled though broadway around 5:45 . The disabled train was gone, but the burning smell was still very strong. Seems like they has opened some doors or vents at South Station and Andrew to air out the tunnel, making the platforms a freezing cold wind tunnel in the process.

Phone Zombies

By moxie
Mon, 02/10/2014 - 6:39pm

Check the photo. Every single person on the platform is nose-deep in their phones. It looks like a bad sci fi movie.

No need to be a curmudgeon about it

By Pun based on Bo...
Mon, 02/10/2014 - 9:34pm

I grew up in the technologically primitive days of the 1990s, and I spent a certain amount of time wandering around with my head in a book. And of course, books and newspapers have gone hand in hand with mass transportation for much of their existence. Phones are more compact and more informationally connected than books, so naturally they're even more convenient for people to pull out when they're stuck in a train station for an indeterminate amount of time. Acting like there's anything mindless about it is just stupid.

Pun's right.

By anon
Mon, 02/10/2014 - 10:33pm

You want I should read the frigging Metro? Or strike up a conversation? Naw, I'll read the news, play Words, and otherwise amuse myself with my phone. This is a perfect use for a mobile device.

Not that anybody would use their phone for communication

By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 02/10/2014 - 11:04pm

I find it hard to believe that anyone would ever do that. I mean, texting your parent/husband/wife/roomate/childcare that you will be much later getting home than anticipated due to T fail, or that you will need a ride because you are unlikely to get to a destination station in time to catch that last bus at 7pm is a highly unlikely possibility, right?

There's something to that.

By Patricia
Tue, 02/11/2014 - 9:33am

There's something to that. Watching the opening of the Olympics last Friday night and was dismayed to see so many of the athletes looking through thier phones as they walked out during the presentation of Nations. Sure, that video capture is something they will have forever and I'm sure the view from their perspective was incredible, but for me watching I was annoyed by the site of the athletes looking through thier phones versus waving/acknowleding the crowds. If it were me, I'd probably want the video as well but maybe by next go round there will be a better alternative. Maybe I'm the only one who noticed.

And yes, look around at coffee shops, etc, when people have their faces glued to their phone there is less social interaction. I'll bet there are less spontaneous conversations started and sometimes you happen to strike up a conversation with a stranger and it can make your day!

That being said, smartphones sure make our lives easier and I'd be lost without mine, but to me I'd rather have a conversation with a stranger than play a game on my phone.

When a train fails

By anon
Tue, 02/11/2014 - 1:09pm

The first thing I do is go on my phone to check the mbta website to see if there are actual updates, and to figure out an alternate way home. Better than just standing there staring into space.

cell phone robberies

By anon
Mon, 02/10/2014 - 6:53pm

Is there a connection between the red line breakdowns and the rise in cell phone robberies? The Red Line robbers must salivate when they see the easy targets in the photo above

Good question

By Nancy
Mon, 02/10/2014 - 8:00pm

I found this on Transit Police Blog

From 01/01/2014 through 02/06/2014 there have been 25 robberies on the MBTA where electronic devices were specifically targeted, most notably smartphones. Fifteen (15) of the 25 have occurred on the Red Line. Our detectives have worked tirelessly and have identified and/or arrested the majority of the offenders responsible.
(NOTE: During this same time period last year there were 23 electronic device robberies that had occurred on the MBTA).

Overall the number is the same year over year but a disproportionate number of them seem to be on the Red Line.

Interesting observation. I

By Hyde_Parker
Tue, 02/11/2014 - 10:51am

Interesting observation. I usually (not because I was even thinking of theft, but because I'm a total butterfinger) I tuck my phone in my bag when I'm getting on and off the train. I'm afraid of it dropping into the tracks. But, since this seems to be an opportune time for a thief to strike, I'm going to keep doing it for that reason, too.

Cell phones are usually snatched when train doors are closing

By anon
Mon, 02/10/2014 - 10:35pm

Perp times it so he gets the goods of someone near the door and then bolts and is in the clear on the platform, or has a great headstart, before the vic knows what happened.

A crowded platform with no train in sight gives the crook no quick exit.

Can we get back to that smell?

By badwolf13
Tue, 02/11/2014 - 12:26pm

That air was so not safe to be breathing in...i tried to walk down the platform and ended up leaving the station and walking to DTC because it was practically suffocating. I dont know how people were standing down there inhaling it who valued their brain cells.