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Modern-day Charlie hopes to return after setting a record

Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni

And he's off!

If you spot Heshan de Silva-Weeramuni on the T today, say hi, but understand if he doesn't have time to chat: He's on a race to see if he can set a record for the fastest time ever for visiting all T subway stops in one day.

Right now I’m on the E Line train inbound, left Heath Street at 5:32am (left earlier than scheduled, hurray!) Destination is Copley.

On Aug. 20, 2021, Maya Jonas-Silver set a record time of 7:04:2929 - but that was seven months before part of the Green Line Extension, the Union Square stub, opened, never mind the rest of the stations.

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Comments

Given the current residue slow zone madness - with the GLX + Braintree line it can't be possible to break any pre-slow zone records

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Since the previous records were set on the T pre-GLX.

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Honestly, it's an interesting idea conceptually, but I fail to see the reason for it. Is there an actual place (i.e. Guiness Book of World Records) where this record means something? Otherwise it's just another instance of people treating the T like a big playground, like the tourists we all see trying to stand up without holding on while laughing hysterically about it. What fun!
For better or worse, jaded old me has taken the T daily for far too many years to work up much excitement about this.

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But, amazingly, yes, Guinness keeps track of this, well, or they used to, before the 2022 addition of GLX stations.

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I bet you're fun at bar mitzvahs.

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There are some people who work for the transit authorities who pose as passengers to gather details about a bus route or a train station. Then they report back to the authority and they make the changes. Also, there are very dedicated transit fans ("foamers") who will know each and every spot on the T, every bolt of every bus and train, and other minutiae...and the T does listen to them.

This is a harmless activity that could actually be fun and informative; people may learn something from it. As for tourists treating the T like a playground: for each one of those, there are likely 99 more who are respectful of the T.

Your bitterness and contempt are obvious. Don't punch others down because you have problems with the T and tourists.

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Dude had obvious disabilities, but he was well known as a transit savant.

In the days before all the mapping and info systems at your fingertips, such people were generally known to the other regular riders and highly valued as embedded guides to how to get where you were going if you didn't already know.

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I'm occasionally approached for directions to get somewhere, but try my best to give them straight-line directions versus all the neat tips-and-tricks I've learned over the ages.

Does he have to take the T to qualify?

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Still running buses? The folks at Guinness won't recognize this valiant effort

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I don't think biking between them would count, but visiting them according to current official mode certainly works.

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Bikers, runners, train riders, all on separate teams visiting every station in the same order. Who will finish first?! Maybe a fourth group can try to trip them up by crashing their SUV into the tracks or summoning a flock of minibike riders or mobs of nudists with squirt guns or buses full of aging Florida men on bath salts.

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Another JetLag the Game fan?

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If so, time? If not, an explanation about why? I'm sure it would make a good read either way. Thanks!

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A dreadfully ironic minor collision with a truck full of wet leaves.

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I’ve always wondered how they count a “station visit.” Does the rider just get off the train, take a quick selfie then jump right back on before the doors close? Or do they have to get off and wait for the next train to come at each stop?

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Couldn't he just say he visited all subway stations?

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