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Because I honestly want to start from the Central Avenue in California.

This is a response that popped up when I typed in “Central Avenue Station” into the MBTA’s Trip Planner. For the record, Central Avenue is a trolley stop on the Red Line. If you don’t type “Central Ave” and instead type “Central Avenue”, however, you get this. I can see that this is just Google Maps working its mojo, but entries it returns to you should only be limited to the state of Massachusetts and within the T’s reach.

Source: Boston.com
Read About Detailed Cuts
Read Op-Ed by Joan Vennochi

The MBTA, according to a Globe report, will cut many services if they do not get help with their $160 million deficit. These cuts, detailed in this Globe staff post, would hit anyone and everyone who takes public transportation in some capacity. Major cuts that I am annoyed with include weekend and night cuts. People who come from other states to college here in Boston are already annoyed that the T does not run in the wee hours of the night; how could they possibly even consider reducing weekend and night service? They have listed that they would possibly remove customer service agents in subway stations. Apparently, the T would become so poor that they would no longer have a face. Who will tourists go to when they need help? Who will anyone go to when they need help? Something that may personally hit me would be the reduction of the Mattapan trolley; eliminating that after 8 on weekdays and all day on weekends forces me to either take a twenty minute walk home or hope that one of two buses appears, keeping in mind these buses appear once every 30 minutes to an hour. They also have elimination of the commuter rail service on weekends.

The MBTA is basically threatening the state for money. It is almost like a little kid threatening to stab himself if his parents didn’t feed him. Doesn’t the MBTA know that cuts like these would cripple the mass transit system here? Doesn’t the MBTA know that cuts like these would destroy Massachusetts’s reputation? This would make us even more of America’s walking city, and perhaps put us one step closer to be America’s gas guzzling city. This will put more cars on the road and create environmental issues that T ridership was supposed to counteract. The MBTA has presented an issue that is dire and needs to be taken care of as quickly as possible. Cuts like these cannot be allowed to happen.

There has to be another way to close the $160 million gap. Maybe there is a way to restructure some employee pay (note: start from the top, not the bottom). Executives can take a pay cut first, then maybe something like not accepting pay for a day or something can help to bridge the gap, too. Increasing the gas tax and putting in the soda tax could help close the gap as well. The governor’s office needs to quash this cuts proposal and find a way to close the gap. Raise my taxes if it’s for the sake of keeping the MBTA running; it’s better than paying nothing and getting nothing.

I will also provide a link to an op-ed concerning this issue by Globe columnist Joan Vennochi.

Source: Boston.com
Read Article

I’m a few days late on this one, but it’s still a story worth rehashing here on the blog. On Thursday evening, a T rider collapsed on the Red Line after the train left Harvard Square. MBTA officials stated that, after taking a look at him, that it was ruled that he was just drunk and did not need urgent care. Other riders didn’t seem to feel the same way, though. From the Globe:

But a woman who boarded the train at Harvard Square, Angie Puckerin, 56, described a maddening ride, in which a well-dressed man carrying a laptop computer clenched his fist and fell to the floor with his eyes squeezed shut. After passengers rushed to help and hit an intercom button to summon the crew, T employees took only a cursory look at the man at two different stops, Central and Kendall, before walking away, she said. One frustrated passenger even yelled out the train’s open doors for a doctor at Park Street, before the doors snapped shut and the train continued on.

I would have been freaked out myself. I mean, come on, drunk or not, the guy collapsed. At least get him to see a doctor or get someone to take a better look at him. People don’t just fall over for fun, and completely losing control of yourself and fainting isn’t exactly something that can ever be put aside for an appalling twenty-two minutes. That’s so long to wait for help that everybody could have watched a full half-hour show on DVD without commercials, had a jolly old time, and then think, “wait a second, he hasn’t gotten up yet”. I don’t care how serious or not someone’s plight is: if a guy collapses on your train service, get him off the train ASAP and get some help. Let doctors at a hospital or an emergency medical service figure out what’s wrong with him. Even if not for the passenger’s sake, for everyone else’s sake on the train. Everybody that saw this man on the floor was tense and scared. It presents a seriously bad image when you know someone needs medical attention, immediate or not, and you just keep on traveling through your stops like nothing happened. Hopefully with an article like the one I have cited in the Globe, they do more next time when something like this happens, no matter how trivial it is.

Source: Boston.com
Read Article

To help stem a rising fear among residents in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan, the MBTA has begun formally escorting buses through crime-plagued neighborhoods, has placed more transit officers on its most notorious line, and has increased the number of security cameras monitoring passengers.

It is a pretty well known fact that Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury are areas that have relatively high crime rates. Unfortunately, routes taken by buses from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) through these areas are not exempt to these crimes. Maria Cramer, the article’s author, cites a stabbing on the 28 on New Year’s Eve and a shooting on the 23 near the Washington Street and Columbia Road intersection. As a response to the complaints about crime, the T has decided to increase surveillance on these buses. This surveillance consists of three cruisers that will drive behind buses with video feeds and officers that will ride the buses during the afternoon hours in which students are returning home from school.

I’ve been on the 23 and the 28, the buses that will be followed. I’ve once went to the Burger King right across the street of the crime scene the day after the shooting happened. Eerie, needless to say. As a former high school student who travelled these routes and a person who believes safety comes first, I think this a great idea. People tend to commit fewer crimes when there is police presence. Also, if they do commit a crime, the police will be much closer, closer enough to at least catch the perpetrator quickly if not stop the act before someone seriously gets hurt. Cramer says, “MBTA Deputy Chief Joseph O’Connor said the efforts have more to do with changing the public’s perception of the Route 23 bus than responding to crimes onboard, which he said are infrequent given the nearly 13,000 people who ride the route on an average weekday.” I don’t mind that his main motivation is to change the perception of the public, as people don’t care about statistics when crimes are committed. They just see the crime and get freaked out, keeping themselves and their families away from what caused the crime if they can. I don’t blame people for thinking that way; it’s completely human nature and makes sense. There will be an extra cost in following these buses and placing officers on the buses during peak hours, but it’s worth it because it will give the community peace of mind, and General Manager Dan Grabauskas has said that “Safety is our number one priority.” This makes me feel like his motto is being followed.

There are some good comments in the discussion, like someone who said we need to go to the root of the problem and people who overall agree with the idea. A few readers on the site, however, don’t agree with this, claiming things such as it being a waste of money and blaming the liberals (including picking a bone with Barack Obama who has absolutely nothing to do with this) even though this isn’t a political thing (the internet isn’t quite idiot-proof yet, folks), One comment, though, is quite appalling:

MBTA/Boston Police= Waste of Tax dollars!!! Where were these bums when the stabbing took place on the 28 bus??? Dunkins…… Why of the 300+ cameras installed on these buses in town, this one was NOT On!!!!! Typical Bull…Face it ppl SAVE YOUR MONEY, BUY A CAR stay off these buses. These thugs will always be around.

This user obviously does not understand the point of mass transit and is a cynic. It saves fuel, consumer money, and the environment. It also reduces traffic. These “thugs” will always be around if we say they will always be around; this user has no idea what a self-fulfilling prophecy is, either. We have to stop the thugs in the act when they commit a crime, but that isn’t enough. That will only treat the situation. In the meantime, we should also be looking for the cure, the thing that will minimize the problem as much as possible. Everything starts at the household, the family. If people are brought up right, there will be less motivation to commit crimes. It’s not so simple, of course, but I know that the root is there. For now, though, this strategy by the MBTA will help against crimes committed on these bus routes, and I’m all for it.

All links are from Boston.com.
This is just some short commentary on some things that have crossed my mind today.

Banning trans-fats: I’m all for it. They’re bad for you, and they shouldn’t be used in foods if their use can easily be avoided. Hopefully that gets through all of Massachusetts.

Illegal Immigrants getting In-State Tuition: I don’t agree that they should get the same tuition that we should. We pay taxes. They don’t.

Take Your Pants Off Saturday: I guess a group of people are going to get on the T this Saturday from 3 to 6 PM without pants on. The MBTA knows and says it should not be a problem as long as people pay their fare and don’t cause any trouble. As long as no one’s harmed, right?

And the bonus:
“Lost my Phone” Facebook Groups: The “lost my phone” Facebook groups are beginning to become too much. How many people lose their phone in a day? Are people beginning to do this for fun?

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