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December 10, 2007
Train Kept 'A Stallin'
Good gravy. I know this only affects 72,000 of us and all, but sonofabitch: the MBTA extended its contract with the horrid Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co. for three freakin' years.
Let me tell you a little story, entitled "Going Home Friday Night: Or, How I Stop Worrying and Learned To Simply Aim a Bazooka at the MCR".
Mrs. Me and I leave Back Bay at 5:15 pm. Get to North Station at 5:35 pm. So far, so normal. We noticed that the 5:40 pm, 5:45, and 5:50 pm trains have yet to board. At 5:45 pm, this is all still true. The crowd has swelled to incredible proportions, for though last year they tripled the floor space in the waiting area, they strategically filled it with concession stands, bars, and ill-suited seating area, leaving behind a land in which people are left to strategically stand between the trains and the morons running through the crowd like Jason Bourne in order to make the train that they thought was about to leave only no, the MCR has a 30% late rate at this point, so why run, dude, you're 50 pounds overweight and you very well might die before reaching Track 6.
So rather than wait in that room o' agitas, we go across to Canal Street for a quick dinner, figuring by the time the 6:55 pm train rolls around, this will all have cleared. Well, we made the mistake of going to Canal Street on the night of a Celtics game, so we had to fight a few hundred fair-weather Massholes for a seat at a bar. One hour, 4 drinks, and two sandwiches later, we arrive, only to find the 6:25 pm train hasn't even boarded yet. Ruh row.
Luckily, so we thought, it's called to board about a minute later, so I figure we'll leave a few minutes early. So we get on the train, put down all my stuff, including the three bags of Christmas presents I'd bought that day. And we sit. And sit. And sit. And see another train depart. And sit. And then overhear that was the 6:55 pm train that just left. And sit. And start to think up creative acts of violence. And sit.
At 7:15 pm, they announce the engine of the train we're on is deader than the next MCR employee I will encounter, and that we have to shift four tracks over. This necessitates going back into the faux-spacious waiting area, because God forbid they design a walkway outside that doesn't force everyone in through one set of doors like freakin' sheep, but hey, I'm not a guy who had a 5-year, $1 billion dollar contract, am I? I'm just a caveman. Your modern commuting systems frighten and confuse me.
So we all pile onto the new train, thinking we'll soon go, but then it dawns on us: this is the 7:30 pm train. So, we wait ten more minutes, take off, go the whole 10 minutes it takes to go from North Station to West Medford, get off, and arrive at home at 8:00 pm, 2 hours and forty-five minutes later. At least I was home.
And then I realized I left the three bags of gifts in the overhead of the 7:30 train.
G#ddamnit.
(And today? Train going in was 15 minutes late, and had no electricity, and the train home was 25 minutes late. And you wonder why I read that article and spit up bile onto my Macbook.)
Posted by Ryan McGee at December 10, 2007 09:26 PM
Comments
Hey, at least someone got free Christmas presents-- I bet you made their day!
Posted by: oddjob60 at December 10, 2007 10:52 PM
Nice story about the mismanaged MBTA/MBRC (whatever you want to call it). The fares which are a ripoff (zone 4 $186 a month) are a whole other story. Late trains, disabled trains, short staff conductor crews, no heat/ac in some cars, we have it all. Someone also has to pay for the MBTA employee's extremely generous salary, pension and retirement plan.
Posted by: moe at December 11, 2007 08:15 AM
I can only read comments and articles like this because my eardrum has been blown out by the speaker system from the conductor announcing, for the umpteenth time, that this is the Fitchburg EXPRESS train. In other words, the overhead board that showed the Fitchburg express boarding on track 9 was really boarding on track 6 - or was it the other way around....
Posted by: Gailannie at December 11, 2007 09:05 AM
I won't be surprised if you've tried it already, but do try the lost and found. My experiences with the MBTA CR do often rival your own, albeit from south station, but I've had good luck finding lost objects that I stupidly left on the train.
Posted by: Innismir at December 11, 2007 09:08 AM
You didn't mention the new notification board, which during the whole debacle had this helpful message, "We are".
I hate the T... and MBCR. There must have been plenty of bribes circulating around or something for them to have had their contract renewed.
Let's start a movement to get the head of Commuter Rail Services and the head of the T outta there!
Posted by: Doodle Bean at December 11, 2007 12:20 PM
Those Christmas presents were declared suspicious unattended packages and shipped off to be waterboarded at Gitmo.
Posted by: Verbal at December 11, 2007 01:43 PM
Hey! Try to work for these morons, I really do feel bad for all the commuters. In three years there will be nothing left to Commuter Rail, ... But MBCR's profit will be up.
Truly Embarassed to work for these fools
Posted by: Anonomous at December 13, 2007 01:25 AM
I am another employee truly embarassed to work for MBCR!!!!!
Posted by: theac at December 15, 2007 03:14 AM