u/Henry_Stream

While sitting down for an extended wait for the Needham Line to Ruggles, because I want to squeeze my weekend pass and not have to walk around elsewhere longer than necessary before walking around the MFA, two strange occurrences happened:

1. A rat scurried by under the bench I was sitting at. It startled both me and a pigeon.

2. The elevator to the Tracks 1 & 3 platform opened and closed on its own. The rational explaination is that someone changed their mind upstairs, but if that’s the case, why would the doors open downstairs in the first place? Does Back Bay Station have a ghost and rats?

Update: As I wrote this, it opened again, and I saw a Transit Ambassador who didn’t get out. Maybe one was in there last time and I just didn’t see them. Either way, I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

Shoutout to the conductor who announced Track 4 to transfer to the train to Forge Park! I hope this is a sign of change, where it’ll be announced every single time, because it should be standard if all Forge Park trains go “via Fairmount” on weekends.

My mom told me that she avoided the Orange Line “as a rule” growing up in Dorchester in the 70s and 80s, and that my grandmother may have “forbade it” because of “a lot of violence on it.” Anyone willing or able to corroborate? Would definitely appreciate the perspective of anyone around my mom’s age, born in the mid to late 1960s, who lived in Boston and took the T at the time, especially the Orange Line.

I’m asking because I’ve taken it once or twice a week for almost a year now, except during shut downs. Aside from someone going around with a sign asking for money one day in December, and someone screaming at random on Sunday, causing me to change cars at the next stop, it’s been fine. Even when I took it back to Forest Hills late at night after the Pink Floyd planetarium show last July, nothing concerning or interesting happened on it, or the bus I transferred to.

It works. I had $4.80 on my CharlieCard when I got on the bus to Forest Hills earlier, then transferred to the Orange Line as usual. I got out at Back Bay, and walked to the Prudential Star Market to buy lunch and a snack, then got on the Green Line at Prudential to Gov’t Center, where I transferred to the Blue Line to Aquarium, and confirmed I still had one subway ride left.

If I’d done that on Monday, I’d have been down to zero, or would have had to transfer to Blue at State, or continue to Haymarket and get lunch and a snack at the North End instead. Now I can make pit stops, unless the window closes by the time I get back. Would have been useful on August 18th when I made a similar trip, walking from Mass Ave to Prudential after an indefinite standby.

Now for the next frontier: unite the Commuter Rail, subway, bus, and ferry under one system.

Posting this to ask if anyone’s tried out the new transfer system, or if there were any hiccups. I’d love to know if anyone entered the wrong track side at Boylston or similar stations, and used it to get on the correct side after exiting the fare gates.

Also, I’d love to know if anyone tested the limits, i.e., transferred across multiple buses and subway lines, or walked from anywhere between Back Bay and State on the Orange Line to anywhere between Prudential and Government Center on the Green Line, or vice versa, instead of waiting for Haymarket or North Station. I’m also curious if anyone got out somewhere to stop at a store quickly, then returned to where you got out, and moved along.

TLDR: I’m curious if anyone utilized the new transfer system to make free transfers the old system didn’t allow for. I’m planning on testing it out myself tomorrow, but I’m curious what everybody else experienced on Day 1.

I just realized the unlimited transfer system that starts tomorrow will be a total lifesaver to anyone who enters the wrong side of a station like Boylston, where you have to exit the fare gates and go back outside to get to the correct side. Unless you get to the correct side after the two hour window closes, it sounds like you won’t be charged another $2.40 just because you made an honest mistake.

I take the Franklin Line every weekend. Sometimes, I transfer to/from Providence for service to/from Back Bay/Ruggles, as I did both inbound and out yesterday, then outbound today. Both times going outbound, I had to guide more than one person away from track five, which they reasonably assume is where it will be because it says “Franklin“ on it, when in reality, it stops at track four. The Franklin Line conductors are good about announcing the need to transfer to track two when going inbound, but the outbound Providence conductors need to make it clear to go to track four. Yes, the information is easily accessible on the website, but not everyone pays that close attention to it, because you have to tap or hover the mouse over the track change icon for it to say “track four.” I can live with having to do the transfer if I want to go to Back Bay/Ruggles, or happen to be closer to one of those or Hyde Park, but if the Franklin Line’s going via Fairmount on any day of the week, there needs to be clearer communication with where to go.

Last night, I switched to the Providence Line at Readville from Franklin/Foxboro. Usually, inbound is on Track 2, but for some reason, it stopped on Track 3, and everyone had to rush over the bridge to get there. Not to brag, but I noticed it from a distance first, and was on the bridge before everyone else realized it. I’m curious if anyone knows, or has an educated guess for, why that may have happened, because right now, I’m on an inbound train on the Fairmount Line, and we’re on the outbound tracks. Not a first, because I’ve seen them doing work that required this, and I’m assuming it’s the case because I can’t see the inbound side from the second story because it’s dark outside.

It happened again, this time at Roxbury Crossing. Glad I'm posting this based on the fact I stumbled across it on the MBTA site, and not because I'm on the Orange Line. Today was not its best day, and I hope the upcoming shutdown fixes whatever was going on today.

Edit: I got on the Green Line to maintain even subway rides.

Trying to decide between Green Line from Museum of Science to Prudential and walk to Back Bay for a Commuter Rail train home, or Orange Line from North Station to Forest Hills followed by a bus somewhere closer to home for dinner, and either walk or call for a ride home from there. I’m leaving the museum at 4:30. Any input from actual experience on the Orange Line before then would be appreciated.

Sitting on an Orange Line train at Forest Hills waiting to only get as far as Back Bay due to a disabled train at Chinatown. Don’t know how long it’ll last, but just putting it out there. I almost thought they started the suspension early. Seriously considered going to CR if it didn’t leave by 7:25, but the slow ride started at 7:10. Hoping I get a free transfer to the Green Line at Prudential or Copley so I can get to North Station, but worst case scenario, I go to Prudential Star Market for morning snack before getting on the Green Line and getting off at Science Park or Lechmere instead of North Station, and go to the Museum of Science from there. Happy Tuesday commuters!

Do the Silver Line buses that stop at Airport station stop behind the Blue Line fare gates, or would I have to exit the fare gates from the Blue Line to transfer to Silver, or go through them if transferring the other way? I'm curious because I've gone past Airport Station on the Blue Line a couple times in the last month, and considered making that transfer to get back to South Station instead of going back to Aquarium and walking from there. To be clear, I want to know if the Silver Line buses are behind the fare gates so I know whether to tap my CharlieCard when I get on to register the transfer if outside the gates, or if I can just board the bus behind the fare gates and take my seat, like at South Station and the underground stops in Seaport. Just want to plan ahead because I'm planning to go to Revere Beach more times this month.

My friend is driving us to Readville Station to catch the 7:45 AM Fairmount Line train to South Station on Saturday for Independence Day in Boston. We are planning to take the 10:55 PM train back there from South Station, with Plan B being Orange Line and Bus 32 in either direction if anything goes wrong. This is going to sound like a dumb question, but would 7:30 AM to 11:30 PM be okay for being parked there on a Saturday after paying for parking?

As a victim of this weekend’s Franklin Line suspension, I’m curious about whether the Boston Stadium trains went through Back Bay, Ruggles, Forest Hills and Hyde Park to get to Track 5 at Readville before continuing to Foxboro, or it went via Fairmount to Track 4.

Today I took the T on a weekday for the first time in a while. I usually ride it on weekends, but I wanted to check out the Sistine Chapel at Cambridgeside when tickets were cheaper.

First, the commuter rail was actually crowded. I know that should have been obvious, but it was a culture shock to me as someone who usually gets on the Fairmount Line at Readville, the first stop, I’m the only one who gets on there, and I have my choice of seat.

Then, I took the Green Line from Prudential to Science Park. I got off the commuter rail at Back Bay, but didn’t trust the Orange Line after the issues I’ve seen reported here (Thank you by the way). I also was gonna transfer to green from orange at Haymarket anyway. I probably missed the peak crowds, since I got on at about 9:30.

After the Sistine Chapel and a quick Museum of Science trip, it was Green Line from Science Park to Park St. I was one of 3 people from there to North Station, where more people were inevitably picked up.

Now on a commuter rail train home, later than my usual latest weekend ones. Crowd’s on par with weekend traffic. We’ve come full circle.