The combination of the Big Dig rerouting, chemical terrorism scare at Park Street and track switching problems conspired to make yesterday a day of hour commutes on the T. Perhaps some people won’t have much sympathy, having longer commutes themselves, but at 4 miles from downtown I could walk in that amount of time. But it’s easy to complain about the T, so I’ll offer instead a few modest proposals:
1. It’s fine to run express trains or to turn trains around in the middle of the run to better adjust the schedule, but how hard would it be to have a sign on the front reading “Express” or “Brigham Circle only”? This would prevent not only frustrated riders already car, but confused people lining up to get on a train that’s not going to stop.
2. I don’t know which curmudgeon wrote into the Globe a couple of weeks ago complaining about drivers who didn’t collect all the fares when running behind at rush hour, but I wish the MBTA hadn’t taken the complaint to heart. When the trains are behind schedule and are packed to capacity, they need to forfeit the five dollars or so in fares. Trying to fix their budget crisis by insisting on every fare will be penny wise and pound foolish.
3. Communicate! T riders are for the most part a patient and resourceful bunch. We’ll gladly seek out an alternate path home, if only someone would get on the PA system and tell us that switching problems are causing 30 minute delays on the Green Line.
4. Get a PA system that works.
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