I previously assigned the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) to Orthanc, but I now think it deserves to be downgraded to Mordor. Sure the system is easy to use, but there are so many problems with it.
First off, I get so annoyed about having to sometimes wait up to 20 minutes for a train to arrive. The Green Line is notoriously horrible, being so slow. On Wednesday I went to the Museum of Fine Arts, and only a block from my stop the trains jerked to a stop and the power turned off. Luckily, there was really any delay...just a couple of minutes. I was more frustrated with getting back on the train later. There were a lot of people waiting at the stop and the first train flew right past us and never stopped. The second one arrived 10 minutes later and people were trying to get on, but the train was really crowded. Instead of telling people to scoot in, the conductor actually yelled at the passengers who weren't behind the white line to get off the train. Other passenger weren't so nice either...they wouldn't move or scoot in even though there was an empty seat. I finally managed to shove my way through and get to the seat since I had somewhere to be and there was no way I would wait another 10-15 minutes for another train. In the end it wasn't that bad...because the conductor was so busy trying to kick people off, she never noticed I hadn't tapped my card to pay. I usually feel guilty for that sort of thing, but not that time...
But that's not actually the main reason I'm assigning the MBTA. The real reason is because of what happened today....and thank god I did not have to use the subway today. This morning there was a
train collision at the subway station next to my campus. The media's calling it a bump, but according to victims it was much worse than that. Seven people were taken to the hospital and several others were injured as well. I heard that a man was actually bleeding from the head. And the MBTA handled it horribly. People were stuck underground for about an hour. I had classmates who arrived to class an hour and a half late because they were stuck then had to walk rest of the way. And I heard no announcements were given about what happened, so people didn't know why they were delayed. It's said that things like this rarely happen, but apparently someone was killed in a derailment only months ago and there was a similar collision to this last December. The
Boston Globe has an article on the event, but the user comments afterwards give a more honest account of what happened.
I apologise for my really long rant, but this whole event makes me quite disgusted about Boston's public transportation system and I have to get it off my chest. And the thing is, I love using public transportation, but not when I'm constantly waiting for trains and then don't feel safe riding them. The city really needs to get their act together and make the public transportation function better. Because there are enough people using it and paying for it that we deserve to have good service.