MBTA

Every day I have to ride the T to work for about an hour each way. Slowly, the MBTA is eating away at my soul. It is very clear that the word "try" is not in the MBTA's manifesto.

To start with, one would think that the T could have its shit together in the morning during normal work commuting hours. I do not understand how somedays are horrible and other days things run smoothly (for the T at least). Last week I arrived at the T stop right as a T was sitting there. The T was PACKED and not everyone at the stop could board the train. So we all waited behind for the next train to come. 30 MINUTES LATER a train rolls up equally as packed as the first. This is not surprising because I am sure everyone at all the previous stops had to wait half an hour for a train that should be there at least every ten minutes or so. I manage to shove myself on and I am placed awkwardly between armpits of people taller than me reaching up to hold on. To add a little extra fun to the situation, the T was not well air conditioned and it was sweltering hot even at 8 AM in the morning.

Simply a delayed T would not normally be enough to set me off. It was the combination of sweltering heat on the train and then the train continued to stop at the billions of stops along the way.

Each time we stopped the T driver would yell at everyone,

"PLEASE move to the back of the train, Let people off before you get on the train"

Its like, LADY, NO ONE is getting off at this stop and NO ONE can move back because we are all packed in like sardines, so all the people trying to get on are shit out of luck. But this never seems to be a concern to the T drivers. There have been times, when I guess either angry and bitter T drivers or simply just stupid, will sit at a stop waiting for people to move back into the train so that new people can board. The T driver will just sit there facing forward and yelling

"I'm not leaving until everyone is off the steps and into the train. Please move into the train"

At this point I am sure my blood is boiling not only from the heat (because any measly amount of air conditioning is now escaping through the doors that are remaining open) but from the frustration of the T's inability to get anyone anywhere efficiently. Meanwhile, all the trains that were behind my train are finally catching up, so all the T trains can be together keeping each other company I guess. I keep thinking to myself, they have no choice, this train has to go express. Suddenly, I hear the driver over the loud speaker announcing that the train is going express....for TWO STOPS, that is approximately 400 yards since each stop is obnoxiously close to the other.It would be so much easier to keep my cool during this frustrating time if the drivers bothered to give a shit about their driving. Each stop is painfully long and everyone is slowly thrown back until the driver comes to an abrupt halt at which point everyone is lurched forward. Even sitting on the T is a struggle to stay upright.

Unfortunately, experiences like this have become more common than I would desire and I am forced to come up with ways to cope with this nonsense:

1. My main way of coping was my I-pod. But unfortunately, I am a moron and I left it on the plane (despite not even listening to it on the

plane) so now I am ipod-less on the T for an hour, and I am left to only my own thoughts for entertainment. I am far too poor to buy another ipod.

2. My other ways of coping has been becoming very particular over the way I ride the T. Each T train has two cars in the morning and I refuse to ride in one of them. The set up is absurd, there are very few seats, the train is not all the same level and the seats face in so you are always going to be sitting with your face in a stran

ger's crouch. Here is a picture of the unfortunately positioned seats (did I mention that if you are short your feet will dangle?)

This usually means I have to wait somewhere in the middle of the stop so I can be ready to run to the better car. There is also specific places I will stand in the station to optimize the amount of breeze I get from the industrial sized fans and at the same time be as far from the hoards of tourists that use the same station. I then run onto the T to find a forward facing seat by the window. Sometimes I fear that this particularity is going to turn me into an old lady who can't handle change, but you've gotta do what you gotta do to survive the T.

There are days when I consider taking the bus, but then I recall the attitude of the bus drivers. First of all, the 57 buses all have separation anxiety and like to travel together. If you see one 57 there is definitely another one very close by. Secondly, the drivers are SCARY. There was this one time I was riding the bus and the bus is at a stop, the driver failed to open the back door, so a fellow bus rider calls up for the back door to be open. The lady bus driver starts YELLING about how she's not a mind reader and you have to ring the bell for you stops so she knows. When we reached my stop I realized I had failed to ring the bell (despite the bus making the stop anyways) and out of fear of being yelled at by the bus driver, I just rode it to the next stop to avoid her wrath. I also happened to be on the phone with my sister at the time, who was under the impression that a disaster was happening as she overheard the bus drivers crazy rants at every passenger that got in her way.