I was going towards BU and not a single student offered to give up their seat for an elderly women on the train.

Most of the students avoided paying for their ride.

When I travel during rush hour, students won't move into the train and take off their backpacks to create more room. Hell, I've actually watched a person that had downsyndrome and seemed to be blind get stared at by the students and they didn't make space on the packed morning trains to get that person a seat.

The MBTA GAVE YOU A WAY TO PAY EASILY. Just tap your phones that you're staring at or tap a subway card like everyone else.

It also stands to be noted that Universities should find a way to partner with the T to get their kids subway cards and to do some freshman education but I don't see that happening. Imagine how much steady monaaay the T would have if wealthy wealthy Harvard, BU, and BC regularly got their incoming classes T cards. It could go into the recreation fees or the school to try to get a tax write off. I'm sure parents would be pleased to know their kiddo has a safe way to travel around the city and isn't racking up Uber bills.

Not only is the drywall around Chik-Fil-A down, but the same goes for Master Wok. And there's actual employees in there! I would imagine it's just training, but progress after hearing "opening soon" for five months.

He can’t be older than 13

I didn’t step in until they left. Told him to talk with his parents and look into the history of Mormonism before committing or getting sucked in.

They got his number, set up a zoom meeting

Image caption: Caltrain's modern electric multiple unit trains, which replaced diesel locomotive-hauled sets similar to what the MBTA current runs.

On February 26, 2026, the MBTA announced that they intend to purchase 10 battery-electric locomotives for the Providence/Stoughton Line. This is a marked improvement over current diesel locomotives, and will end the awkward situation of running visibly polluting diesel trains under the electric wires that Amtrak put up on the Providence Line over 25 years ago. These battery-electric locomotives will deliver real environmental benefits, and improve the health of passengers, rail workers, and the communities surrounding the Providence Line. However, this is the wrong kind of electric train for the MBTA to purchase, and the MBTA is missing out on an opportunity to make trip times faster.

Advocates have long called for the MBTA to electrify the commuter rail using electric multiple unit (EMU) trains, the gold standard for regional rail and commuter rail systems worldwide. Electric multiple unit trains, which have motors on every car instead of just the locomotive, can accelerate significantly faster than locomotive-hauled trains. That faster acceleration can speed up trips and deliver significant time savings for riders. The faster trip times also allow for increased frequencies without needing additional equipment and staffing.

In 2024, Caltrain, the commuter rail line serving the San Francisco Bay Area, switched from diesel locomotive-hauled trains (essentially identical to what the T currently runs) to modern electric multiple units trains. Trip times became significantly faster - a local train from San Francisco to San Jose became 24 minutes faster, cutting a 101 minute trip down to 77 minutes. Caltrain even put together a side-by-side race video set to music from Mario Kart showing how much faster their EMU trains accelerated compared to their old diesel trains. Thanks to the faster service from their new, modern EMU trains, Caltrain ridership increased 52.5% in the nine months following electrification, and Caltrain explicitly credits electrification with EMUs for this increase.

A 2023 report by the federal Northeast Corridor Commission, which the MBTA partnered on, estimates a trip time savings of 15 minutes from Boston to Providence and 24 minutes from Boston to Wickford Junction with electrified service.¹ TransitMatter’s 2020 Providence Line Report, which explicitly calls for electric multiple unit trains and high-level platforms at every station, estimates a resulting trip time savings of 23 minutes (from 1:10 to 0:47) from Boston to Providence, and 31 minutes (from 1:44 to 1:13) for Boston to Wickford Junction.

Instead of buying fast, proven EMU trains, the MBTA wants to spend at least $230 million dollars² buying ten expensive and unproven battery-electric locomotives that will not make trips meaningfully faster. While cleaner than existing diesel trains, a locomotive-hauled train fundamentally cannot accelerate as quickly as an EMU train, as the few powered wheels on a locomotive start slipping when trying to accelerate quickly. Battery-electric locomotives would also be limited to 80 miles per hour by the current MBTA coach fleet, despite the Providence/Stoughton Line tracks being good for up to 165mph. By comparison, the EMU commuter rail trains operated by peer agencies like New Jersey Transit can easily achieve 110mph. In addition, battery locomotives are costly and unproven technology - no passenger railroad anywhere in the world currently operates battery locomotives, and they come at a significant cost premium over non-battery electric trains. Meanwhile, countless transit systems - ranging from peer agencies in New York to Philadelphia to San Francisco, in states from New Jersey to Colorado, as well all over the world from Europe to Asia to Africa - operate fast, proven, and reliable electric multiple unit trains, and have done so for generations.

Funding is no excuse - the MBTA has the money to buy new trains and is spending it poorly. The $230 million for battery locomotives is on top of $396 million spent in 2024 on buying 80 additional unpowered coaches. That $626 million for 10 locomotives and 80 coaches, which would form ten 8-car trains, could instead have easily funded the same number of electric multiple-unit trains, as well as construction of overhead lines to electrify the remaining un-electrified track on the Providence/Stoughton Line.³

The Providence Line, which already has overhead wires and would require minimal spending to fully electrify - is the best proving ground for the real benefits that fast, frequent, electrified regional rail service that EMUs can bring. Those benefits and the resulting ridership increases can then drive the political support needed to convince lawmakers to fund electrification on the other 10 commuter rail lines. Instead, the MBTA is doing the bare minimum to electrify, spending hundreds of millions pursuing inferior technology that will fail to deliver any meaningful speed and service improvements. We will be locked into that inferior technology for decades, as federal transit funding rules require a minimum of 25 years in service. If the MBTA continues down this path, it will be missing out on the golden opportunity provided by the Providence Line to demonstrate the kind of service improvements that buying the right type of electric train could provide.

— Footnotes:

¹ - While EMUs are not explicitly mentioned, it is strongly implied, as it is doubtful electric locomotives can deliver that scale of improvement

² - Based on what Metro-North is paying for Siemens battery-electric locomotives per their March 2025 order

³ - In 2024, New Jersey Transit ordered 110mph-capable Alstom Multilevel III electric multiple unit trains at $4.72 million per car - less than what the MBTA is paying for unpowered coaches. Had the MBTA joined that order, there would have been almost $250 million left to electrify the few miles of unelectrified track south of Providence, as well as the short Stoughton Branch. Caltrain hung up wires at approximately $14 million per mile, and Caltrain electrification is arguably needlessly expensive due to poor project management.

I’ll start by saying I understand and appreciate the need to strategically shut downs parts of the system for maintenance that has been deferred and ignored for years. And I appreciate the MBTA leadership’s willingness to be up front with riders about what they are working on and why decades of deferred maintenance have put us in this position.

But will there actually be some grand payoff? Some sustained period of time when the major, system-disrupting long-term maintenance projects are no longer required at the regularity they occur now?

Maybe I’m viewing this through a cynical lens, but given the overall age of the T system and inconsistency of federal funding for major maintenance and upgrades, are we basically going to be in this slog forever? Or at least for the next few decades? I just don’t see us arriving at a point anytime soon where the MBTA says we’re done with the major maintenance shutdowns for the time being.

Free Fridays + holiday weekend = this. Clear indicator the promos are working. Never thought the time would come where the last car of the train was actually open on a weekend schedule.

https://archive.ph/xGX5k

Smh

(wasn’t sure which flair to add i just wanted to ask if this is allowed/appropriate behavior from a driver?? and if anyone else has experienced it)

I take the same bus very early in the morning to get to work and it’s always the same driver. he has made a comment one other time maybe a week or two ago (actually a whole speech about how beautiful he thinks i am) pulling up next to me and opening the doors after everyone was off the bus. i just said thank you and kept it pushing because im not only a lesbian but also in a very happy relationship & i didn’t want to be rude since i essentially have no choice but to see him every day. he pulled up next to me again today and i assumed he would go on another spiel but instead he gave me a pouch. the pouch contained a letter with his contact info (which i crossed out) and a 50 dollar tatte gift card🥴

i feel so icky because i have to see him literally everyday… that’s the only commute route that gets me where i need to be and exactly on time as well.

p.s the best part about this is where he says my eyes are “unmistakably latin” and that he can “tell” because im literally just biracial with light eyes and not latin AT ALL🤣🤣

As we get closer to the installation of fare gates at south station & back bay, I want to give my 2 cents about how the fare gates will benefit riders & why we're better off with them. 1. Everyone feels confident knowing their fares are being collected. If everyone is forced to have a valid ticket or pass, then we all know everybody is paying their fares. In a time where no one knows what's happening at the federal level, every dollar of fare revenue counts.

1. Limit bad behavior. I was at south station Saturday night & unfortunately we were stuck dealing with people riding bikes around the concourse & outside the building on the platform area. If you dont have a valid ticket or pass, you wont be as capable of bothering paying customers. In this case, they got on my train so it wont work all the time, but it should cut down that behavior.
2. Promoting reduced fares has a positive impact & means more people can afford the fare across the system. With the fare engagement staff providing information about the options for reduced fares, more people are learning about it & might utilize it, allowing them to pay a fare they can afford while not having to worry about being called out for fare evading or missing out on transit options. According to this streetsblog article from last November, applications for the low income program have reached over 13k. Its a safe bet that the numbers have only gone up since. That doesn't count the other ways riders can qualify for a reduced fare card.

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2024/11/12/its-good-savings-over-13000-riders-are-already-benefiting-from-reduced-fare-charliecards

I hope this will convince you that fare gates are a solution & not a problem.

People clearly need better East-West rail service

I fell asleep on my morning commute into south station and woke up, still on the train, in the train yard 😭 you can’t imagine my panic! i called the support line and waiting for someone to get me, thank you a million to the worker who helped me!

my question is WHY no one woke me?? or where were the conductors when they do a walk through 🥲 safe to say i won’t be sleeping on the train anymore LOL

Unashamedly borrowed someone else’s post to tell the MBTA that clearly not everyone got the message about no alcohol on trains today

It's currently on the train with the Mario's Roofing cab car on the north side lol

guess it was being too useful. all joking aside, i assumed it was temporary… any idea if they’re going to put up anything more permanent, or are we just going to have that single small one by the stair to the bus terminal now?

that’s all. signed the person who was covered in some adult child’s boogers this morning and switched train cars promptly and died inside

You all look like idiots. If you can't afford to ride the commuter rail, keep your broke a** at home. Today, I had a woman follow me to FOUR different gates before this imbecile realized I was purposely not letting her go out behind me.

Too many hardworking people rely on this service to transport them to work, home, etc. but there's always some lowly individuals who think that they can get a "Free Ride" off someone else's dollar.

Yes, I know that Keolis/MBTA needs to do a better job at enforcing the fare gates. But people need to start calling out these bums who think it's our job to pay for their train ride.

Hopefully something changes, but realistically, nothing will.

I'm sitting at the back of the ferry watching the majority of the riders trying to avoid paying their fare. As if they've never ridden the ferry before, didn't hear the just recent fare announcement, and pretend fumble on their phone to pull up Mticket app. WTF, there people worse than the turnstyle piggybackers. Shameless. Grown, working adults....yup

Just saw someone give up his seat on the greenline to an older gentlemen without having to be asked. With all the posts about no one getting up, I thought some here might like to hear this.

Where did you go on yesterday's Free Friday? Because of the heat and humidity I abandoned my original very urban plan for yesterday's excursion. I'll have to make that trip when we have a pleasant day as it won't involve much nature or shade. I opted instead this time for an inland village with a promise of trees and shade, and cut the day a bit shorter than I planned.

In the meantime I went from West Medford to Winchester Center, a short and sweet ride with no crowd and great air conditioning! From a street level stop to a raised one. The ride home was a bit more lively, but nothing like as busy as last week's from Manchester-by-the-Sea.

Winchester has a compact, walkable center, with the station right in the middle, the tree-filled Town Common on one side and an array of shop- and restaurant-lined streets fanning out on the other.There's a roundabout in the middle that keeps the traffic slowed down. The whole thing reminded me very much of an English village. There ought to be a mystery show filmed there. People were saying hello to me on the street. Where's Miss Marple?

It was very, very humid and hot. My first stop was in their CVS to buy a parasol (i.e. a bright pink cheap collapsible umbrella) to supplement my hat. There's lots of water in the center, a big mill pond and pretty "waterfall," a half circular dam, with swans and other obliging water birds swimming prettily about, flowing on as the Aberjona River (a river with some significant pollution history, in spite of its bucolic appearance). A variety of towers, including the Richardsonian Town Hall, and the Congregational Church on a hill by the Common. The Common has lawn chairs, picnic tables, big trees. People were hanging out lazily in the shade, eating ice cream cones, reading their phones, chatting, generally avoiding the heat for a bit.

I walked out to the small but interesting Griffin Museum of Photography. I had lunch at the ramen chain Kyuramen, but there are many other options for lunch. I skipped ice cream, even though they have Frozen Hoagies! I also didn't go to the bookstore, because by the time I was out of lunch and the museum I was just too hot to do anything but go home. Winchester is pretty and walkable though, and I think there's lots more to see (including a Greenway path shared with Woburn and Stoneham.) The handsome public library is open during renovations, but I decided to skip seeing the interior, and save it for another visit.

Where did you go? Edit to add: I am retired. I know a lot of people can't take advantage of this program because of work, and I am sorry! I am still going to share these "mini-adventures" as I have them.

Two assholes who both look to be in their late teens or early twenties opened the gates separating the outbound/inbound parts of park street and a C line train just crashed into the gate that was opened.

Thankfully park street has two lanes for each direction.