I’ve been riding the MBTA since I was a kid, and riding it on a daily basis since I started high school, and after all these years, I need a place to vent about everything that grinds my gears:
People who don’t take their huge backpacks off on a crowded train
People who fart on the train - one of the most inconsiderate things a person could do, in my opinion
Big strollers during rush hour - on Friday when my train pulled into Park Street, two massive strollers entered the same door on the right side of the train, and another ginormous one entered from the left side, all at the same exact time! It was madness! Get a freaking umbrella stroller!
People who make the trains reek of tobacco - fortunately this is simply because they put their cigarette out right before boarding the train, but sometimes some jackass actually decides to light up ON THE TRAIN, which is illegal and very inconsiderate
People who don’t give up their seats to elderly or disabled people
People who don’t move their bags from the one vacant seat on a crowded train
People who eat food on the train that smells like farts or other undesirable things - I’m talking primarily about the person who decides to whip out a hard boiled egg during the morning commute. I mean really? I love eggs. They taste great, but you can’t deny that they smell like a fart that precedes stinky diarrhea. Another big offender is tuna fish. It doesn’t exactly smell like roses and shouldn’t be eaten in an enclosed space.
Men with wide stances. You know who you are.
Assholes who drop batteries on the platform. I had a run-in with a AA battery my freshman year of high school. I was running to catch the train, and one second I’m approaching the doors of the train, the next I’m literally sliding into the train car on my back, having essentially been a victim of the battery version of slipping on a banana peel. So I lay there for a second, completely stunned, my lower body in the train and my upper body still on the platform.
People who pay cash on the buses or at the street-level green line stops but who don’t have the courtesy to go to the BACK of the line and let us people with our cards get on first, especially in the winter.
Disabled trains
Trash fires on the tracks
Morons who fall on the tracks (excluding the person at Davis station who sleepwalked and fell into the pit a few weeks ago; they really had no control over that)
Don’t get me wrong, the MBTA is convenient and holds a special place in my heart, but damn some of the people drive me nuts.
And did he ever return?
No, he never returned
And his fate is still unknown
Hey hey hey
And he will ride forever
Neath the streets of Boston
He’s the skinhead who never returned
Skinhead on the MBTA, The Dropkick Murphys
But otherwise, yeah. I can endorse your rant for varying values of all commuters.
Yep. CTA (Chicago). Though, batteries and trash fires, not so much. Several people a year die on the tracks here, usually drunk and either fall off the platform or decide to have a gander down there for whatever drunken reason and touch the third rail. One family even tried to sue the CTA because they claimed not to know about the third rail and their dumbass drunk relative fell on it. Sorry you’re all so stupid, but that’s not the city’s fault. Those signs posted everywhere with a guy getting electrocuted on the tracks aren’t just for decoration. The sparks flying from underneath the train, aren’t just pretty to look at.
OOh, which reminds me, today it was snowing and for some reason the trains were throwing lots of extra sparks. I live near the tracks and the sound of the sparks caught my attention, I’ve never heard that before, especially with all the windows closed. It was like there were extra large sparklers lighting up and making big ZZZAPP sounds. Kinda neat.
Tasha, I’m with you on some counts, but not all. If you’ve got a baby and a stroller and need to get home, you’re as entitled to the subway as anyone else who pays a fare. If I’m paying cash on the green line, I’m entitled to my spot in line. I’ve never even seen a dropped battery on a platform.
Consideration goes a long way, but there are limits to what’s realistic or even possible. And I have given up my seat to someone who needs it more.
(If you really want to feel bad about the state of the MBTA, ride a subway in Germany.)
NYC MTA rider for 33 years. The personal space and odor issues I totally agree with. I admit I’m guilty of the backpack thing too I don’t take it off all the time.
Tiny little light weight strollers are great in the summertime don’t really work in the winter especially the snow and ice.
Some people get riled up about the Washignton DC Metro not allowing any form of eating or drinking past the turnstile, but one has to admit it cuts down notably on smells, litter and vermin.
OTOH there are those who would say personal space and odor issues are the persistent essence (:p) of the NY subway experience.
Add to the list people who live in Boston but don’t put it on their SDMB Location and then make us wonder where the hell is the MTBA. Not all of us are in on your little acronym world.
My first guess was Milwaukee Transit Board Authority, but with Gleena’s lyrical hint it became evident that you were talking about Boston transit
…and thanks SeaDragonTattoo for noting the city of the transportation system of which you refer.
I agree especially with #7, people eating stinky food on the subway. Thankfully, I’ve never encountered hard-boiled eggs on public transit (which I absolutely hate the smell of), but almost as bad is when people bring McDonald’s food on board. That stuff REEKS.
I have many things I don’t like about public transit, and someday I’ll write an epic Pit thread about it. Some other time.
OMG how dare other people have kids, then have the audacity to have to go places at the same time I do! How inconsiderate and rude of them.
Yeah, I -love- idiots like you that sprint for trains, so eager to not have to wait 2 minutes for the next one that they’ll bowl people over in their madlust haste to get on. I’ve been taken out twice by mindless morons like yourself. Stop running for trains. If you’re in -that- much of a hurry, maybe wake up earlier?
"I’m lining up at the cash register - the guy in front of me has eight items, I only have three, so he should let me go ahead of him. ‘Cause I’m special, or something’.
:rolleyes:
You sound like a colossal dick.
PS: I agree, however, that people that don’t take their backpacks off on crowded trains should be shot on sight.
To be fair, you cut out the part where she mentioned that collapsible strollers would be a good alternative when taking public transit. People buy these massive strollers and then can’t imagine that they’re getting in the way of others.
And let me just add, for the escalators - stand right, walk left! I have literally seen Amish people who understood that much about technology, yet it seems to escape so many average people.
The other day, I learned that there are Yelp reviews of Metro stations.
Here are my rants:
If you walk on to a train and see a few empty seat, for the love of all that is good, get your butt in one quickly. Do not slow down and take a nice leisurely stroll to the seat. The person behind you is glad you found a place, but would also like a fighting chance at a seat before the human crush from the other door takes them all.
Hey you weirdos who run for the train at a non-busy station at rush hour (when they come literally every 2 minutes), I’m laughing at you. But if you hit me or otherwise harm or even scare me in your weird competitive rush to shave 120 seconds off your commute, well then I’m mad at you.
You think your bag deserves it’s own seat on a crowded train? Or are you purposefully pretending to be asleep and slumped over the other chair? GREAT! I am going to go out of my way to sit next to you, even if there are other options. It’s not like we don’t all know your game, you know.
If it’s rush hour and you are coming up to a major transfer (hello Gallery Place/China Town!) for fuck’s sake move to the center of the car. Move to the center of the car. Move to the center of the car. We all are just trying to get to work here. And I swear, if you want to stand around taking up space like some kind of king of the red line, I will holler. I will push you. I’m not going to be late to work for that bullshit.
WHY DON’T ANY OF THE ESCALATORS WORK? Seriously, Metro, why are they always broken?
People who pay cash and do so incredibly slowly cause delays. If there’s ten people waiting to get on the train or bus, and the cash-payer gets on first, he might spend a good thirty seconds getting all his coins or bills into the machine. In fact, I’ve been stuck behind cash-payers for about two minutes while they fumble to get their wrinkled old bills in.
In the meantime there’s a line of nine CharlieCard users (who either put money on their cards beforehand at the machine or shoveled out 70 bucks for the monthly link pass like I do) that stretches down the steps and onto the platform and are freezing their asses off in 18 degree weather in January. If those people were to get on first and each spend a total of one second tapping their cards on the machine, the platform would be vacated and the train operator could shut the doors and get the train moving while Mr. Dollar Bill pays his fare.
Whoa whoa whoa, I have NEVER “bowled” anybody over in my haste to get on the train, and I almost never run for one because I feel like an idiot when I do, but I had to get to school early that day to work on a project and there wasn’t another train on the opposite platform (I live at the end of the line) so I had no idea when another was going to come.
Totally different situation. Trains run on a schedule and in order to get the train running on time it only makes sense that people with CharlieCards get on first, because they can pay their fares in one little tap and then move into the train, which unobstructs the doors so the operator can close them and get the train on its way. In addition, these are all above-ground stops I’m talking about, since below-ground stops don’t require a fare on board the train because it’s been paid at the turnstile. In winter in Massachusetts, it’s usually very cold at above-ground stops. When it’s 18 degrees and I’ve already been waiting for twenty minutes, the last thing I need is for some bozo without a CharlieCard (which are FREE, by the way, and actually save you money) to spend two minutes trying to get his bills into the machine, while myself and nine others are freezing our asses off and just want to get into the warm damn train.
So because some morons can’t be bothered to pick up a FREE CharlieCard which will actually save them money, I should relocate to a warmer city? I happen to love the cold, just not when I’m waiting to board the freaking train after I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes. I also love the city of my birth and have no plans on moving.
No, you should just suck it up if somebody pays in cash and makes you wait an additional eight seconds, princess. It’s not like they are writing checks.