What a way to end a Friday...

Today was one of those crazy days where I felt like I was in the twilight zone all. day. long.  It was full of situations that made me say "What?!"  "Seriously?  Is this really happening" and even bang my head a few times just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Let's just say it hurt and I wasn't dreaming.

While I will spare you the details of my day, this same thing continued to happen on my commute home... it started on the Orange Line where I was lucky enough to get on the same car with a loud man pushing his religion on everyone on the train.  Now, first of all, I'm Catholic (and not a very good one if you look at my 2011 contribution statement, but I digress).. I have no problem with Jesus, believing in him or praying to him.  In fact despite me being Catholic, I am actually very interested in other religions... I say rock on to whoever or whatever you believe in, I just really don't like religion of any kind forced upon me, or other people for that matter.  Believe what you believe and let others believe the way they want to believe, after all that IS what America was founded for.

Now getting past all the religious stuff, my goodness, this is NO way to end a Friday, especially a rough one at that.  Please, sir, shhhhhh!  I get it (It was loud and clear after the 3rd run through, which from my understanding was probably closer to your 15th run through), you're passionate, you love Jesus and we are sinners and should repent.  But for the love of pete, please stop.  I need to decompress.  I need to hear nothing but background noise of the hustle and bustle of the evening commute.

He finally got off 3 stops later, and it was the longest 3 stops of my life, but after he left, the people left on the car did a collective sigh of relief... one even said "Thank God!" Evidence that there are higher powers in existence after all!

An open letter to my fellow Commuter Rail passengers and the MBTA

So, I am what you might call a loyal T rider.  I take it each and every day I am not traveling or otherwise not working in the office.  While at first it was frustrating to be beholden to someone else's schedule (especially one that I can in no way control how early or late they arrive), I learned to like it - well at least the Commuter Rail side of it.  I still don't love the true T (unpredictable and just ick), but it's a necessary evil.  Why do I say evil?  Well, because you never know whether there is going to be a breakdown - heck you don't know if there has already been a breakdown that is limiting your service until well after it was supposed to have arrived, and it's dirty.  But, I digress.

Starting this week the MBTA will have forums to hear us out on our thoughts on the increase in fares.  I'm not sure where this will get us.  They have a huge deficit, and aging equipment, making for a dire situation.  We all sit and look for a place to throw blame - after all who wants to pay more in this economy let alone for a lower grade of service?  Not me... but let's think about this...

• They haven't increased fares in many years... it seems great in the interim, but in reality, we're only hurting ourselves later, especially when costs are increasing
• It is one of the lowest cost systems in the country.  I remember taking the Metro in DC back in 2003 and thinking the 1.10 was ludicrous to pay for a bus one way, let alone the .10 increase they asked for during that summer driving fares up to 1.20 each way.  (At the time I believe the T was under $1).  And for what it's worth - NY has a great transit system, but I still think their costs for round trip on Metro North are insane regardless of better service.
• People are going to be driven to drive in, causing more delays and making driving in Boston even worse (do we really need anything more to do that?)  Anyone who has ever traveled north on route 1 during rush hour knows what I am saying.  And getting home at a reasonable hour (and fairly predictable) wins in my book, and is worth a few less DD's coffees during the month.  
• In my opinion, anyone who chooses to drive in "because there it's not worth it" to take the T, I really do wish you luck.  But, my prediction is that within 60 days, it will be like the gym around New Years... packed at first, but better after everyone decides that it was better just sucking it up and taking public transit (not that I am saying working out is not worth it, I'm just referencing the many that stop going after strong new years resolutions making packed gyms overly crowded and unbearable for those who go all the time - been there and done that).

In short, I'm not happy about the increases because I don't want to pay more, but my time at home with my family is still important.  Lack of weekend service on the Train won't bother me, though I know that this will hurt those who are dependent on it to travel to their jobs on these days.  I don't think this should be allowed as this is going to cause serious issues for people to get to their jobs, ones that they may have worked hard to get in this economic climate.

So what do I ask?  Sure, I'm willing to pay more, but don't completely eliminate service on any line.  Reduce it, maybe, but not entirely.  And please plan better for the future next time... don't keep fare's steady just to give us a ridiculous and outlandish increase all at once.  Just as much as you can't afford it, neither can we and we're going to need to cut back to afford it to.  Get your stuff together and be smarter about it next time.

Thank you much in advance,

A loyal MBTA/MBCR rider