PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ROCKS

*Disclaimer: This is really long - the "tenses" (past, present etc) switch often and the "person" changes often (first person vs. third person etc)... hope its understandable! (maybe i should split it into "parts")

A day in the life of the T-Rider.

I'd like to walk you through a typical morning… and my adventures getting to school.

It's Wednesday morning… my alarm goes off at 6:45 am… I snooze… 6:53…. Snooze…7:17 am – SHIT! Does this mean I'll have to miss breakfast? Oh NO!

I rush to get ready, scramble to pick out something to wear, brush my teeth – occasionally dab on some make-up, and dash downstairs for a bowl of oatmeal! By 7:58 am my lunch is packed, my shoelaces are tied and my jacket is zipped up – ready to go! (Except this is about the time I usually realize I don't know where my "T" pass – aka Charlie Card – is and/or I have no idea where I put my house keys – so I dash back up the stairs and tear my room apart only to realize it was in my pocket all along – oops! Back downstairs I go!)

The "T" stop is .3 miles from my house – mostly downhill. Though my 30 lb "book bag" slows me down a bit, I typically manage to get to the station pretty quickly… as I cross the bridge and walk down the last little hill to the stop, I usually notice one of three things.

1. The train is on the platform – people are getting on. This situation can bring tears of joy or pain depending on the exact number of people waiting to get on. If there are a great number of people trying to get on, I can make a mad dash for the train, run across the tracks in front of the other train (going the opposite direction) and step onto the train right before the doors close. But, if there aren't a lot of people waiting to get on… I will most likely fail. Sometimes I make a mad dash only to watch the driver smirk as he pulls out of the station – other times I just accept defeat and stroll down the hill – knowing, with near certainty, that today will be an all around bad day!
2. There is NO ONE waiting at the stop. This can only mean one thing… I just missed a train. This isn't as heart breaking as seeing the train ACTUALLY pull away – but let me tell you, its pretty darn heart breaking. I try to convince myself that the cup is half full – a train is *supposed* to come every 6-8 minutes (I will address this later) so, if the train left and I didn't see it lately – I probably only have 5-7 more minutes to wait before the next train… I hope? Maybe? Ugh… I'll just pick up the paper and distract myself… no point in stressing now.
3. Of course, the most uncertain situation is when there are people waiting at the station. This could mean:
1. The train left recently but there are so many people taking the train today that there's already a herd waiting.
2. People have been waiting forever and the train will be here soon.
3. People have been waiting forever and the train will take forever
   

For the purposes of this story, I will only explore the third possibility (c)… which does occur QUITE frequently.

I walk down the hill, grab a copy of the Metro, cross the tracks and sit down on the freezing cold bench…. Due to my youthful optimism, I'm usually confident that the train will be there… "any minute."

Any is a vague term. Any could mean the 8^th minute of the 12^th hour of the 3^rd day of December. And, really, with the T – that's a possibility.

A flip through the paper, read a few articles, glance at my watch… 8:09. It's okay – I can still make it to class (class starts at 8:40 am though the prof is usually about 2 minutes late – and yes, we start the second he walks in and puts his stuff down – so around 8:43 am). I keep reading the paper – at this point, I've read all about Boston and the Iraq war… I know about the poisoned spy, the Big Dig, the T rider fee hikes… speaking of which… hm, its 8:11… the T is officially late (assuming the previous one arrived several minutes before I go to the station) and I have class in 29 minutes!

Flip, flip, flip… its now 8:14 am and I am reading about Britney Spears' divorce in the "gossip/entertainment" section. I'm trying very hard to hide the panicked look on my face. (Of course, in the course of the last 12 minutes, 4 trains have passed in the opposite direction…)

8:16 am… ding ding ding… omg? COULD IT BE? I think, I think I see a T coming. Everyone gets on their feet and starts lining up across the yellow line. The train starts pulling in. My heart sinks. It is packed like sardines (that's an understatement). I can see people's faces smashed up against the windows… people have their noses in strangers' armpits as everyone struggles to hold onto something… there is a little girl somewhere in there with her head stuck in an old man's rear end. This isn't a good sign. (Of course it could be worse – sometimes the train doesn't even stop and our hearts immediately sink to our feet!)

Since we are an above ground station, it is likely that only the front doors of the train will open in which case only 3 people will get on each train car (there are two cars total). There are 40 of us waiting to get on. Today we get lucky (or so we think) and the driver opens all doors. Not smart – people are so smashed in the train that when the doors open they practically fall out – clawing each other to hold on. I see one brave individual dare to enter – I see his head level with a sea of butts as he shoves his way onto the first step – soon he disappears. I am tempted to follow but fear damage to my internal organs – or perhaps suffocation. So, I figure I'll sit this one out – and as if hearing my thoughts, the driver announces, "there is another train RIGHT behind us!"

So, I sit back down, the train pulls out. 8:19. So much for making it to class. I unfold the paper and continue reading…

8:21 (right behind my ass!) – another train approaches. This one is relatively empty (compared to the previous cattle car)! Hallelujah… I MIGHT be able to breathe! I jump on board, find a spot (standing of course – its only relatively empty remember) and I grab onto someone's seat (trying not to pull their hair). As the train jerks to a start, my body swings forward – putting my crotch at eye level with an old man sitting with his wife ("eye level" isn't completely accurate – it was more like, he was practically performing cunnilingus on me…) – I apologize and try to brace myself but once your body moves, its difficult to move back because more often than not, someone has already claimed the space in which your body used to be. I resign myself to the fact that I will ride for the next ten minutes with my privates in some random man's face (I don't think his wife is too happy). *sigh*

A few torturous minutes go by… we stop at one stop, then another… each time more people squeeze on board. At this point I usually consider doing a thesis on "Human Rights Violations on the Boston T" – because honestly, this has to be some sort of invasion of my fundamental rights… right?

"Fenway, next stop." Uh oh… it's the time of truce. I could get off here and walk to campus – if I walk/run (that is where you walk so fast that you break into a job but then realize you are very out of shape and switch back to walking again…and of course you feel very silly), I can make it to campus in 10 minutes. It's 8:29. Decisions!

But, its cold outside. And, I left my book in my locker which means even if I power walk the entire way, I'll have to stop off at my locker and will be late to class… And, if I stay on the T, I could be at Kenmore station in 2-3 minutes and then take the B line to campus which would take an additional 4-5 minutes! This calculation depends completely on my hope that the B line will arrive as soon as I get to the station – which is of course wishful thinking but miracles have occurred before! (Murphy's law – when I am 20 minutes early, the B line arrives the second I get to the station. When I am running late…. Well…)

I take the chance. I'm lazy. We pull away from Fenway and start going underground towards Kenmore. Suddenly we stop. You can see nothing but walls outside the train windows… I begin to get claustrophobic… is it just me or is there no air in here? Maybe its because I never took my jacket off and its about 85 degrees in here. We wait and wait. The train starts again… my heart starts beating faster… could it be? Of course not! We stop. We go another 3 feet… we stop again. I should have gotten off at Fenway. 6 minutes later, we get to Fenway. 8:35 am. Well, I might only be a minute late!

I sprint up the steps, across the station down to the outbound trains. There are many people waiting (the train must not have been here recently) Fingers crossed, I wait for the B line… it'll be here any minute now right?

8:40 am… still no train. 8:42… here it comes… yes! YES!!! It stops… "This train is express to Packards Corner!"

WHAT? That's a 15+ minute walk from campus! Plus it takes 7 or so minutes to get there. This is so unfair. "Another train is right behind us" (right, I've heard that before!)

8:46 am… The B LINE! I am the first one on (as if they'll leave the second I board). 8:49 (faster than usual) dropped off on campus- run to my locker… grab my book… up the stairs… CLASS! I made it! (sorta)

Of course, its important to note that days vary. I once was at the Kenmore station at 8:20 am and waited 17 minutes for a train. Today, for example, the train stopped two stops before Kenmore and the driver announced, "There is a train stuck ahead of us – we are waiting for the officials… we'll be moving shortly" – hah! Shortly?

Needless to say, I walked into class 20 minutes late.

(as a sidenote – I walked into class 20 minutes late – the door is BEHIND the professor – IN FRONT of the entire class. I open the door and the entire class looks at me – I pause – probably turned four shades of red and smiled. The professor who usually ignores latecomers stopped his lecture and turned and smiled at me… said hi and gestured towards my seat… as if to say, "oh, by all means, don't let us distract you… come right on in and sit down." Of course, I wanted to die but the class just found it classic… guess you'd have to have seen it through their eyes.)