Commuters tweet their biggest MBTA beefs

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

With proposals for significant fare hikes and service reductions on the table, the MBTA is under even more scrutiny than usual, and common public transit inconveniences are even more annoying for some Bay Staters.

Looking to Twitter as a barometer of the public mood, Boston.com asked readers to submit their most annoying experiences of the week using the hashtag #MBTAannoy. The answers would be familiar to many who look to the T for their daily commute to work:

@johnmcboston
#MBTAannoy watching 20 government center green line cars go by before a lechmere/n station train shows up

@MouniraParis
#MBTAannoy: Waiting for the train for 45 mins on a Monday morning... nothing worse

@MaraDolan
#MBTAannoy Having to drive my car because we don't have good public transportation. We need more, not less.

@Eleighmart
ppl soliciting and trying to get you to sign up for their charity as if the ppl on the street aren't bad enough! #MBTAannoy

Even senior assistant metro editors at the Boston Globe weren’t safe when they boarded the Red Line:

@roygreene
#MBTAannoy. Man holding dripping umbrella atop my New Yorker this AM.

We should point out that the MBTA General Manager @mbtaGM and the commuter rail responds frequently to commuters' tweets about service. Still, a survey of other recent tweets about MBTA inconveniences showed a wide variety of frustrating — and sometimes amusing — challenges commuters face:

@Kema826
What's going on? This train smell rancid. Smh while trying not to breathe in. #mbta

@_mymichelle
Really #MBTA, you're gonna show up 30 mins late & still have the nerve to check tickets on board? Ugh. #baneofmyexsistence

@nmcremins
Received 4 #mbta alerts in inbox after it was too late to make an informed decision abt my commute. If u want to charge 43% more, do better

@ColleenMarieT
Man in the train keeps putting his face in his hands and pretends to sob..then all of a sudden he's fine. Weirdo #mbta #happyfriday

@CraigInPictures
On our way from Sutherland rd to Packard's cornah, this train has been reset twice. #mbta

@LaMadame
#MBTA Driver I cannot move in because there is no Damn space. Because if I move any further into this woman's space. She might call the cops

@rhodykate
It's okay, I didn't leave two hours before my interview to be on time. #mbcr #mbta

@cadduci
Strong stench of pork fried rice this morning #mbta #TGIF

@HOSimmons4
wrong destination announced and jerking stops unannounced #MBTA

@Kru_Mark
Honestly @mbta nothin for 25 mins then 3 #39 buses back to back?

@G3MINIB3AUTY
It's too EARLY for all these different smells.....ugh.....I HATE MBTA!!!!

In fairness, some of these things clearly are not the MBTA’s fault. No matter how clean a train is, if a passenger walks into a packed car smelling like pork fried rice, a lot of people are going to have to smell pork fried rice.

Complaining about such minor inconveniences is part of being a Bostonian. With Twitter, those complaints that would have been shared with just a few friends or co-workers not long ago can now be shared with the world.

To share your biggest gripes — or to proclaim that such complaints are unfair — just tweet using the hashtag #MBTAannoy.

Email Jeremy C. Fox at jeremycfox@gmail.com.
Follow Jeremy C. Fox on Twitter: @jeremycfox.
Follow Downtown on Twitter: @DowntownUpdate.