When the MBTA comes around

Print | Comments () Posted by Jeremy C. Fox June 15, 2012 04:51 PM

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(Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com)

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent

View the story "When the MBTA comes around" on StorifyWhen the MBTA comes aroundStorified by Jeremy C. Fox · Fri, Jun 15 2012 16:51:38As Boston eases into something resembling summer, there are fewer college students taking public transit but more tourists, and the weather-related complaints about the MBTA experience are piling up. The switch every few days from heat to rain and back again makes many aspects of city living more unpleasant, but few are as viscerally appalling as being packed into an overcrowded train or bus on a humid day when the heating system is inexplicably turned on.

Still, if riders set the bar low enough, they can achieve the occasional small victory. MBTA riders tweeted about a few of those this week using the #MBTAbrag hashtag, but even some of those are tinged with ambivalence.

Thank you bus driver on @MBTAgm bus 2228 this morning for waiting for me. #mbtabragCaitlinChatty teen on #OrangeLine tells friends she's afraid to ride "the bendy train." So the #GreenLine does have its advantages. #MBTAbragRobert D SullivanLooking especially chic with @AliGeeebs on the commuter rail this morning #whatelseisnew #MBTAbrag #citygirlsVanessa Marie GatlinThis B train is uncrowned and surprisingly well air-conditioned. #GreenLine #MBTAbrag http://pic.twitter.com/9xu1pI29Jeremy C. Fox

So, that's it for #MBTAbrag tweets this week. The small showing must be due to modesty rather than an inability to find anything good to say. Right? And that's also why there are so many more #MBTAannoy tweets, probably.

One benefit of using Twitter is that it's now possible to know before you even step on the train that things aren't going to go well. Twitter tells me that this is nottttt going to be a fun commute home #mbta #mbtaannoySarah PerkinsWith fare increases just a couple of weeks away now, it's likely there will be many more tweets like this. WTF?!?! #MBTA is raising the commuter rail to $291 July 1! If I can balance a check book, so can you. Don't take this out on me. #MBTAannoyLucy MillerOf course, the other people with whom we all must share public transit inevitably cause some of the greatest frustration, as seen in this series of tweets:This is the part where everyone is supposed to move to the middle of the train #getouttamywayhomie #MBTAannoy #MBTASarah Perkins.@NicoleJLeBlanc u know how u said you miss #Boston? I got SPIT on on the #mbta today. Still miss it? #mbtaannoyAlison ThompsonKindly remove your purse from my bum #MBTA #MBTAannoySarah PerkinsThere are 5 rows of empty seats on this bus. Why do you have to sit next to me, stinky lady? #MBTAannoyLBNathanI'm not weird about germs or anything - but seeing people eating on the #mbta is vile. #mbtaannoyKristen Lady, why you gotta sit so close? #MBTAannoyMelinda CBut there are times when it's not so much the quality of other passengers as the quantity. It's 8pm. WHY are all the buses stuffed FULL? #MBTAannoyDarren MackiewiczSometimes, though, the people are the least offensive living things on the train. Remember Penelope the snake? Looks like she's been recommending the MBTA to other reptiles.Is it really necessary to take a pet iguana on public transit? I much prefer a crying baby. #MBTAannoyLukas AkerleyBeing cold-blooded, snakes and iguanas probably don't mind one part of riding the T in the summer that is most aggravating to humans.@mbtaGM green line t #3714 blowing out heat on a 82 degree weather day. Are you serious?! #mbtaannoy Lauren If it's not the heat, it's often some other meteorological factor making the ride unpleasant. #mbtaannoy half the seats on my #65 bus had pools of water on them this morning. :-/ #rainisnofunJohn Robert O'ConnorThough some frustrations also come, naturally, from the MBTA's failure to fulfill basic expectations of service. Did an almost empty 11 really just blast by the south station at summer st stop?! #mbtaannoySarah Swan@MBTAGM would like to know why the Green Line C train I was on stopped for 30 minutes today at Park St. from 12:50 to 1:20 AM #MBTAannoyLexie W.Hey MBTA, you can't have a final boarding call for a train that isn't here. #MBTAannoyMatt KochSo my pass isn't working and I have to pay because no one is at the booth!!! #mbtaannoySherrell WilliamsSometimes the inconveniences just pile on. First a Red Line delay due to police action @Kendal now Andrew closed due to water main break #mbtaannoyHotties on the TAnd sometimes they combine to create a disaster of biblical proportions. Delays on the #redline. 3rd rail struck by lightening. Fires ensued. @mbtagm #mbtaannoy #getmehomepleaseKate MFires, iguanas, what's next -- locusts? Be careful out there, folks, and when you're boarding the C Train and you encounter some horsemen of the apocalypse, or whatever, don't just turn to the Book of Revelation to figure out what to do next. Tweet using #MBTAannoy or #MBTAbrag, depending on your personal beliefs about such portents.