One More Reason To Ride A Bike…
Written by Boston Biker on Sep 17Did you know the T keeps crashing, and catching on fire…yea and people say riding a bike is dangerous. Lovely weather for bike riding people get out there!
Tags: crash, fire, MBTA
Posted in advocacy | 5 Comments »
By Andres Salomon
on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
Fun story we like to tell:
Back when my gf lived near Fenway, she had two friends from California visit us. They took the T from the airport to Fenway Station (green line). Apparently right before Fenway Station the green line goes into a tunnel, and while in that tunnel the T stopped. The car started filling with smoke, and people starting panicking. The conductor apparently couldn’t get the door open, so some beefy guy managed to pry it open. Everyone ran out of the subway car and out of the tunnel (which was filling with smoke) towards Fenway Station. My gf was waiting for them at the station, and saw a bunch of people exiting the tunnel. She had no idea what had happened, but was informed of their little T adventure.
The best part is, we never saw anything about it on the news. Just another day on the T, I guess?
By Liam
on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
I bristled when I read this because I feel bike advocacy should be sympathetic to public transportation since we’re all in the same “second class” status riding a subway or bus as we are riding a bike. Despite the two incidents cited, public transit is far safer – not to mention cleaner and efficient – than cars. And a lot of the problems of public transit can be traced to 60 years of government policy that funnels public money into subsidizing highways, parking lots, cheap gas and auto infrastructure at the expense of walking, biking, and mass transit. So all I’m really saying is that public transit already has some powerful enemies trying to kill it. Bicyclists need not pile on.
By Boston Biker
on Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
ahh liam you are right that did come off kind of assy…sorry about that, I am all for public transport, was more making a joke about people who claim cycling is dangerous, but you are right we should encourage more people to ride the T.
By latron
on Sep 19, 2009 | Reply
+1 for Liam’s comment. Right-wingers (those in government, others locked in their homes) are responsible for the T’s funding troubles, and from these flow maintenance issues. “Public transit doesn’t work!” they can then charge, and tighten the screws further. Even with the T’s current bruised and abused state, we are blessed to have it. So many in America aren’t half so lucky.
By Archer
on Sep 19, 2009 | Reply
Yes that’s right, the MBTA not being awesome is the fault of all 3 Republican’s the in state somehow having mythical strength to overturn the overwhelming Democratic majority’s rule over a glass of champagne.
You are kind of forgetting about the MBTA’s multiple union platinum plated contracts and obscenely Byzantine top heavy management culture. One could pour billions into the MBTA, and in it’s current state of affairs, the agency would be in the same boat in a few years. Yes they could use some more money, but first lets toss most of the management into the harbor.