Le transport

So I was inspired to blog today for the first time in many a month because
a) I was bored on the T
b) I was irritated by the T
c) The marriage of boredom and irritation often result in a blog baby (even if you're really careful...)

Lately I've really been missing Paris, mostly because it's officially been a year since I first arrived and moved in with my host mom and started class there and all that sentimental jazz. But occasionally I get pangs of Paris nostalgia for more practical than sentimental reasons. Today was one of those days.

Boston has the oldest subway system in America. You'd think this would have given us years and years of experience to improve upon the system, but for some reason the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority has squandered any opportunity or advantage that comes with age and instead found it appropriate to use those many years to fuck up as much as humanly possible. I rode the subway in London, Barcelona, and Berlin, and used other forms of transit like trains and buses in Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, and Dublin. And of course, I used the métro in Paris every day to get to work and class. I don't quite understand how ALL of these cities have competent, organized systems of public transportation that run on a SCHEDULE and Boston, a considerably newer and potentially more technologically advantaged city than many a modern metropolis in Europe, is unable to even tell its passengers when the next train is coming.

I was PAing a shoot today at the Boston Wine Expo on the waterfront, so I figured I'd take the T because the silver line would drop me directly in front of the convention center. Fine. I'm at the T stop by 9:15. The minutes crawl by and no trolley arrives. Finally, at 9:30, a train comes and proceeds to speed by without stopping. I understand using express trains during peak hours, but nothing had come by for 15 minutes! Then I had to wait another 5 minutes for the next train to come...aren't express trains only meant to be used when another train is directly behind it? Either way, I was pissed. Despite leaving me stranded for almost 20 minutes, the train HAD to stand by for another 5 minutes at Kenmore before heading off toward government center. I got off at Park Street to change to the Red Line and literally missed the train by 10 seconds. Of course, another one didn't come for 10 minutes. Die die die die die die die. After two more stops, I changed for the silver line at South Station, where I waited yet another 10 minutes for a train to come. I was only about 12 minutes late for work, which is good considering the amount of delays that kept me from getting there, but honestly, it's pathetic that it took me longer to travel a few miles across town than it takes me to get home to Dighton from Boston.

I don't need shiny new trains. I don't need a more extensive system (though that would be nice). I don't even need the trains to run on a more regular schedule. All I ask is to know when the next goddamn train is coming, whether it comes in 3 minutes or 20.

In Paris, the trains came approximately every 2 to 4 minutes depending on the time of day. We would get irritated at night on the weekends when, close to 2 am, the trains only ran every 7 minutes or so. The RATP could kick the MBTA's ass, take its lunch money, insult its mother, and still be on time for church afterwards. SOCIALISM FTW.


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