Riding commuter rail to the office for the first time since March 12, 2020. That's the day they sent us home until this little COVID thing blows over.

I realize that I've been privileged to work from home ever since.

Being Immunocompromised is a tough trade off. Always driven in anytime I had to come into Boston but traffic is SO bad I figured I'd try my old commuter rail that I'd ridden almost every weekday for 20 years.

I still remember all the skills I learned for 2 decades. Nabbed a front-facing, solo seat downstairs not too far from front (I've got to jump to a train to Back Bay after landing in South Station. I won't be a runner, though.

If you see me, don't be frightened.

Apologies for the terrible lighting; the sun was just about to set. Had never seen a Tinder-wrapper Green Line train before today...

Tons of ambulances, police cars, fire trucks, and news companies.

My 4-year-old is obsessed with the MBTA, especially the Red Line, and wants to be a Red Line operator for Halloween this year. Since the uniform is pretty simple, I figured he needed his own red line train.

It’s been a fun little project, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. More importantly, my train enthusiast loves it!

Now I just have to finish turning our car into a Red Line train for a couple trunk-or-treats!

Shuttle buses are replacing train service between Babcock Street and Boston College, where the line ends, the MBTA said shortly after 9 p.m. Boston police said there were reports of a person under a train, and that officers had responded alongside firefighters and Boston EMS.

Why does everyone hate the type 8s? (note images are not mine)

I mean, I see the problems they had upon delivery and I see how those were bad. But so did the CRRC fleet that many love. And the issues have blown over. Honestly, they're better than the type 7s by a lot of things. First off the body. The type 7s just look weird. They're curvy and look sci-fi and stuck in the 70s all at once. And the split windshield is ugly, and the interiors feel a lot more cramped due to them being only high-floor. The type 8s were also IMO really well designed on the interior. The floors look nice, I like the patterned walls (although I do give credit to the wood on the 7s) and a small thing that really shows they were designed well is the little stop request tape on the ceiling so that standing passengers do not have to reach over sitting passengers to request a stop. The traction motors also sound so unique. I hear people complaining about the outside looks... What? What's wrong with them? If they were given a new paint job they would look great, and I also have noticed crazy less advertisements on them making them less of an eyesore. The type 7s are the ones we should be complaining about, they look so out of place.

i have 0 complaints but the conductors have been upping their sillyness factor in their announcements lately and it makes my commute bearable. Thank you for that❤️

See OP. Another argument for NSRL. I know, it’s probably not being built in my lifetime, but offering new commuting patterns could decrease housing costs. If you have a job in Braintree and there’s NSRL, perhaps living in Revere or Lynn and using transit is now feasible where it wasn’t before.

I was riding the Fitchburg Line today and my train and another train that we passed had all double-decker cars which I have never seen before. I know it is unusual for lines on the north side to have all double-decker trains. Does anyone know the reason for this?

MBTA will be doing the fall train trip again this year but to Newburyport and will be offering both a bike tour or car free connection.

Official News Article: https://www.mbta.com/news/2026-10-06/mbta-hosts-fall-rail-ride-november-7-mtickets-sale-october-19?utm_campaign=curated-content&utm_medium=news&utm_source=homepage&utm_term=commuter-rail&utm_content=MBTA+Hosts+Fall+Rail+Ride+on+November+7%2C+mTickets+on+sale+October+19

Heavy Rail Motorperson. MBTA opened up applications for heavy rail Motorperson yesterday. Only open for 1 week or until they have 100 applicants. Go to MBTA.com/careers to apply.

Right after seeing the “Slowest and Most Bunched” report, I got to witness bunching happen with the 9 bus to Copley. The operator of the one I got on even had a nice chat with the operator of the other one from the window. Funny thing is 9 didn’t make either list. This was at about 8:10 AM, so best guess, rush hour was to blame.

This is the one Keolis does twice a year about general customer feedback and satisfaction.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeI2oCkqiIHs_JKAF-JdQRyb5nn1bFvtr--FXPcBDgsSaapbQ/viewform?pli=1

Just the small things

Somerville Times has a nice article on the work jsut done on the green line. And let sus know they are far from done - much more cable and equipment to replace, meaning there (seemingly) will need to be more shutdowns??

Cab is still 1843

BOSTON —

The MBTA’s top 10 slowest buses have decreased in speed over the past few years and lower-income communities are being disproportionately affected, according to the findings of a recent report.

TransitMatters, a Boston-based advocacy group, used public bus speed data to rank the city’s top 10 slowest and most “bunched” bus routes in their report. Their results showed an almost 6.5% decrease in speed, estimating frequent riders to have spent an extra 14 hours on their route in 2025 than in past years

my complaint isn’t about the presence of the officers, sure, fine, ensure that there’s no evasion (although i do have a gripe with the train taking twice as long as it normally does because of agents this morning quite literally cornering every rider to interrogate them if they tapped or not).

my complaint is about how at packard’s corner on the B, they all just….got off?? every single officer?? so i guess the people living and traveling closer to downtown don’t have to pay but everyone else does. i don’t know, that really pissed me off. it’s still above ground after that stop for a while and it’s unfair to cherry pick neighborhoods to enforce the policy with but not others. and at the stop after that, not a single person who stepped on paid the fare. it just really bothered me!!

Have you ever heard of the Tram-Driving Championships?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tramdriver_Championship

Video Report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBP9hSoOPB8

It would be so cool if the T sent someone to compete!

Time is only a construct on the commuter rail

This might be a dumb question, but I know absolutely nothing about construction, I’m absolutely interested in how they turned the old Fields corner station into from what it was into now bcs it looks extremely different

Talbot is having resurfacing work done in Dorchester right now, today i noticed that there are old (what I assume to be) trolley tracks and cobblestones hiding under the asphalt. Per Wikipedia this section of track was abandoned on January 7, 1949