Why I miss my van...

Ahh... MBTA Bus drivers... gotta love 'em..
Especially the rude ones. The ones who put you through unneccesary hell because they got yelled at by a supervisor, or they have problems at home like the rest of the world... or whatever...
I'm sure some of us have seen the article http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/15/testy_driver_orders_rider_off_the_bus/. I read this and wonder what happened to the customer service training they had...
In fact, just today I was coming from teaching in Lynn and I'm getting on the bus... I needed to add a buck to my Charlie Card.... the driver yells at me "THIS WILL NOT WORK, YOU CAN'T USE THIS" and that was it... he expected me to get off the bus... Of course I asked the passengers on the bus for change for a dollar (as I didn't have change) and got on... I had images in my head of doing a WWE - Shawn Michaels superkick... but I'm not one to cause a scene...

What was the purpose of yelling at me, as if I knew they piece of garbage machines wouldn't read my dollar which was far from wrinkled... Further (my story isn't as bad), who well was that jackass on the Silver Line to kick the guy of the bus... and the T.. "oh, he's going through some training"... pitiful... I can't wait until my van gets fixed... :-P

Are the fares too high?

I was looking through a facebook group tearing down the MBTA and the fare hike... Of course, being Facebook, it's generally college students \ high school students \ young proffesionals commenting about it.
Some have said "I simply don't have enough to go anywhere". Others try to find ways to get by (the infamous "Fare Evasion").
But is it really that much higher? Honestly, in someways for me it's not. If you use the system right, then you make out better... As all who are in the "know" understand. You have to utilize the new transfer possibilities. There are times however, you are just stuck and have to suck it up. Personally, I hate the fare hike and with the state would step up - because there are alot of people who simply can't afford the fare - AND do not know how to use the Charlie system correctly. It boggles the mind that some people still pay in cash...

Why are you pushing this expansion Charleston!?

So I've been trying to figure out "whats with the coldness" at the forums... Is it still over the botched Railroad.net parody? Is it my overall over the top personality?
I found out while it's those two things, it's mainly my expansion plans that I'm shoving down the throats of our users... Many people say "we've only been here for a year, why are you try to do this?" Or "Why would WMATA fans come to an MBTA fan site?"
Because I'm trying to raise the bar.
I've wanted our forum to become a top transit forum for a while, as opposed to a MBTA fan site. Our users say "why go national?". Well why would you all care? You all are MBTA fans... I'm trying to make a successful website and that means having a site with thousands of users as opposed to 100... Having a huge site works to OUR advantage... today, when I have a guest series, I can't get anyone to do it because we are nothing... But however, if we are this huge transit site, they would come to us to be in a guest series...
And forget that, we'd have alot more posters to contribute and we'd all gain more information... why not?
But is this possibile? If this was a formidable business, expanding would work great. I know about building brands, I've done it for many years (despite my age). But can I do this with the Forums? Was the "MBTA Forum @ Boardzero" a "brand" (if you will) that I could sell? Do people enjoy the MBTA Forum experience? And the MAJOR goof I made with the RR.net parody didn't help... so now I have a brand with a new name, where our users have mixed feelings about me... and while we have a great partner in Transithistory, people have a bad taste in their mouth about the Forums @ Transithistory....
I put in a "Moderator-In-Charge" to do the adminstrative editting of the site and basically be the head of the site while I do the major work... This was done to take the heat of me... But, this guy isn't hot about our forums either... Personally... Corey (yeah, I'm calling you out - this is CS - I've done crazier things) I wouldn't enlist for something I think doesn't work.. but whatever....
So whats the problem guys? Since I started the expansion, our post went up... I've halted Railroad.net parodies and by the way - we (Otto Vondrak, and myself) made up a long time ago - for you all to still be angry over it is outrageous as we have a smooth working relationship right now...
So what is our problem? Why aren't our users happy with our service? While it shows that obviously, our usage is going up, the users generally have a negative view of the Forums... Tell me guys, what is the problem?

Guardian Angels to a T

Early this week I was riding from work... got on from Stony Brook on the Orange to Downtown Crossing (Washington) to switch to the Red to head down to Shawmut. At Massachusetts Avenue the crew announce along with "next stop, Back Bay" also announce "Welcome to Boston, Guardian Angels". I wondered why and then realized they got on the train. When I switched to the red, while waiting for my train about 15 of them then marched into Downtown Crossing... Very impressive... They got on the train and would actually guard the doors and all would stand outside when stopped and make sure that there was order... The head Guardian Angel (as I saw when leaving the train) will then nod and signal them back inside the train and then the crew would close the doors... It appeared as if the T acknoledged their presence.
I came to find out later that Joe Carter actually supports them and pushed for the BPD commisioner to finally meet with them so they can work together.
I support the Angels and thing they are a good thing as we need all the help we can get with the crime surge... While the city doesn't support them, the city obviously isn't getting it done so they should welcome the help and use the Angels to help bring the crime down in the Dorchester \ Roxbury area.
By the way, I want to congradulate the Forums @ TH who while is not officilally the largest forum in the "Hobbies" category - the top two actually are inactive, nonetheless we are technically still held the fort as the largest active forum in our category on the Boardzero system. Thank you - the users for making us #1, and hopefully the Boardzero administration will take off the two top inactive boards that surpass us in post. :) The Forums @ TH is going Big Time!

Is it safe to ride the MBTA in Dorchester?

I was very startled as many of us were about the shooting on the 23 this past week. It his a little closer to home as I use to ride it regularly when I lived near Ashmont... It's troubling for many reasons, and the most troubling is that there is no real alternative to the 23 for this neighborhood... No matter how unsafe they feel on it, and would rather take another route or rapid transit line, they have to deal with these bus routes. Most of these routes like the 23, 28 and etc. are notorious for being "scary" and potentially unsafe. A reason for that can very well be when you have everyone squeezed in together at dangerous levels (I know - I ride so don't challenge that), people are going to start to act out. Especially with bus drivers who don't simply deal with the passengers like people, and not talk down to them. Like I say - rapid transit will make lives alot easier and increase ridership in that area and get some money coming in. It's basic business sense - when you sell a product, you try to sell as much of it as possible. You try and sell it where it will be sold.
While the Silver Line Waterfront is nice... if that same or better service was put in Dorchester, they would sell like hot cakes.
I think I'd like to note I actually rode the 23 last night... there were two transit officers on the bus. I don't know if it's at random, or every 23 (which would be ALOT of officers). They truly eased my fears. Good to see the T responding.

Before I end, one of my users over at the forums had this to say:
"you said that the forum change will be effective April 2nd, yet it's already changed. Have patience" or something to that extent...
Because I change the heading of the forum does not mean that all around internally, the forum name has changed. When I make an announcement like that, I am saying that a full fledge change is coming through. I would highly suggest not worrying about me, and trying to get some content going in your board.... and I mean that in the nicest way :-P

MBTA Forum and Transithistory, Running Wild!

Yes my friends, in my first "official" blog post, I am going to talk to my great friends at the MBTA Forum - no I'm not being sarcastic, I am very grateful to those who post in our forums. All of the MBTA Forum users are loyal to us and want to see us do well. Though we all differ on how we go about that, at the core we all want to see our success. I thank you all for what you have done, and when we are national, the MBTA Forum community will still be the core and at the top of the pecking order...
As many know, I take a very liberal stance when it comes to the T... I highly support the idea of not only extending the Silver Line (Washington) to Mattapan, but it be a heavy rail line from Mattapan to Downtown. The route that it would absorb (28) is one of the heaviest traveled routes on the system... Whether it be 5am, 5pm or 12am, the 28 is always packed. Many of the Dorchester \ Roxbury routes center around this route from Blue Hill, down Warren to Dudley and Downtown. This is where everyone wants to go. Let's get some routes that'll actually make money...