WhipperSnaPR

I live in Central Square, Cambridge (moving soon to Porter: more on this in a bit). I work in Lexington, MA. I don’t own a car. This leaves me only one option of transportation…. the T.

There seems to be a trend of people blogging about the T, so I thought I would throw my own opinion into the mix. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m known for my hellish commutes. Most days, I’m numb to the pain and inconvenience of having to chart out my day based on a bus schedule. Other days, it drives me crazy!

I try to make the best of my situation, but it isn’t easy. I listen to my ipod, but that has recently stopped holding a charge. I read, but I’m plagued with never having grown out of my childhood, “puke everytime I’m in a car,” extreme motion sickness. I people watch, but it is always the same people (many of whom forget to bathe, so I can’t even breathe!).

So… sticking to my optimistic outlook, I took to the charlie ticket system with ease, hoping it would make my commute easier. I used a combo pass because I take the T and the bus twice daily; the pass is the cheapest option. However, paper passes are not meant to withstand month-long usage. Naturally, I was pleased to see the new card system launch. I even got up early on the central square’s “assigned” day to get a card. I got there well within the time frame and, this shouldn’t have surprised me, nobody was there; no signs, nothing. Never one to be easily discouraged, I got up early the next day to try to catch the Alewife card disbursement day. I missed it and let off a little steam on the nearest T official for it. They promptly produced a card to shut me up. Score!

I quickly learn though, the Charlie Card may fix the paper problem, but it also creates a new problem set altogether. My particular bus has two rates depending on your destination. With the basic coin operating system, I got to decide what to pay. With the pass system, I didn’t care what they “charged,” but with the card to onus is on me. If I don’t explicitly tell the driver my destination and expected far… they’ll charge me the maximum amount! ugh!

The T sucks…