Charlie on the MBTA: A Brother in Solidarity Fighting for Mass Transit
A quick Google search later and I found a wonderful blog known as Charlie on on the MBTA, "MBTA" standing for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.
Immediately I was interested for several reasons. Obviously, anyone willing to blog about the good and bad of a mass transit system is going to get my attention, but the mass transit systems of Boston and San Francisco have a rather odd historical relationship to each other. When the Boeing-built light rail vehicles were developed both Boston and San Francsico ordered them.
When the LRV's became a nightmare, MUNI ended up buying the leftovers from Boston, while Boston sued Boeing for making crappy cars. In an even more odd twist, when we switched over to the Breda-built cars from Italy, Boston bought another model of Breda cars for their Green Line only to see their cars spend more time in the shop being repaired than actually doing anything!
Yikes.
Anway, Kevin Vahey, the creator of Charlie on on the MBTA and I have corresponded a few times, and it's always been fun. For example, unlike MUNI, which when confronted with a small pack of art students trying to make MUNI a little less lame had the beatdown put on them by The Man, the MBTA allowed a concert by Jewel on the Green Line and those inconvenienced were reimbursed for their troubles. Now, granted, one is sponsored by Verizon and one is not, but can you imagine MUNI allowing anything like that to happen? Probably not.
But it's not all hams and plaques over in Boston, and like us, Charlie on on the MBTA keeps the MBTA honest by allowing regular folks to talk about their experiences, good, and bad, on the system, which I think is a good thing.
Four years ago, I had the pleasure of spending a summer working for a a good friend and colleague in Boston and had the chance to get know the "T" (as it's known there) up close and personal, and all I can I say is, it was quite an experience!
(BTW, if you're wondering why a guy named Kevin calls his blog "Charlie on the MBTA," it's because the Kingston Trio,a folk group from the 60s, recorded a song called "Charlie on the MTA, a homage to the then-complicated exit fare system. Today, the MBTA's prepaid pass system similar to our semi-defunct Translink System is named the Charlie card, and has been having woes similar to ours.
Wasn't it Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy who said something about bureaucracy being the one constant in the universe?
The N-Judah Chronicles lights its lighter in honor of Charlie on the MBTA because...they rock.
