Community Corner

'Seen and Heard on the T'

We've all got stories of things we've seen and heard on the T. Share them with your neighbors here.

Tuesday, July 17: A South Boston woman tried to ride her motorized wheelchair up a Red Line escalator, according to a video posted by the MBTA general manager on his YouTube channel. The chair flipped over, sending the woman sprawling. Another rider tried to help and he also became entangled. A T worker rushed over and hit the emergency stop button.

The woman was not hurt, according to several media sources. There was an elevator the woman could have used about 55 feet away, T spokseman Joe Pesaturo told BostonInno.

The Americans With Disabilities Act specifically excludes escalators as "accessible means of egress." However, one wheelchair user has written a primer for others to use if they want to learn how to ride their wheelchair up (or even down) an escalator.

Find out what's happening in Watertownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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Monday, July 16: An anonymous Twitter user got a photo of a T employee apparently sleeping at the Park Street Station. The photo was taken at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 14. Steve Annear of BostonInno reports that T officials are investigating the situation. Back in May, a T police officer was apparently caught sleeping on the job.

Find out what's happening in Watertownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Also over the weekend, Rob Grover told Universal Hub about being yelled at by the driver of a Green Line trolley and told he can't take photos on the T. The driver is wrong — she apparently didn't get the memo or training about the.

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Friday, July 5: Keri reports on a man who allegedly slapped a woman on the Red Line at Harvard Square. The photo is attached in the gallery.

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Monday, June 18: The T is one of my favorite places. Really. You get an unmatched cross-section of humanity. And you often see and hear some funny things. The kinds of things that, when you get to work, you have to tell people about.

"The woman across from me on the T this morning was clipping her toenails."

That sort of thing. (I've seen nails being clipped several times while on the Orange Line, by the way.)

Our new feature, "Seen and Heard on the T" will collect these bits of urban life so they reach a wider audience.

It's easy to share your stories, photos and videos. Here are a few ways:

I'll also patrol the Internets looking for items and gather them here. For instance—In May, a Twitter user got a photo of a Transit Police officer napping.

One note: Regrettably, a lot of the funniest stuff that you see and hear on the T isn't family-friendly. You can let us know folks were cursing in an anectdote, but please don't provide an exact transcript.

Here's an example from this Monday around 4:30 p.m. I was walking through the lower busway at Forest Hills:

Angry mother, to homeless woman: "Keep standing over here, cursing in front of my daughter. Keep [bleeping] doing it."

We'll regularly highlight items from the project on all the Patches in Boston. So keep your eyes and ears open, keep your smart phones handy, and share the weird stuff you see and hear on the T.


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