T Beats bin Laden!

Yes, it's true--news about the increase in T ridership was actually the lead story in Thursday's Boston Globe, knocking Osama bin Laden "below the fold" for the first time since Monday!

As of March 2011, T ridership was up 5 percent over volume in October 2008. The story reported that the upswing is likely the result of a recovering economy (more people going to jobs) and rising gas prices. Green line riders saw the heaviest increase, but the Red, Orange and Blue lines were logging 516,700 riders per day.

Although I've rarely felt more like a number than when I read that, I can certainly agree that this is news that trumps the third consecutive day of bin Laden round-the-clock coverage.

And, speaking of bin Laden, today's news reports are that his terrorist associates were plotting to derail trains in the US in recognition of the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. Now I have that to worry about. Just when I had almost--almost--put a hold on my other train-related fears. Like the fear that a crazy person will get on the train and shoot everyone. Or the fear that somehow it would be possible for someone to transmit bedbugs from their home to my person just by sitting in close quarters in those tightly packed cars. Or the fear that the Longfellow Bridge will collapse just as my train reaches the point of no return, and I'll sink into the Charles with hundreds of my fellow riders, the train car becoming our collective underwater tomb.

The small consolation is that the story would doubtless make Page 1, above the fold. And probably for several days.

The Red Line Workout

There are 82 steps in the series of stairs that lead from the train platform to the street at South Station. Climbing them is my morning workout, mainly because I can't get to the escalator, clogged as it is with people still wearing their puffy winter coats well into March. I don't mind the stairs, because I like to keep moving, but I sometimes feel winded at the very top, and I have to wonder, "Am I really out of shape?"

In the morning, waiting for the train at Davis, I try to position myself in an open area where there aren't too many people. This is my strategy for getting a seat. Getting a seat is not guaranteed, even though the train originates only one stop away. I usually stand on a narrow strip of the platform, because fewer people squeeze in there. This puts me toward the middle-rear of the train.

Lately I have noticed, when the train is gliding into Davis, that the first car often has many free seats. One day, I tried to stand toward the front end. It worked pretty well, because I got a seat, and when we got to South Station, I was so far from the escalator that the crowd had cleared by the time I got there. That day, I rode the escalator.  It's striking what can make one happy at 8:16 in the morning.