OK, so it’s not so much a wonderland as it is a frozen tundra outside. Having grown up in Maine, I consider myself quite capable of facing the cold, bitter winter days of New England. Bundle up properly and your nose won’t turn red, and you might make it to class with a little feeling left in your fingers and toes. What if you rely on the good ol’ MBTA to get you to school on those blustery days? I happen to live two stops from the end of the “E” line, and being without a car, the train is my main mode of transportation. We’ve all heard the joke about the “phantom E train” or the tale that the “E” line never comes when you need it, but lately, it’s been getting a little ridiculous. Incident one: A friend and I decided to take a little trip to the mall. She met me at my apartment and we planned to take the train all the way to Lechmere. After approximately 20 minutes of waiting (a friend passed us, put his laundry in, and passed us again on his way home while we waited), we gave up and got a ride from a helpful and vehically-gifted friend.
Incident two: While on my way to a meeting at The Northeastern News, I was inspired to write this commentary. In 20-degree temperatures, wind chills making South Huntington Avenue feel like 25 below, I bundled up and headed to the train. Twenty-one minutes later, there was still no train in either direction, I was already late, so I sucked up my pride and took a bus.
Now, according to the MBTA’s “Customer’s Bill of Rights” my ride should have been free if I waited more than 15 minutes. So where’s my money? You know what? Forget the money, it’s only a dollar. Sure, a dollar gets you a 20-minute phone call these days, but I don’t care. How about the two days of work I missed because I got sick from waiting in the cold for a train that would never come? I can understand emergencies like silly NU freshmen stepping in front of the train (I’m going to get hit for that), but there should be a notification system. Electronic signs, or send busses to pick up train passengers in the event of a delay. If you check the Web site, it says you can log on or call a number to find out about delays. Unfortunately it took me a little searching to find this information, and I don’t usually have access to the Internet while waiting for the train.
My suggestion is to do one of the following:
1. Create outdoor heat. Not global warming, just an outdoors heating system. This is something I’ve wanted since I attended a high school where you had to walk from one building to another in the snowy Maine weather.
2. Build an overpass to connect the freshman dorms to the main campus thereby reducing the number of accidents. Heck, they’re building tunnels under the tracks in Hingham for migrating turtles to use three weeks out of the year, but students are still walking in front of trains??? Hmmm.
3. Employ use of the “Amber Alert” system to notify passengers of delays in service.
4. Add a few more trains. Wow, that’s an idea, more trains on the “E” line? Wait, trains? As in, there’s more than one train on the “E” line?
5. And finally, build Jetson-style covered sidewalks. Complete with “people movers” (those conveyor belt from airports), and heat.
I know my ideas might sound a little impossible but I think the alternative, developing Muggle Apparation (Harry Potter) is a bit too expensive. So I leave you with a pair of gloves, a hat, scarf, and three layers of clothing as I pull on my jacket and prepare to face my wait for the train to campus. Anyone have a dollar I can borrow?
– Kathleen Waterhouse is a middler communications major.
