Fun and Games

I hadn't seen anything major on the commuter rail in the past month or so, but last week there was something annoying.

I was on the Franklin 710 train (departing Forge Park at 7:45 AM). I'd missed the earlier train.

But when we got to the Ruggles stop, we...didn't. The train skipped the Ruggles stop completely, with no announcement in my coach. The next thing I knew we were stopping at Back Bay, with no explanation or apology from the conductors.

Incidentally, am I the only person who actually prefers not to get apologies from the conductors for things that aren't their fault? It's embarrassing. Why should they have to apologize because the MBTA or MBCR management screwed up? God knows that they almost never have to apologize - just as they never have to actually ride on the T.

Early the next week I was standing on the Ruggles outbound platform and talking to a woman about the T (what else am I going to talk about?). She'd also been on the same 710 train when it skipped Ruggles, and hadn't heard any announcement either. It was nice to get confirmation that I hadn't simply dozed off or something!

She also told me that the Franklin 737 train (departing South Station at 4:50 PM) had completely skipped Ruggles two or three times in the previous week (i.e. October 15-19). It's supposed to stop at Ruggles at 4:59 PM, but she said each time it just went right by. I don't take that train, so I didn't see that myself. But she seemed very credible.