Public Transit Living

Swampscott, MA train station

(Photo Credit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swampscott_(MBTA_station)

I have always appreciated public transportation.  I even used to collect my used transit cards as a token to it.  Be it NJ PATH cards, NYC Subway cards, MTA monthly train passes, NJTransit Bus passes, Boston T passes, all of them I never threw away, but kept in a shoe box.  Most of my adult life has been mass transportation dependent and better for it.  No gas payments, car payments, inspections, insurance, car washes, parking, and shoveling out.  Walk out of my home, hail a cab, head to a destination.  Here’s a tip for your troubles.  When we bought our first starter home near a train station in a suburb of Boston and only needed one car I considered this an exclusive selling feature, “Year three with ONE car!”

From my children’s bedroom you could peek out their window see the train pull into the station.  “Do you think daddy is on this train?”  I’d say rocking baby K in the rocking chair while baby Z finished up his nap.  In warm weather I loved packing the boys up in the double stroller and meeting M at the train.  Even in daylight (summer evenings stay bright long in New England) we would spot daddy’s train lights miles down the tracks and the excitement would build as the train grew closer.  The boys would go crazy as the train came to a stop and the conductor gave a honk.  The conductor would give the boys a wave and another honk on the way out.

I am not the majority.  Cars rule here.  The HOV lane is not widely used to my chagrin and not many people even know of the new ferry out of Lynn to Boston (I would be all over this.)  Alas, our state’s mass transit is falling apart.  There are no funds to fix it either.

Lynn, MA to Boston Ferry (Photo Credit http://www.ediclynn.org/index.shtml )

I had this naive belief that once people learned of Smart Growth they would be all over it.  (Smart Growth preserves or fosters a town’s uniqueness, making it more walkable, encouraging people to be outside and interacting, most importantly it builds a community.)   They aren’t and my heart is sinking.  If the generation behind me doesn’t take to this concept I fear all suburbs will fall the way of becoming ‘basic’.  I know, this is an awful, awful thought.  You don’t believe me?  Come a little closer so I can whisper something to you (Look at what happened to Soho.)

I get that people like to keep their independence with their cars.  Cars are also a wonderful way to show the world you are successful/better than another.  What fun it is to live from the amygdala!  I also know relying on mass transit requires succumbing to your state’s government.  And they haven’t done a great job of ensuring it will run on time all the time.  And you have no control over this.  But amygdala living isn’t for everyone anymore (the more you own the more owns you) and those that upgrade their thinking will need an upgraded transit system.

In light of that, at last month’s LWVMA Legislative Action Committee meeting I brought bill HD1862 An Act Relative to Regional Transportation Ballot Initiatives to vote for board approval (it passed.)  I  am currently researching HD3098/SD1266 An Act Directing the MassDOT to Assess the Current Status of the Commonwealth’s Transportation System as well.

Here are a few public transportation anecdotes of mine that I recalled while writing this:

Superman Excitement

A quiet Saturday morning found me and a few other riders pulling out of the 72nd St. subway stop.  A young man came sprinting down the steps and leapt jaguar style into the train car as the doors were closing.  At the exact moment the doors slammed shut his feet hit the floor.  Having just made it by the skin of his teeth, he looked up in shock.  I pretended not to notice as nothing fazes a REAL New Yorker and we don’t acknowledge tourists that cause such commotion on quiet Saturday mornings.  That is until I just couldn’t hold my excitement in any longer.  I shot him a look that said “Oh-my-god-that-was-insane” to which his eyes replied “Top-ten-moment-of-my-life!”  I glanced back “No-doubt” and gave him a thumbs up.  I swiftly went back to inspecting my Essie manicure.  One coat of Marshmallow, one coat of Ballet Slippers indeed IS the perfect nail polish combination while he dusted off his hands and meandered to another car.  We will never see each other again.  We will never forget each other either.

Maternal Care (seriously thank God for nurses)

In my 20’s I overslept one work morning and ran in a fury to catch the the 1, 9.  I found myself feeling faint and covered in sweat while on the subway.  I didn’t know what was happening to me but it wasn’t good.  I gripped the metal pole harder and planted my feet firmly.  I was just about to crash when a woman swoops in and demands a man to get out of his seat for me and exclaims “Can’t you see she is about to faint!?” She promptly tells me to sit down, put my head between my legs and take deep breaths.  She explained me she was a nurse and put cold water on the back of my neck.  Had I skipped breakfast she asked?  No, just didn’t have it yet I barely replied.  Did I skip dinner too?, she pressed.  Well, there were the apps I tried to nibble on at the champagne tasting last night if you could call THAT dinner but it was hard to eat while celebrating a coworker’s promotion.  She didn’t like any of that.  I protested it was the opening week of Tribeca’s Bubble Lounge.  To be carefree and 25 she replied.  As I approached my stop my body stabilized and I thanked her profusely (I surely would have been pick pocketed.)  She reminded me to grab electrolytes and breakfast ASAP and to buy a new shirt (my current one had soaked all the way through with sweat.)

Compassionate Stranger

I was very pregnant and managed to make my way in 95 degree heat to the T in Cambridge.  Phew it had AC.  Oddly enough when the train car reached my stop at Harvard Square I started to panic that I would not make the walk home by myself in the heat and reached out to the person sitting next to me to see if they could help.  Not only did they help, they explained they were a Harvard medical student in residence, bought me a water and walked me home.

Humor with a New Friend

I sat next to an elderly woman on the MTA from Greenwich, CT to Grand Central one work morning.  We were peacefully watching the towns pass by the window when she asked me a question.  I tried to reply but had forgotten I was wearing Crest Whitening Strips (they had just come on the market) and it flopped out of my mouth onto my lower lip scaring the bejesus out of her.  How was I going to explain teeth whitening with plastic strips to someone from the Silent Generation?  So I handed her the whitening strip wrapper in my pocket and we had a good, long laugh together instead.

 

Cheers and Enjoy,

 

Robin