THE FRIENDLY COMMUTER RAIL WITH THE MBTA....OR IS IT?

My daily commute to the Downtown Financial District is on the trusty....well maybe not trusty but old Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority or as us Bostonians call it the MBTA.  Or the Subway. Or the T. Sure the rail system here is old, but boy you can get pretty much anywhere here just look at this rail map

I enlarged this just so you can see it.  Since I have been here I have been on every line since the Blue Line.  The red line is what I take every day and I get on at Quincy Center and take the red line down to South Station.  Not too bad of a ride...just about 28 minutes to be exact.  

So my monthly pass costs $59.00 per month...not bad considering it is unlimited and I can ride any of the subway lines above as well as any buses in the Boston area.  How cool is that????  Well I thought it would be a good idea to start to ride the commuter rail...that's a whole different chapter in the book.  So I go to the Downtown Crossing station to get my pass and I tell the worker I'm riding the commuter rail from Quincy Center to South Station so he tells me "Oh, you need the 1A pass".  So I say oh okay then that's what I want.  Total price $59.00....WHAT????  The same price and now I can ride all the lines on the subway, any bus, the commuter rail if I want to and can ride the ferry too????  What a baaaarrrrrrgin!

This is greeeeeaaaaat I'm thinking.  So I ride the commuter rail the other day with no problem...and what a nice ride it was.  No crowded, hot, stinky funky subway for me.  It was so smooth and quiet....everyone had a seat and there were no rude people pushing you out of the way.  I'm thinking this IS the life and I will be taking this train to work everyday so my day won't start out so stressful!

UNTIL.....today....I'm on the commuter rail "enjoying" my ride when the train conductor looks at my ticket and tells me I have the wrong ticket.  WHAT???!!!  I told him that the ticket agent told me that was the one I needed to buy...soooooo he let me slide this time.  I get off the train at South Station.

There is a huge crowd of people and then there is a part that branches off and not too many people go that way so I think they must know a shortcut!  Well.....it wasn't a shortcut. I ended up near the waterfront...which was way out of the way and I had NO idea where I was.  So I walk around and then I see a street that looks familiar and then I get to work

So what's the moral of this blog?  Don't listen to people who work for the MBTA and...don't follow the crowd they just might not be going the same direction you are.  But my ticket wasn't a total bust, I can still ride the commuter rail if I end up at the JFK/UMASS stop and I still get my unlimited rides on the subway and the bus.  Steamy subway and funk...here I come!!!

Well until next time....