The steps at Park Street have been cleaned, and the vomit that had remained there for a whopping 10 days is now gone. I'll leave the counter on the left for safe keeping. Let me know if you encounter any unacceptable messes on the T that remain uncleaned after a day. Or consider submitting your best T puke story.
Porter escalators
I hope I don't need to say too much about the Porter Square escalators. They are very long (see photo). They break down often (see # of porter escalators broken, and longest porter downtime, in days, stats at left). The service contractor, KONE, is a total load of shit. It really sucks to have to walk up OR down at Porter, and to make sure that the escalator failures inconvenience you, the MBTA has pledged its full support of a plan that ensures that all elevators will be broken at the same time the escalators.
Puke on the steps
I am pleased to announce that someone puked on the steps in Park Street heading up from the Red Line island to the Lechemere side Green Line Track. This was one week ago. Is the puke still there? Some things are a sure bet with the T... I've added a "number of days with puke on the steps counter."
Standing in the door
There are many great advantages to standing in the doorway of the Redline. You get more personal space. No one is standing behind you, hitting you with their backpack. If you are on the correct side, no one will need to walk by you when they exit. You can lean while you stand. In my case of the Porter->Park commute, I can be the last one on the train, and the first one off, eliminating the frustration of first being herded by a bunch of irriatating people, and then having to wait behind them to get out of the station. Along with all of these benefits comes a certain level of responsibility. "Vestibule riders" must be very careful about leaning against the doors when they open (trust me, it hurts). Additionally, you must be prepared to scrunch into corner if the train gets full. Your biggest responsibility, however, is to respect the other T riders that need to use "your" doorway to enter and exit the train. If you stand in the doorway when it opens, it is incumbent on you to either step into or outside of the train to clear the doorway for everyone else. It is okay to attempt to retain your position in the doorway by exiting the train, moving aside, and re-entering as the last person on. There are several ways for people to violate this courtesy. The first is the classic "just stands in the doorway." The train stops, your door opens, and you just stand there, forcing other riders to move to another doorway or to shove past you. This is rude. Don't do it. I have added a standing in doorway counter to the left. Additionally, sometimes people get overly aggressive or assertive while trying to maintain their position in the doorway. Since I covet my doorway position, I can understand the emotions associated with trying to secure that spot. What really eats me up are the people that devilishly steal the doorway spot from you and then commit one of the following two sins: A) They exit the train at the next stop or B) when they reach their destination, they exit from the opposite doorway, shoving past other people in a vestibule position. Sometimes you get someone who C) double taps and exits from the opposite door after one stop. See the sidebar for these counters.
