Stupid Subway Trick
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:37 am
So I'm returning home from my trip to Orlando. I flew into Boston Logan, and was in the process of taking the subway (the MBTA, or just "the T") out to where I left my car for the week.
I'd just gotten on a Green Line train, which is a light rail streetcar-type train. They have bi-fold doors, and you climb a couple steps up into the train. A college age kid was getting on with his friends, and decided to hold the door open for another friend he thought was right behind them. So he stood leaning against one of the doors. The doors try to close, but recycle open. Again, they try to close and they recycle. Then a third time. (Note: the kid was kinda skinny, and the way that he was standing, the driver wouldn't have been able to see him in his mirrors, as the door would have blocked his view)
Then all the lights and AC in the car go out and come back on again, which from experience means the driver turned the train off and back on again to reset the system. Again, the doors try to close and they recycle open. It's been over a full minute that we've been sitting there, when the typical station stop is maybe 10-15 seconds.
Finally, I'm just about to yell at the guy to get the hell out of the doors when the driver, a very imposing linebacker-sized man, comes down the train to see why the doors aren't closing. When he catches sight of the guy in the doorway, his face goes beet red, and I can tell that he was using extreme restraint when he loudly tells the guy "Hey! You can't hold the door open like that!". To which door-holder steps up into the train and says "Well I was just holding it for my friend." The driver is just speechless. He's turned in my direction and I happen to catch his eye and I shake my head knowingly...
So as the train pulls out, door-holder is on his cell phone to the guy who he was waiting for (who apparently wasn't even in the station yet). He's going on and on about how "this huge train driver yelled at me for holding the door open. I was only holding it for like a minute!" (later repetitions of the story by him shortened it to 30 seconds...)
Eavesdropping on their conversation (they stood near me), it was quite obvious they'd already had a few that evening (and it was only about 9PM).
Though fate did get a slight revenge on them at the end of their journey:
When the train reached their intended stop, they didn't start moving toward the doors until the train had stopped and the doors opened. By that point the train was packed pretty full. Needless to say, they didn't make it to the doors before they closed again. They had to ride to the next stop, where they'd either have to walk back to where they'd meant to go, or pay $2 each again to ride one stop back. (When the doors closed, I actually half expected the guy to pull the emergency lever above it to open the doors again, which would have also put the train into an E-stop mode...)
-Rob
I'd just gotten on a Green Line train, which is a light rail streetcar-type train. They have bi-fold doors, and you climb a couple steps up into the train. A college age kid was getting on with his friends, and decided to hold the door open for another friend he thought was right behind them. So he stood leaning against one of the doors. The doors try to close, but recycle open. Again, they try to close and they recycle. Then a third time. (Note: the kid was kinda skinny, and the way that he was standing, the driver wouldn't have been able to see him in his mirrors, as the door would have blocked his view)
Then all the lights and AC in the car go out and come back on again, which from experience means the driver turned the train off and back on again to reset the system. Again, the doors try to close and they recycle open. It's been over a full minute that we've been sitting there, when the typical station stop is maybe 10-15 seconds.
Finally, I'm just about to yell at the guy to get the hell out of the doors when the driver, a very imposing linebacker-sized man, comes down the train to see why the doors aren't closing. When he catches sight of the guy in the doorway, his face goes beet red, and I can tell that he was using extreme restraint when he loudly tells the guy "Hey! You can't hold the door open like that!". To which door-holder steps up into the train and says "Well I was just holding it for my friend." The driver is just speechless. He's turned in my direction and I happen to catch his eye and I shake my head knowingly...
So as the train pulls out, door-holder is on his cell phone to the guy who he was waiting for (who apparently wasn't even in the station yet). He's going on and on about how "this huge train driver yelled at me for holding the door open. I was only holding it for like a minute!" (later repetitions of the story by him shortened it to 30 seconds...)
Eavesdropping on their conversation (they stood near me), it was quite obvious they'd already had a few that evening (and it was only about 9PM).
Though fate did get a slight revenge on them at the end of their journey:
When the train reached their intended stop, they didn't start moving toward the doors until the train had stopped and the doors opened. By that point the train was packed pretty full. Needless to say, they didn't make it to the doors before they closed again. They had to ride to the next stop, where they'd either have to walk back to where they'd meant to go, or pay $2 each again to ride one stop back. (When the doors closed, I actually half expected the guy to pull the emergency lever above it to open the doors again, which would have also put the train into an E-stop mode...)
-Rob
