Yet more MBTA asshattery

[Dreamstalker]

I confess I fare-jumped once, the gate refused to read my pass yet opened anyway

When the cards were first introduced, I grabbed a small pile and we use them for out-of-town visitors.

OT sorta: did people hear about the MIT students who found serious vulnerabilities in that system, put together a research presentation for a security conference and the MBTA is now suing them? I've read the original presentation; interesting stuff and it was all gleaned legally. (FWIW, their instructor gave the students A's).

[Bagboy]

My aunt saw someone similar to the person you have described. She uses the Harvard Square station every day.

[otakuneko]

I confess I fare-jumped once, the gate refused to read my pass yet opened anyway

When the cards were first introduced, I grabbed a small pile and we use them for out-of-town visitors.

OT sorta: did people hear about the MIT students who found serious vulnerabilities in that system, put together a research presentation for a security conference and the MBTA is now suing them? I've read the original presentation; interesting stuff and it was all gleaned legally. (FWIW, their instructor gave the students A's).

Yeah. A judge recently lifted the gag order on them. Hopefully the lawsuit itself will be rightly laughed out of court.

[Dreamstalker]

Apparently, the MBTA themselves included in their court filing the most damaging piece of information (the exact checksum used for the cards). When alerted that they might want to redact it, the reply was "we don't think that information is of concern"...um, guys, the students' presentation was no threat because anybody reading it would not have the most critical piece of info. You just provided it to the world.

More suck!

When there's one train right on another's tail, the lead one will be sent express to a major stop further down the line to preserve a safe distance between cars. If that happens, the train is held for about five minutes and an "this train is going express to Stop Y, next stop will be Stop Y" announcement is made many times both in-car and so it can be heard on the platform.

This happened on the Green Line right where the C branch comes to street level (St. Mary's Street). On that line, the next "major" stop is Coolidge Corner about four stops west, so that's where this train was going. Train stops, some people get on, conductor makes announcement approximately seven times before the doors close during which about a dozen people disembark.

When the train gets underway, a woman near the front starts banging the stop-request bell for what would ordinarily be the next stop. Cue conductor: "I apologize to the lady in the green dress who just hit the stop request bell, but you were told eight times that this train is not stopping until we reach Coolidge Corner."

She flips and moves for the emergency-stop handle (which on the older-model streetcars is above the door so she couldn't reach it). Then starts berating the driver, something about "you are supposed to be serving the customers, and I want to get off here!" (the red line cars have some MBTA ads with the line "driven by customer service", so maybe her brain warped that line to suit her needs?) Conductor keeps her cool, replies: "When we receive orders from central dispatch, we are obligated to obey those orders. I know you heard me saying that this train was going express."

When we reach Coolidge Corner, a couple transit police are waiting for the lady; I had someplace to be at that point so couldn't spy on the fun.