

Coming soon...



New: Report your MBTA experience through our confidential reporting form.

Having a BadTransit day? Tell us.

"Going to where the silence is. That is the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful. It is the best reason I know to carry our pens, cameras and microphones into our own communities and out to the wider world."

Amy and David Goodman



As a commuter, do you feel forgotten and forsaken?. Join us!

Looking for a motive...

It’s the day after yet another death on the “safe” MBTA; a day where Boston has seen another tragic loss and is left to find some meaning in an act that is otherwise both senseless and, when examined, regrettably understandable. Of course, violence in any degree should have no place in our society. Then why does it continue? Why does it fester? {more...}

A Important Word about Rail Safety and Security

The message of BadTransit is clear - we are supporters of reliable, efficiently operated, publicly-accountable, and SAFE rail transit . {more...}

Welcome To BadTransit

"Celebrating" 3 years of "Revealing the Filth Below"

BadTransit is on a continuing quest - for good transit. {more...}

Truly Disabled - MBTA leaves many out in the cold

Disabled individuals in Boston who must rely on the MBTA for their transit needs have, for a very long time, had to endure filth, lack of access, broken lifts and elevators, unreliability, and disrespect, only to be ignored by the T when they complain. {more...}

The MBTA Midnight Fare Increase

On November 6, 2003, the MBTA rammed home a substantial increase in its fare structure with no justification and little public scrutiny. {more...}

Today's MBTA Photo Feature

Legalities, Disclaimers, and other Boredom

MBTA System Information - Disclaimer :

In providing our Instant MBTA Status we can make no claim to perfection. Why? First, because the MBTA itself does not always report when a train breaks down. Therefore you could be waiting for a train until Hell freezes over, and we would be reporting "OK". Also, due to the semi-automated nature of our data processing methods, an occasional failure report will be incorrectly counted. Part of this problem has to do with the disorganized and arbitrary way in which the T reports in the first place. We strongly suggest you use our service only as a rough reference . When you see a FAILURE listed, be certain to click on the link, which will take you directly to the MBTA's "Transit Information" and the appropriate information for the line in question.

BadTransit Disclaimer:

BadTransit.com is a news, commentary and information service and is published on a near-daily basis. This web site is paid for by Mark Richards and others, and is supported by the kind donations of MBTA commuters. The editor is Mark Richards , a consumer of MBTA services and a Massachusetts taxpayer. Other BadTransit staff are also regular MBTA commuters and Massachusetts taxpayers.

This web site is a non-commercial, not for profit consumer advocacy and news site that engages in news reporting, parody, insult, commentary, more insult, sarcasm, insult, dissent, insult, invective and sad humor. If you don't like it so much, don't read it.



Although it is pathetic that we must say so, our web site and its free expression is permissible via the First Amendment to the US Constitution (we still have one); specifically Freedom of Speech and Expression.



This site provides a forum to voice our opinion and to permit others to do the same which, for the moment, is still permitted in "Amurca". For those with an interest in taking BadTransit off the air, we suggest reading this , then this , then this , then this , then this , then this and finally this , which serves to say it all.



For those unfamiliar with the basic American freedoms, see information here on the freedom of expression.



BadTransit assumes no liability for the actions or statements of those who choose to express their opinion in our open forum, through our reader letters, or in any other form. We will, however, take every effort to assure that our content abides by all laws and regulations that relate to publishing, and does not violate privacy or other publishing law. If you see something that you don't agree with, let us know.



We don't claim to be perfect or accurate. We're not transit experts. We are lifelong consumers of Boston's MBTA. This qualifies us for disinfection, and rage.



Use of Trademarks and Copyrights:

The fair use of a copyrighted work or referencing a trade name for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching or research is not an infringement on copyright. The Fair Use clause is here . A reference to copyright law is here .



Other Disclaimers:

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and our editorial contributors and are intended to reveal, inform, entertain and inspire.



Bad Transit is not an "accepted" member of the Boston Media. Maybe it's a good thing, because we can be unabashedly opinionated and honest. Nevertheless, we will attempt to represent our opinions as such and to exercise some fairness in our features whenever we are in the mood. If you don't think we are being fair, let us know. If you don't like what you read, don't read it.



Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are unaltered actual images of public MBTA facilities, personnel and displayed likenesses.



As you view the images of our transit system and read the stories and don't like it one bit, don't complain to us. Complain to the MBTA. We don't do the cleaning. Sadly, we do pay the bills. Therefore we will continue to bitch and moan all we wish.



Discussion Junction / BadTransit Discussion Area:

Discussion Junction is a public bulletin board service. Bad Transit has no control over the content posted by our readers. We make reasonable effort to remove messages we deem defamatory, libelous, or which do not meet the editorial content restrictions of our web site.



Letters from Readers:

We will post letters from our readers providing they are within the scope of our general content. The more you rant, the better we like it.



We review all submissions and make reasonable efforts to screen letters for defamatory, libelous or offensive content.



Please note that editorial submissions by our readers may not represent the opinions held by Bad Transit.



Image and Link Lifetime:

BadTransit makes every effort to update its information and maintain fair play. Some of the deplorably dirty conditions depicted here may have been cleaned since publication. Some of the deplorable facilities depicted may have since fallen down and been carted away. We will, where possible, update our images to reflect the current status of MBTA facilities, but not always. Part of our purpose is to depict history.



However, if something has been cleaned, fixed, propped-up, or glued together, let us know. If you step in something really disgusting, let us know also, but please, no samples. These should be sent to a laboratory.



We cannot guarantee that all links will resolve properly. Dead links are out of our control. However, if you do encounter one, please let us know.



Opening Sound:

We've removed our opening sound. It used to appear automatically.



For those equipped with sound systems, our opening sound is the typical ear shattering screech and rumble entering Harvard Station, northbound on the Red Line (we call it the "Dread Line").



This situation is by design given the sharp turn required as a result of poor design, however the intensity can be lessened by proper maintenance - coating tracks with graphite. As this is probably rarely performed, passengers must suffer. We believe noise levels are well above reasonable limits, yet nothing is done to protect passengers or crews.

Sorry.. what did you just say?



Listen to the opening sound here



MBTA Joke Disclaimer:

"Hey, you step in front a da train and git run ovah, whaddaya expect anyway, so - tuff noogies! You touch some unknown festering organic substance and become ill, too bad. You get on the train and arrive 4 hours late, sorry for the inconvenience but there's nothing else we can do, except give you your $1 back. What do you think, we care or something?"



Our sponsor:

First Amendment to the US Constitution

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."





MBTA Commuter Rail - Penalties:

The MBTA's new Commuter Rail contractor, MBCR, is subject to the following penalties:

$500 for a rush-hour train that is late

$250 for a late off-peak train

$1,000 for a canceled off-peak train

$2,000 for a canceled rush-hour train.

$500 for each instance where a failure report is posted more than 5 minutes late.

Unfortunately none of these penalties are being imposed by the MBTA, although the T is regularly and proudly announcing that their new contract has these incentives built in.



What good are incentives if you don't use them?

Our Penalty Watch will attempt to track the approximate total based on the daily failure listing. We cannot guarantee that this amount is accurate as it is based on public admission of failure through the MBTA's web site.

Technical:



Your display resolution should be set to 800x600 or higher for best viewing and a text size of 100%! Our web site is hosted on a Linux Red Hat server at OneOnOneInternet. We use pMachine to assist us in content publication. We use php as our primary scripting engine. Our BadTransit MBTA status system is powered by a CA-Visual Objects application which gathers the MBTA's transit status information and, with minimal human intervention, processes it into meaningful data. This is displayed on our web page using PHP and MySQL, a server-side database.



Want to bring these and other capabilities to your internet efforts? Write webmaster@badtransit.com





