Wachusett

Night ridin during a storm!

Each run got better, each lift line got shorter. Roco!

It has been a pretty good winter so far, looks like another few storms are on their way to make for another great weekend up north!

New blue line train

First ride this morning... From the first ride, it looks like an updated version of the older blue-line. About the same seating and layout as the 30 year old ones.. The seats instead of being plether are just hard plastic. They have installed many handles so that shorter folks can reach the upper bars when standing up for the ride. There is now the 'digital' next stop and automated announcements, good for the occasional rider but the daily rider knows the next 3 stops already. The windows are smaller, but I'm guessing they don't leak which is key. I'll be riding both until the older ones are phased out, so I'll pick up on some more minor details soon.

wifi & wireless internet on trains

Part of my decision to buy a place in Gloucester steps from the commuter rail, was the fact that I knew in a short amount of time internet connectivity on trains would quickly be a reality. If you can spend your time commuting, working, guess what that means? You can get more accomplished in a day, or your work-day is shorter -- I'll take either. More often I use the time to catch up on email, news, and collect my thoughts.

For a while(last five years for me), internet access on the train was reserved for business people who either had a company sponsored cell-network card, or could afford to blow 60$ a month on the data plan -- or tech saavy guys like myself that tether their cellphone and use it as a modem (no cable, Bluetooth of course) without paying a hefty premium (I use my cellphones basic data plan, 6$ per month).

Now it looks like the MBTA is trying a pilot out, and from the looks of this graph of coverage on my line, I'd say pretty promising for the future --