Motorperson Malfunction

Tonight I was on the Orange Line, traveling inbound from Wellington, taking pictures. I transfered to the D at Haymarket, continuing inbound and then to the west. Once on the trolley, I walked to the position just behind the motorman and raised my camera. He began yelling at me. I showed my bright yellow T Photo Permit. He explained that I should have shown it to him first and I apologised. As we traveled west, outbound, I kept a light conversation going with him. Once we arrived at Kenmore, he shut the train down and exited! The crowd in the trolley was silent. I looked out the window and two T Police were waving me off the trolley. I exited and said hello, showing my pass that was hanging from a cord, in public view. They explained that the motorman was upset. I told them that I was having a conversation with him as we traveled. And if he had a problem, he could have simply mentioned something to me. They asked me to stay behind the white line, which I had been doing. I boarded, following the motorman. The crowd was silent. I stood at my previous place, raised my yellow permit and shrugged my shoulders. A nervous chuckle arose. We continued outbound. When I arrived at my stop, I looked at him and thanked him for the ride.

Maybe some kind of "Interaction" or "Social" classes should be conducted. MOST of the motorpersons are wondeful, but someone like this is not good for the T, or at the least, railfans.

I really would like to know the true reason behind why so many motormen and bus drivers are so zealously opposed to anyone taking pictures. It's not a "9/11" thing, either... that's been the culture for a long time.

It really makes my blood boil that an employee who can routinely ignore people smoking in stations and homeless people sleeping on benches, will be so quick and willing to zero in on a tourist or a railfan with a camera and either be utterly rude and obnoxious about it to them or call the police on them.

There is absolutely no need for it.

While on the Orange Line, I watched some girls casually walk by, smoking. Officials did what I was doing.

This has happened to me, though she did not call the police. I still got off at the next stop, just to be safe. Makes me want to join the T police, just to laugh at this bull. One of these days, It'll all be better

i have never come across a person like that on the T, and i hope i never do

I am curios if the MBTA employee rules prohibit motor-men on the trolleys from particpating in conversations with passengers WHILE THEY ARE OPERATING the trolley. I say this because I agree that the bus drivers should not be bothered by people who go on long rants during the whole trip. Technically, Mass state law prohibits bus drivers from talking to passengers while driving, because if they are talking to passengers while driving, more than likely they are not paying 100% of their attention to the road and or traffic.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that the operator shouldn't answer a question or two (i.e. a tourist asking which stop will get them closer to where they need to be etc.)

When I have some kind of light conversation, it is between stops. Usually I have great talks with the operators. I ask related questions and I learn a lot from their experience. In fact, today I was heading inbound, and as I entered, the operator saw my yellow photo permit and said "Hey, that's great that you wear your permit like that!" I told him about last night and he shared his feelings for three or fours stops, uninterrupted!

I have to say sometimes you just run into a nasty operator, like I know one on the green line who is always in a bad mood and he always yells at the people getting on to hurry uo we don't have all day and all sorts of things.

Yeah, that's my take on this. And he could be new at the job. I have yet to meet the "hurry up" operator....

...On the Green Line? Can we clone that one? My experience is that far too many elect to move the trains below track speed--especially on the B-Line.

Granted, safety is priority number 1, and if for whatever reason there are speed restrictions or other valid reasons to stay under 25mph, fine. But those should be addressed on a daily basis, and all of the Motormen must be "Hurry-up" Operators.

Many of the D Line operators seem to creep along underground and then pick it up just a tad on the surface. Once in a while we seem to race down the track, and the operator states that he's doing the speed limit. Some operators stop completely where a wooded pedestrian path crosses. Most slow down. I don't know the rule for that situation, but would prefer to continue at a good pace. And have pedestrians "stop look and listen."

Okay, how does the word "Paranoia" sound? Sounds to me like the guy was afraid that you were somehow going to document him in some sort of infraction, and hit the panic button. After all, how many "T" Operators / Bus Drivers, etc..., (Especially some of the Bus Drivers) have you seen flapping their gums away on a cel phone, in direct violation of "T" regulations. Then you have those Green Line operators, whom I shall dub "WhipLash Willies", who wait 'til they have a "standing room only" crowd, and the whip the train as fast as they can through a certain few tight curves in the subway ( I think we all know where they're located) so they can toss the packed-in riders around.Or those happy souls who get their jollies waiting until you're just about to reach the steps / doorway and BANG!!!! The doors close about an inch from ypur nose, and they pull off, leaving you cursing on the platform.(I'm convinced thats one reason why they really don't like the Type 8s....the computer controls how soon you can close the doors!!) And you wonder why some of these yahoos don't want a fan with a camera lurking around???

From what I know the operators are supposed to stop at the Hammond Woods Crossing, or as it was called above "The Wooded Area".

Also a driver on the E that I had last summer speeds down the tracks on the surface in traffic area.

The Hammond Woods Ped Xing is a great irony to me. Dozens of trains daily have to slow/stop at a ped Xing on a dirt trail, for what is often sporadic foot traffic. Why not install corssing flashers (or something akin to that) in combination with a turnback fence (not sure of the technical term but its simply fencing that makes you turn both ways so you look up the track before entering the crossing) and let the trains keep moving...unless the lawyers have won already...

Yes it is ironic. In two years of using the D Line, I have seen two pedestrians. And they stood and watched us go by!