Green Line Extension Lechmere to Medford

E trains are already operating to Lechmere then running light to College Ave as test runs. No need to do a turnback.

Anybody ride it yet? After 15 years I'd expect some enthusiasm in this thread

I hope to ride out to my old neighborhood from the other end sometime this weekend!

Getting into pedantry but one could construe the GLX as being in a somewhat westerly direction of North Station, so I don't mind Copley as the waypoint.

It's like Riverside via Highland Branch. As opposed to Riverside via Boston and Albany Main Line. (Can't get theyah from he-aahh)

Well, the Medford Branch is, at this time anyway, part of the E Line, and Copley is the last point to "change heah foah Kenmoah, this is a Huntington Avenue cah" (actually, I'm sure the automated announcements don't say it that way, but I remember it well..)

Does this mean the bike path is open too? I won't be checking it out for a long time now that its 29° out but still good to know if it is.

I saw a tweet saying the path is not open yet.

A ride from Lechmere to Medford/Tufts (without narration).
Watch: LECHMERE To MEDFORD/TUFTS Full ride GLX (YouTube)

Great to see the line up and running, and the opening day excitement was great to see. Medford/Tufts at opening looked more crowded than Park Street during rush hour. And they ran it all without a hitch. I am eager to get up there to take a ride sometime.

One thing I don't like is that some of the noise abatement walls installed already have been graffiti tagged. I cannot stand Graffiti and the fact that this happened already is disturbing, but sadly is not a problem limited to the MBTA, and I don't know what the solution is long term.

If caught, taggers need to be "caned" like the 19-year old American male caught vandalizing cars in Singapore back in 1994, besides cleaning up their mess. Or, have their bodies tagged with hard to clean off paint.
Just daydreaming.

2 ways to help thwart it:
1) Have a small crew who's sole job is to paint over graffiti. Have them throw grey paint on the stuff within 24 hours of it going up. Nobody will bother painting walls knowing it's going to get painted over immediately. Paint is expensive.
2) Give those kiddos something else to do. More after school programs, sports, jobs, community service.

When it comes to punishment for being caught, I don't really know what punishments are now so I can't comment on that, but you're not going to get an anti-graffiti police division, the VAST majority of graffit-ers are never going to get caught in the act in the first place so that's not going to be the best way to reduce it.

Point No. 1 has proven itself over time in various places. It seems that seeing their "work" painted over in less than a day takes most of the fun out of it for the vandals. Also, I believe some progress has been made in developing vandal-resistant surfaces making graffiti removal much easier.

In Philadelphia, PATCO thoughtfully placed its shops just beyond the endpoint at Lindenwold. At the end of each run the operator walked the empty train, and if there were any slashed seats or graffiti the trainset was immediately taken out of service and replaced by a "protect" set which was ready and waiting; the vandalized train was not returned to service until made presentable. The first General Manager gave a presentation before the Philadelphia Chapter NRHS at a time when graffiti were everywhere on the Broad Street Subway, and when asked how come PATCO had no graffiti, he smiled gently and said, "we don't allow it." PATCO also went after fare jumpers from the beginning; they were arrested and booked, and afaik fare jumping never developed into a serious problem.

The MTA in NYC started their anti-graffiti program in 1984 that was similar to what's stated above, pertaining mostly to rolling stock.